I think it also depends on the quality of the targeting. We tend to think that these companies know us very well, but (anecdotally) that's not my experience on

I think it also depends on the quality of the targeting. We tend to think that these companies know us very well, but (anecdotally) that's not my experience on Facebook. There is a page where you can see a list of things Facebook thinks you like. In my case, it's full of things I don't care about and I would never buy. They are there because, according to that page, I clicked on some ad at some point. Which I don't remember, so it might well be five years ago. So I get targeted by ads I am not interested in at all. A random ad has more chances to capture my attention than something targeted on a non-interest.