Value hasn't really increased here; in fact, I'd say that ads now are a lot worse in quality than they used to be. The difference with targeted ads is only tha

Value hasn't really increased here; in fact, I'd say that ads now are a lot worse in quality than they used to be. The difference with targeted ads is only that users are more likely to click on them. It's driven the cost per click down, and made advertising dirt cheap. In the old model of advertising, the gizmo maker put out an ad in a reputable publication, spending quite a bit of money to do so, and got a small number of high-quality leads. With targeted advertising, the gizmo maker blasts their ad out everywhere, and, for a small amount of money, gets a large number of medium-quality leads. Overall, I'd expect they'd get more sales with the targeted advertising, simply due to casting a wider net.