Re: wouldn't mind targeted adverts, if they were!
I wanted a piece of perspex the other day. I googled for it, bought it, it arrived next day. A month later I get perspex adverts on every site I go to, from the same company I bought from, even on things like LWN.net which I go to every day. I haven't seen a decent Linux-related ad in decades.
Most ad money is just wasted, it has to be said. Like tobacco advertising - it worked to the tobacco's firms advantage when it was banned in the UK because they saved an awful lot of money by not advertising any more, and as no brand could advertise, it didn't hurt them at all.
Online ads are never "targeted", they are just keyword hunted to oblivion. You also end up with things that make people think twice about allowing you to share my data or even show me adverts: I once ended up on Milanoo through a search engine click for something completed unrelated (someone had been keyword spamming technical terms on a clothing site!). A month later I was still getting adverts for leotards, lingerie and even latex dresses on random sites that I visited (and have never bought any of the above online and certainly won't be in the primary market for them).
If you used your brain and offered Linux (or even Windows!) ads to people on TheRegister, Slashdot, LWN.net etc., or at the very least something IT-related, you might up end up more results. But spamming me with things I've already bought, or never would buy, rather than the stuff you see me to go every day, maybe there's an advertising opportunity there? No. I'm just waiting for the first ad to appear about perspex leotards, instead.