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From the article -- "Ads were based on context, and on inferring the audience from the context." This is incorrect. Since the beginning of advertising there ha

From the article -- "Ads were based on context, and on inferring the audience from the context." This is incorrect. Since the beginning of advertising there have been people who survey those who read a particular magazine, newspaper, watch a particular show. And for those who are willing to share those habits with advertisers PAY THEM MONEY for that. Ever heard the term "Neilson family"? That was a family that agreed to put a special box on their television which recorded which channels you watched, when, and for how long. It would then aggregate that information and send it to advertisers and broadcasters alike. Based on who the "audience" was, they would negotiate advertising rights. And from the very beginning broadcasters try to "game" the results with known desirable content during "sweeps weeks" which were the weeks where the statistics were gathered. Nearly every periodical I ever subscribed too occasionally sent a "marketing survey" with some compensation for filling it out like an extra year of subscription or a branded bag or something. There were, and ARE, periodicals today where the only "subscription price" you pay is giving up your personal data about why you want to read that periodical. So the "apocolypse" here, is that these platform owners found a tasty revenue stream by disintermediating all of the surveyors and poll takers and returning statistics with 100% participation. No modelling necessary, here are the exact characteristics of your readers. They didn't give their users a choice, they just took that private data and sold it. And now they are whining, loudly, that OMG that value we were stealing? They want us to pay for that? That could ruin us! Newsflash, it won't ruin you. Does this mean the end of "free" journalism? Maybe, but it was never free to begin with, it only felt free.

crazygringo 5y ago
The surveys you're describing is the inferring. The ads are still based entirely on context, so the article is correct. The inferring is still just statistical aggregation. Readers of the Economist may be on average wealthier, but a poor college student may still be reading it and seeing the ads for expensive watches. Even if they personally filled out a survey. Which is why the inferring is often wrong. In contrast, actually search for watches today, and get watch ads for the next 3 months on every site you visit...
- ChuckMcM 5y ago
  I read Benedict's statement "inferring from the context" (which is quoted) to mean that simply a magazine about camping (which is the context) "inferred" that the people reading it were people who liked camping. And while that would be a fine and benign thing, it wasn't the "inferring" the advertisers were doing back in the day. Back when I did freelance writing for magazines there was a book that was published annually called "The Writers Guide" which published the demographic information for the readers of various periodicals. That was developed from surveys, not from context. It helped writers like me to understand what the editor would consider appropriate for their readership.

crazygringo 5y ago

The surveys you're describing is the inferring. The ads are still based entirely on context, so the article is correct. The inferring is still just statistical aggregation. Readers of the Economist may be on average wealthier, but a poor college student may still be reading it and seeing the ads for expensive watches. Even if they personally filled out a survey. Which is why the inferring is often wrong. In contrast, actually search for watches today, and get watch ads for the next 3 months on every site you visit...

ChuckMcM 5y ago
I read Benedict's statement "inferring from the context" (which is quoted) to mean that simply a magazine about camping (which is the context) "inferred" that the people reading it were people who liked camping. And while that would be a fine and benign thing, it wasn't the "inferring" the advertisers were doing back in the day. Back when I did freelance writing for magazines there was a book that was published annually called "The Writers Guide" which published the demographic information for the readers of various periodicals. That was developed from surveys, not from context. It helped writers like me to understand what the editor would consider appropriate for their readership.