Correlation

Correlation

Posted Jan 27, 2022 22:55 UTC (Thu) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75)
In reply to: Correlation by tialaramex
Parent article: Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

The problem with ads continuing to chase you after you've already bought the product is notorious. My suspicion is that this is an especially bad problem when your decision to buy the product isn't affected by the ad at all; you just decided to buy it by browsing on their web site. The ad broker is tracking your surfing habits and knows you've been looking at a product. If you had decided to look at the product based on an ad, they'd know because they track clicks. They would probably know when you bought it, because they really want to be able to prove that their ads lead to sales.

But if you don't follow the ad to the product, the broker will only know that you've looked at the product; they won't know that you've bought it. Worse, the brokers keep exactly who they show which ad secret from the advertisers because knowing who to target is the core of their business. The last thing they want to do is to tell advertisers who is being shown which ads. So they keep showing you the ad in hopes you'll buy, all the while keeping it secret from the advertiser, who could tell them it's pointless because they've already made the sale.

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