This is the sort of analysis that validates the skepticism of the likes of me when we hear of the incredible amounts of money swept up by the likes of Google and Facebook. Particularly implausible is the money spent advertising on smartphones where ads are never anything but an irritation. More  investigation of the sort described in this article ought to bring those companies back to the ground.

But by the same token one can question the way advertising money is spent uncritically on TV. Take Canada's only investment/business channel. I watch it quite a bit but some of the shows I do watch consistently have such a god-awful host that I record them, then Fast Forward through  skipping all but a few minutes (sometimes 0) of content that is of particular interest to me. Do advertisers take these aspects into consideration when they hire specialized companies to allocate their budget to different outlets?