I worked for an ad-tech company for several years in this exact space. This company worked specifically in this area on ad targeting of online, display, interactive and interstitial ads in web, social media, video and native platforms.

We worked closely with the IAB on exactly these kinds of questions. While we did not produce ads ourselves (for the most part) we did focus on ad targeting. As part of the work we routinely tested our algorithms across all these platforms. Much of this testing involved anonymous A/B testing but we also performed in depth analysis on targeted monitored volunteers. We also did live in person monitoring (although this is extremely expensive, but it is cool to watch people from behind a 1way mirror)

This is in fact one of the insights that we came away with as a result of all that data.

Interesting, one of the other things that came out of that r&d (and some related projects) is the “Why am I seeing this ad?” and the “Stop seeing this ad” options you will find on YouTube and other platforms and ad distribution networks.

Relevant to this conversation the overall research indicated that while older individuals tended to expect ads to be random and non-targeted (presumably because they had grown up in an era of television and print where all ads were not targeted) The younger someone was the more they expected ads to be targeted towards them and their demographic. Specifically, the research indicated that younger generations were more likely to use available tools to indicate that an ad was not relevant to them. (presumably older generations, expect ads to be non-interactive so they don’t even think of looking for ways to modify their experience) Further younger generations reported greater satisfaction and user experience when ads that were relevant and targeted toward them were presented to them instead of ads that were not.

More than one study participant expressed confusion and or concern when ads that seemed to not be relevant to them were presented. The concern came from an underlying innate understanding and comfort with how these systems worked. Specifically when presented with ads that were not targeted some became concerned that their accounts or systems may have been accessed or used by someone other than themselves.

In the data there’s a sharp uptick around people born in the mid to late 80s with a study increase from there and then another uptick with people born in the mid 90s.

I no longer work at that company so I do not have access to that data any longer but I believe Facebook and the IAB did similar studies and made the results public (I think the IAB study actually included some of our data) so if you don’t believe me, you can go look at these other studies. They are out there.

The point is this; I don’t know which group you are in. Maybe you’re in one of these age groups but if you are, you are an outlier. And just because you think one way and it feels right to you you shouldn’t make assumptions about other people based on your own experience. This way of thinking is a trap. You are not everyone not everyone is like you. No matter what age group you are in you are just a single data point.