The Price of Free Google Report.
Proton analyzed over 54,000 demographic profiles using 2025 ad auction data to estimate what advertisers pay to reach different types of Americans. The range is much wider than you might expect.
The average American generates about $1,605 a year in advertising value. A 35- to 44-year-old man in Bozeman, MT, without children, using a desktop and making high-value corporate searches, generates an estimated $17,929.30. An 18- to 24-year-old father in Fort Smith, AR, using an Android phone and making low-value searches, generates $31.05.
That’s a 577x difference between two people using the same free service.
I need to start poisioning my data more and make it stupid expensive to advertise to me.
I just got this ad which just felt hilarious as I've no connections to Ghana
That you know of!
Yeah!
The sinister part is that this ad might not be for you.
Do you have a friend, family member, or coworker that has shared wifi and space with you that has a connection to Ghana? This is meant to get you taking to them about it
Nope, I have my own network that's locked down and not shared with anyone else. If I'm not at home, I'm on 5G, never public/work wi-fi
Could be a rough postcode guess, then. With lagtime.
My play store ads are all based on my VPN IP from weeks ago. Sounds like you're done well foiling the algos.
But google still gets paid. The advertisers will just pump money into Google's coffers.
I think the amount would go down though if we all poisen our data, making it useless. :thinking_face:
That's just loss to the end user advertisers. Google still gets paid.
AdNauseaum.