You, I, and everyone else on this site don't represent the average user. Personally whenever I Google something out of curiosity as a one-off thing (e.g. "lyrics to Rasputin by Boney M" or "0-60 of a Golf GTI") I switch to in-cognito, just because I've noticed that Google isn't currently tracking stuff like that by IP. This way I don't get recommended Boney M videos in YouTube or adverts for cars I don't actually have an interest in elsewhere. And that's on top of uBlock, Disconnect, Privacy Badger, and a Pi-Hole on my home network. But I work in cyber security and I am in no way a "normal" internet user. Same with TV, I'm a cord-cutter with Plex running on a VPS: meanwhile everybody I know who doesn't work in tech just watches TV normally.

Pretty much everyone on this site saying "advertising doesn't work" is right that it probably isn't as effective for them because they've been taking counter-measures for years, but millions (possibly billions) of normal internet users do click on ads, or have their purchases influenced by ads.

I do agree with Patreon and Netflix, they're fantastic business models. Add Spotify to the mix too: although the renumeration they give to artists is laughable, it's a fantastic platform which has gotten me to actually pay for music for the first time in about a decade.

If you go through all that trouble, why don't you simply turn off personalized ads? https://adssettings.google.com/

Depends what you mean by "working". Like I said, companies always want to market their stuff. Online ads just need to be better value than print, TV, or radio - a low bar. Also, attention is a zero-sum game, if you don't target online you're missing out on a huge slice. An especially important slice of younger people.

> I honestly think this is very, very user dependent.

Of course. And as engineers, we're painfully aware how important attention/concentration is, and value that higher than most. I think content creators are similarly cognizant of that though. On podcasts, you're much more likely to hear "I don't watch TV".

Sure, in the short term, nothing is going to change. My parents probably won't stop watching TV, although Netflix usability is pretty good, even for them. But in the long term? And it isn't like TV is cheap. In America, cable packages are expensive, although the big media conglomerates are pushing some shitty deals to get people to keep buying them. In Europe, it's often worse. Decent, country-focused TV is usually free. But if you want to watch Game of Thrones, you're basically going to have to pirate it.

And even on shorter timescales, you can see changes. For example, I've followed some creators from Youtube to Twitch and find myself using it more, even if I'm not a fan of the UI or watching streams in particular. So it isn't even the same use-case, but the more time I spend on Twitch, the less time Youtube gets. Or podcasts. Youtube is still useful for discovery, but many people switch away from Youtube for consuming podcasts they follow.

In any case, on average people are more aware of how valuable attention is - a trend I think is increasing.

I was googling a lot about a certain piece of software (config, how to set this and that up with other things to work together, etc.) and that resulted in me getting ads for it from there on.

I mean yes, the targeting 'worked' - it's a software that interested me at the time, I even own a copy already. Targeted ad money well spent..?

The surgery was successful but the patient died.

Case in point: I book a hotel for next weekend in Sapporo and they won't stop pestering me with ads for hotels on said weekend in Sapporo.

Hello! I just booked a hotel and don't need another one!

What seems even more seedy is their emails:

Hello CaptainZapp; Prices just went down in Sapporo!

Which, first, is a lie. I know that because I was in Japan during golden week. And prices are very high and certainly don't get any lower for those days.

Secondly it seems fundamentally unfair towards the hotels that (have to) sign up with them.