People don't want adds. how do you infer that people want ads because the ad industry is profitable?
It's profitable because a few people want to influence and spy on a lot of people.
Most people don't want ads they just tolerate them for getting actual services. Most these people don't even know how much tracking is involved and how nefarious this industry really is.
Why do they work? Why can I go start a business and scale it to millions of paying customers by using ads?
Re:Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies
by zentiggr on Tuesday January 26, 2021 @04:18PM
(#25921176)
Because there are businesses and politicians willing to pay through the nose to get their message in front of those that they want to influence, and you are then the middleman that gets our irritation and ad blockers and pushback for contributing to the proliferation of the most invasive, unscrupulous segment of our entire society.
Re:Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies
by layoutIfNeeded on Tuesday January 26, 2021 @04:49PM
(#25921461)
Because you’re infecting people with mind-viruses to force them to buy your crap. Advertising is about exploiting human psychology, taking advantage of people with weak impulse control, and outright lying.
Re:Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies
by ssss11 on Tuesday January 26, 2021 @04:12PM
(#25921116)
Often something is a multi billion dollar industry that people don’t want!
Perhaps you’re invested in the ad industry. No one else wants ads buddy.
Not in ads but I know they are quite effective. Most startups can attribute their growth to the effectiveness of digital advertising. Robinhood was driving app installs for $10 each while E*TRADE and Ameritrade were paying $1000 per customer.
Most of that VC cash startups raise is spent on marketing. I don’t understand why people have such negative perception of ads especially on a VC run news site. All the ycomb companies drops tens of millions on digital advertising.
Re:Firefox 85 cracks down on supercookies
by ssss11 on Tuesday January 26, 2021 @07:42PM
(#25922843)
Thanks for your considered response to my snarky comment. Personally I don't mind plain ads which are simply a commpany advertising their product/service on a billboard etc, what I find unbelievable in the digital era, is the extent of the intrusion now on finding out everything about people to market to them better (which I'm not even sure if having more data on someone has been proven to produce better results). Its really the data broking side of it - if that went away I'd have no issues.
It’s more like complaining that your sole of your shoes is being worn out more because grocery stores put the milk in the back forcing you to walk past items you don’t intend to buy. You can always go to a different store just like you no one is forcing you to browse websites that are ad supported.