I know everyone hates ads, especially popup ads which are now mostly a thing of the past.

But, we all see ads as a simple inconvenience. I ignore ads I can't skip - the only time ads might affect me is when I'm purchasing something I already want or need, and then maybe brand recognition comes into play. But it's rare, if ever, that I see an ad for something and it makes me actually want to buy it.

And yet advertising is a huge industry with tons of money being spent on it, whereas I believe many people rely on word-of-mouth advertisement, endorsements from their peers. Even targeted advertisement doesn't really seem to show me anything I'm interested in.

Ads have to work, or else it makes no sense to spend so much money on them. But who are these ads working on? Who bothers to watch them, even if you're forced to play them before playing your show or tutorial or whatever? Is it merely enough to get the name out there, just in case the people that see it happen to want to buy a product like yours someday, in the hopes they choose your product out of brand recognition? Am I just weirdly immune to advertisement (I did have a disappointing experience with an elephant toy I saw in a commercial as a kid, not to mention various disappointing video games, and it certainly made me a cynic)?