Verizon isn't the only online company that uses targeted advertising. Many provide the opt out ability. A few even allow you to input your interests to make them more relevant. Since advertisements are an inevitable part of the online experience, I prefer seeing ads about products or services that interest me.
The link to opt out is: www.verizon.com/tvads . You will need to sign in MyVerzion to set your opt out preferences.
Before I knew about Relevant TV I was seeing an inordinate number of commercials each day from Volvo and my credit union. In one hour probably 2 commercials from each. So I started searching the web and found Relevant TV and opted out. But even still I see one or two commercials on most days for Volvo and weekly for my credit union.
The problem is I bought a brand new Volvo 5 years ago and it only has 15k miles. I'm not buying another new car for years - or maybe ever if on-demand rentals of autonomous vehicles by smartphone takes hold circa 2020. For the credit union I do all my financing and banking with them already. So what's the point of some of these "relevant tv ads"?
Relevant TV ads, at least those two above, seem as misguided as retargetting ads on the web. For retargetting ads for example, I buy a ceiling fan and for the next two weeks I see nothing but ceiling fan banner ads on websites even though I'm not going to buy another ceiling fan. All the algorithms know is I shopped lots of websites for ceiling fans, left several empty carts with ceiling fans in them so maybe I'll be back to buy lots more ceiling fans even though I was really only shopping for one fan.
I understand retargetting ads work somewhat to bring people back to make a purchase they gave up on. But those banner ads are pushed way too often and even more so when there's nothing left to buy. Same goes for Relevant TV it seems.
