> Thanks to the vast amount of data Amazon collects from its customers, it can target ads not only to basic demographics — say, women over the age of 35 — but t

> Thanks to the vast amount of data Amazon collects from its customers, it can target ads not only to basic demographics — say, women over the age of 35 — but to a more precise segment of customers who are likely to be shopping for cellphones or barbecue grills. ...and later: > “We can reach the right consumer at the right time using their wealth of data to target,” Ms. McGurk said. “Other traditional digital platforms do not have the level of purchase data that Amazon has on their customers.” It seems rather disingenuous to paint Google and Facebook as the bad guys for selling out their users' data for ad revenue but then go on to say that they are behind Amazon because Amazon has so much more useful customer data and is willing to sell it. It's becoming clear that the NYT is going to war with Facebook and Google (understandably so, since they killed their business). One final point- in a time of economic expansion, which we have been in for a few years now, ad spending is going to rise. All players- Facebook, Google, Amazon, probably even the New York Times- will see better results. There are more dollars floating around the economy as consumers spend more instead of save and advertisers feel that they need to spend more across all channels just to keep up with their competitors.