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I have, very occasionally, been extremely grateful to have seen ads. I don't want ads to go away, I want irrelevant ads to go away. I really wish that: 1) When

I have, very occasionally, been extremely grateful to have seen ads. I don't want ads to go away, I want irrelevant ads to go away. I really wish that: 1) When I bought something on Amazon, they would advertise products other than the exact one I just purchased. 2) There was a chrome app which would, every week, ask me what personal projects I was working on and then replace the existing ads I saw with ads that would be relevant to the problems I'm willing to spend money on.

whatever_dude 10y ago
For 2), if you're an Android user, you might want to install the Google Opinion Rewards app. It's an application that shows (sponsored) user research surveys, many times well targeted ones. The app is very clear about how your answers to some questions are added to your Google Ad profile, to show you "more relevant advertising". On top of that you get paid a few cents for answering the questions, which can accumulate pretty fast. I hate to sound like a shill, but I've been using the app and I never pay for Android Play apps anymore just because of credits accumulated through surveys I have answered. And I don't even take any of the questions that will add to my Ad profile, so I've actually been skipping about 80% of them.
- soylentcola 10y ago
  So many are "Which of the following places have you visited recently?" followed by a list of stores I've either been looking up or was navigating near. Probably 98% of the time the correct answer is "none of the above" so that's what I pick and I get my 5-10cents. Occasionally I can tell that it's a survey that someone commissioned (asking about how likely you are to vote in some primary, etc) and I do tend to answer those as well. Overall in the time I've had the app I've collected $60.19 (just checked history). Granted, this is from two years of use but it's good pocket change for Play Store purchases (hey, that $1.49 icon pack or watch face I wouldn't normally bother with? Purchase.) I guess on some level I understand that like radio or free alt-weeklies, they sell access to eyeballs and earholes in order to fund the services I actually make use of. If they're gonna analyze my usage to try to determine which things are relevant and cut down on spam and wasted ad expenditures, I might as well make a few bucks from it in the process. And as you say, sometimes I get one that I don't want to answer and it's pretty clearly laid out so I can decline.
  - whatever_dude 10y ago
    > Occasionally I can tell that it's a survey that someone commissioned Yes, I think that's the point of the app. It's basically selling to customers (businesses) more direct access to information that it'd normally gather through tracking or not at all. It's an interesting model in that it's a bit more transparent, and it does pay the customer directly. I wonder if we'll start seeing more of that in the future, where users actually "sell" their eyeballs directly. It just sounds more honest to me.
- Animats 10y ago
  Or you could install our Ad Limiter[1], and block most Google ads in Google search results. Google is getting in your face with their entire screens of Google ads for some searches. [1] http://www.adlimiter.com http://www.adlimiter.com
  - whatever_dude 10y ago
    This seems unrelated to the original post's request. He does not say he wants to see fewer ads, nor ads for specific brands, but rather more customized ads.
  - afarrell 10y ago
    Nope, google's ad results are frequently highly relevant and helpful
funkdobiest 10y ago
I agree with this. Working for an ad tech company this is something that somewhat goes beyond our ability, as the site itself would have to add this feature or open this data to the company doing the ads. It's very annoying when you go to one of those other places and know they don't do this.
michaelbuckbee 10y ago
Everyone seems to simultaneously hate both irrelevant ads and the data collection practices that would make them more relevant.
- echlebek 10y ago
  Everyone just hates ads.
calbear81 10y ago
I've seen 1) mentioned so many times here on HN that I think I should apply to the next batch with the idea for a retargeting network that only shows complementary and add-ons for products you've already bought.
newdevice 10y ago
Re 1: The trouble is that (by far) the most common thing that consumers do after buying X is to buy another X. The second most common is to buy another thing in the same taxonomy as X (something very much like X, but slightly different). This is the case over a very broad range of taxonomies. So when you build a purchase propensity model, you often have to explicitly tell it not to recommend X.
Guest98123 10y ago
Advertising is not about showing you the most relevant advertisement, it's about showing you the most profitable one. Unfortunately, the most profitable one is usually a fake download button to malware, or a site selling an e-book to lose 10 lbs in 10 days. Yes, you would be much happier seeing an ad for a cool new pub down the street that just opened, and you're more likely to click the ad as well, but they don't have the budget to compete for your clicks or impressions. I think a major change needs to happen. Advertising is falling to rock bottom, ad blockers are on the rise, and I think we're going to see more and more online apps and content sites going out of business. Users need to start paying for the sites they visit. Why do people pay $2 for a simple mobile app they only use 2 or 3 times, but they refuse to pay a news site they read daily, that has a staff of writers and high quality content? I wonder if we'll see the majority of the internet behind a pay wall one day, where every site gives you a small preview of content or limited features, and you pay for full access.
- jamiequint 10y ago
  > Unfortunately, the most profitable one is usually a fake download button to malware, or a site selling an e-book to lose 10 lbs in 10 days. This is completely false. The most relevant ad (statistically, based on real data) is going to be around something you actually want to buy, likely from a brand or product you saw recently, or are already a customer of. An e-book to lose 10 lbs in 10 days might be the best ad for someone who is in-market for short-term weight loss solutions, but is going to be a terrible ad for most people.
- bduerst 10y ago
  >is not about showing you the most relevant advertisement, it's about showing you the most profitable one. They're not mutually exclusive. If they were, the internet would be plastered with mortgage ads.
7952 10y ago
At some point it isn't really an advert but actual content. A lot of people enjoy shopping online and use instagram etc. to find products. There are lots of sites that push a particular view of amazon products to make finding things easier. In comparison it seems impractical to use an algorithm to guess at what someonce may want to buy.

whatever_dude 10y ago

For 2), if you're an Android user, you might want to install the Google Opinion Rewards app. It's an application that shows (sponsored) user research surveys, many times well targeted ones. The app is very clear about how your answers to some questions are added to your Google Ad profile, to show you "more relevant advertising". On top of that you get paid a few cents for answering the questions, which can accumulate pretty fast. I hate to sound like a shill, but I've been using the app and I never pay for Android Play apps anymore just because of credits accumulated through surveys I have answered. And I don't even take any of the questions that will add to my Ad profile, so I've actually been skipping about 80% of them.

soylentcola 10y ago
So many are "Which of the following places have you visited recently?" followed by a list of stores I've either been looking up or was navigating near. Probably 98% of the time the correct answer is "none of the above" so that's what I pick and I get my 5-10cents. Occasionally I can tell that it's a survey that someone commissioned (asking about how likely you are to vote in some primary, etc) and I do tend to answer those as well. Overall in the time I've had the app I've collected $60.19 (just checked history). Granted, this is from two years of use but it's good pocket change for Play Store purchases (hey, that $1.49 icon pack or watch face I wouldn't normally bother with? Purchase.) I guess on some level I understand that like radio or free alt-weeklies, they sell access to eyeballs and earholes in order to fund the services I actually make use of. If they're gonna analyze my usage to try to determine which things are relevant and cut down on spam and wasted ad expenditures, I might as well make a few bucks from it in the process. And as you say, sometimes I get one that I don't want to answer and it's pretty clearly laid out so I can decline.
- whatever_dude 10y ago
  > Occasionally I can tell that it's a survey that someone commissioned Yes, I think that's the point of the app. It's basically selling to customers (businesses) more direct access to information that it'd normally gather through tracking or not at all. It's an interesting model in that it's a bit more transparent, and it does pay the customer directly. I wonder if we'll start seeing more of that in the future, where users actually "sell" their eyeballs directly. It just sounds more honest to me.
Animats 10y ago
Or you could install our Ad Limiter[1], and block most Google ads in Google search results. Google is getting in your face with their entire screens of Google ads for some searches. [1] http://www.adlimiter.com http://www.adlimiter.com
- whatever_dude 10y ago
  This seems unrelated to the original post's request. He does not say he wants to see fewer ads, nor ads for specific brands, but rather more customized ads.
- afarrell 10y ago
  Nope, google's ad results are frequently highly relevant and helpful

funkdobiest 10y ago

I agree with this. Working for an ad tech company this is something that somewhat goes beyond our ability, as the site itself would have to add this feature or open this data to the company doing the ads. It's very annoying when you go to one of those other places and know they don't do this.

michaelbuckbee 10y ago

Everyone seems to simultaneously hate both irrelevant ads and the data collection practices that would make them more relevant.

echlebek 10y ago
Everyone just hates ads.

calbear81 10y ago

I've seen 1) mentioned so many times here on HN that I think I should apply to the next batch with the idea for a retargeting network that only shows complementary and add-ons for products you've already bought.

newdevice 10y ago

Re 1: The trouble is that (by far) the most common thing that consumers do after buying X is to buy another X. The second most common is to buy another thing in the same taxonomy as X (something very much like X, but slightly different). This is the case over a very broad range of taxonomies. So when you build a purchase propensity model, you often have to explicitly tell it not to recommend X.

Guest98123 10y ago

Advertising is not about showing you the most relevant advertisement, it's about showing you the most profitable one. Unfortunately, the most profitable one is usually a fake download button to malware, or a site selling an e-book to lose 10 lbs in 10 days. Yes, you would be much happier seeing an ad for a cool new pub down the street that just opened, and you're more likely to click the ad as well, but they don't have the budget to compete for your clicks or impressions. I think a major change needs to happen. Advertising is falling to rock bottom, ad blockers are on the rise, and I think we're going to see more and more online apps and content sites going out of business. Users need to start paying for the sites they visit. Why do people pay $2 for a simple mobile app they only use 2 or 3 times, but they refuse to pay a news site they read daily, that has a staff of writers and high quality content? I wonder if we'll see the majority of the internet behind a pay wall one day, where every site gives you a small preview of content or limited features, and you pay for full access.

jamiequint 10y ago
> Unfortunately, the most profitable one is usually a fake download button to malware, or a site selling an e-book to lose 10 lbs in 10 days. This is completely false. The most relevant ad (statistically, based on real data) is going to be around something you actually want to buy, likely from a brand or product you saw recently, or are already a customer of. An e-book to lose 10 lbs in 10 days might be the best ad for someone who is in-market for short-term weight loss solutions, but is going to be a terrible ad for most people.
bduerst 10y ago
>is not about showing you the most relevant advertisement, it's about showing you the most profitable one. They're not mutually exclusive. If they were, the internet would be plastered with mortgage ads.

7952 10y ago

At some point it isn't really an advert but actual content. A lot of people enjoy shopping online and use instagram etc. to find products. There are lots of sites that push a particular view of amazon products to make finding things easier. In comparison it seems impractical to use an algorithm to guess at what someonce may want to buy.