Contextual targeting still works. No ad agency in their right mind will run a French ad on a webpage written in German, or show an Italian ad in an app where th

Contextual targeting still works. No ad agency in their right mind will run a French ad on a webpage written in German, or show an Italian ad in an app where the default language is set to Swedish. None of this requires tracking individual users across websites and apps. Besides, as other commenters have pointed out, there is no concrete evidence that targeting individual users is any better (in terms of bringing in more sales) than targeting the combination of region, language, website topic, and on-page keywords. If you're so worried about the sustainability of European ad agencies, maybe you should stop fearmongering and start trying to improve contextual targeting technology to such an extent that it provides even more value to your customers than behaviorally targeted alternatives. If and when GDPR-like regulations arrive in other parts of the world -- I'm pretty sure the noose is getting tighter in the U.S. as well -- your European agency will be in a perfect position to grab market share there.