Would you give advertisers your information? I would.

We need to make massive changes in the way we think about advertisers, especially when it comes to mainstream media.  I don’t consume a large amount of it personally, mainly because it is overly difficult, expensive and inefficient to do so.  I think there’s a huge opportunity to streamline the process and cost of media consumption.

For the past hundred years or so, we’ve been able to consume massive amounts of free ad-supported media.  From radio to television to a huge amount of online media, advertising has paid the tab for the vast majority of the stuff we consume.  The problem is that advertisers are consistently failing to make their share.  I think I have a solution, and the technology is already in place to make it happen.

I want free ad-supported media, but the big problem is that the ads I see are typically irrelevant to my needs and interests.  I would gladly help educate the advertisers in exchange for the media I crave.

If I’m Nike and I know that a certain consumer has no interest in any of my products, wouldn’t I like to know this?  Wouldn’t I rather pay for ads that are shown only to people who are likely to be interested in my products?

I think a lot of users, like myself would gladly provide information about our likes, dislikes, interests and passions to media channels in exchange for lower media costs, more interesting ads… stuff we actually might care about, stuff we might actually buy.

In my ideal world, I would be able to consume any media I want online.  Any TV show, any movie, any print publication, and there should be a way for this media channel to know what I’m interested in and serve me with only ads that reflect my preferences.

I’m not going to switch laundry detergents even if I see a million ads telling me to, but I might try a new web host for my clients, or go to a cool new restaurant, or try a new kind of beer.  All you have to do is make it easy for me to select the ads that I’d prefer to see.