Business of online media and blogosphere

Matt-
I think the reason we aren’t making ads more relevant for 99.7% of users is because of the psychology of the decision maker at budget level.
Large advertisers will more often than not have an ‘experienced’ (read- old) marketing manager who has built a career on the back of spending money on antiquated print/tv media. It’s what they know.
To approach someone like this and suggest things like- ‘behavioral targeting’, ‘re-connect’, ‘rich-media’ all of which carry a hefty price tag compared to the tried and tested ‘smash out a million ads and hope’- is not an easy task. And to educate them on the capabilities of adserving technology is a bit like trying to teach someone mandarin in an afternoon. (I don’t speak/teach mandarin but I’m guessing it’s not easy)
Just my 5c worth.

Hey grant — I agree with you — part of the problem is the personnel, but its a lack of innovation in the industry generally — but it will eventually get there… the other point i should have made is that the hit and miss approach is still attracting online advertising, but only for products that have high value (cars, insurance contracts etc..), which only need 0.3% clicks for ROI. The point I make is that it could be so much more efficient.

Definitely- and efficiency can only achieved by using the available technology and improving on it.
The likes of Wunderloop are already making big strides in providing this sort of granular segmentation and targeting.
But the trend has definitely started- (Hence why Google bought ad technology (DoubleClick) and ad network (Blue Lithium)) So we can expect them to make a big impact in the way things are done.