That's a misleading comparison. So companies will pay millions more for TV ads even though online ads might reach more eyeballs? Yeah, that's weird, it would be great to understand why they're such idiots, but the reasons don't affect the reality. The reality is that they won't pay more for the online ads. What they do pay, they pay on the basis of targeting which directly correlates to conversion rates etc. Do you think internet companies wouldn't jump at the chance to spend less on all those analytics systems, reduce privacy complaints, and still get more ad revenue? They have those systems and the people who run them because they have positive ROI. They're simply not going to do something that makes their whole growth/revenue model collapse. They might look with envy at what TV networks get away with, but only in the same way that you and I might look with envy at what singers and sports stars get away with. It's basically irrelevant.