alt Hacker News> Targeting by user doesn't work anyway.
How did you reach this conclusion? The main problem is that it works way better than traditional marketing medium.
It's the reason Google and Facebook are so massive, why would publishers choose to pay them if it doesn't work?
Replies
I've seen it being used.
Like on the frontend side with Facebook which thinks if I'm interested into cycling I will also be interested in cars (both are on the street, right?) or if I'm interested in some more dirty humor I also want to see more "naughty" stuff.
And also on the backend used by magazines and they mostly don't use the user profiles because it's too targeted and doesn't have enough audience. And if you make the targeting broad enough you'll have again people interested in chocolate so you target them with wine and whiskey.
Or even better on Amazon where you can buy a new TV and when you have done so it will suggest you even more TVs for the next months.
By the same logic cigarettes are presumptively beneficial...
> why would publishers choose to pay them if it doesn't work?
Because they believe it works and it's impossible to prove otherwise?