Computer searches reflected in my cable commercials?

Recently I have noticed some really odd coincidences in our cable TV programming. I had been seeking comparative information on new cars and ended up buying a Nissan. I had also been seeking a new accoustic-electric guitar. We had recently bought some musical items, guitar strings, mics, picks, an Ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, and vitamin supplements.

In the last two weeks as I have been going through these various searches, I keep seeing all the items in the scrolling advertisement banners on ATS which are generated by my computer searches on the commercials on my television! It is as if those scrolling banners are now generating custom cable commercials aimed directly at the items I have been doing computer searches on!

I just watched a series of commercials that covered that entire list of items in 5 minutes and all back to back! This has been including these items as my searches were being performed over a couple of weeks, I keep seeing the exact things that are in my scrolling banners on ATS.

Is this even possible? Is cable and our internet colluding to sell me items from my searches? That series of commercials all back to back was just bizarre to see all together that way. Tell me I am imagining things lol cuz that is quite a coincidental run of items.

I think it's just random luck.

Unless your cable provider is somehow google or bing or whatever search engine you use.

Maybe 20 - 30 years down the track it wouldn't surprise me at all.

But not now days.... yet...

reply to post by DaRAGE


I dont know i was bsing with my woman about sex and next thing you know the trojan finger thing was being advertised on the computer and att tv who knows. Maybe the mics that hear everything watch when you get apps you give them your life just for an app.

The exact 3-4 things I am looking for on Ebay or another site appear advertised on many news site's revolving adds--together

reply to post by Coopdog


Is it coincidence? Well, not at all. Targeted ads are well documented. Google is one of the big ad providers. They track you through cookies (look them up) and record your searches, then decide what banners you're likely to click on, and you see these banners on your favorite sites like ATS. ATS gets a few cents to display the banners.

The custom cable experience seems newer to me if its happening at all, (I too have seen things, but can't rule out coincidence) but I can tell you as a tech guy the infrastructure is there to deliver this experience, where each cable box gets different ads. All it would take to get them targeted to you would be a behind the scenes business partnership between your cable company and your favorite search engine, and the ability to tie your cable box to your computer, which Google (amonst others) has the power to provide, via the tech deployed here:

www.computerworld.com...

Yup. My mom gets a ton of colon cancer ads and some others I find a bit weird because they are exactly what she searches. Is your cable provider also your internet provider? Mine is

I understand about targeted ads on the internet. I get that. However targeted searches from the internet to your CABLE TV PROGRAM is a totally different animal that I believe does NOT exist yet.

reply to post by tridentblue


Oh my God, I just totally saw the future of television through this. Basically what's been happening for a while is that the distance between a video of someone and a computer generated avatar of them has becoming less and less for some time, which means that's its becoming possible to make a show where they can make a character look like Kevin Bacon, (for instance) even though he was never filmed for the show, just based on metrics from his face and voice.

Okay, so picture this: The show is called "Reflections", and its this group of investigators looking for this incredible but secret hero, who's doing all this awesome stuff behind the scenes. Users have to download software with their video enabled computers to get into the secret footage of who this hero is, which is concealed from normal viewers. But when they do, it video tapes their face.

And the hero, broadcast on cable TV to their homes after they've downloaded the software? ITS THEM THE VIEWER! Of course you need to record different responses based on gender and appearance from the (real) supporting actors, but the point is each person has the experience of discovering THEMSELVES as the secret hero, seeing real video, or a computer generated avatar based off video of them. Man, that show would be a trip!

reply to post by Coopdog


If you have IP-[enabled-] TV, and the ads are graphical banners and not a part of the stream, then it is somewhat possible.
If you have cable, then no.

reply to post by Coopdog


Probably someone already said this, but I will reiterate or introduce the concept; "the best way to convince someone of something, is to make them think they thought of it themselves." is a classic saying. You might think; "what i searched I then saw on tv" but in reality; "what i saw [subconsciously] on tv, caused me to then look at it online, and my individual thoughts made me feel what I was seeing online was actually on tv, but is really the dog coming back to the man who threw the bone so to speak.

Okay, this one gives me chills...

There's a way to check it. Do a search on your computer for something totally out of normal for you, and also that you've never seen advertised on cable.

Wait for the coincidences to pile up.

What fascinates me about the application of a lot of this technology is, for sales purposes it often comes too late; I'm still getting ads for cars coming up long after I've bought one; ditto a lot of the things I research. Typically if I'm doing research, it's only hours before I buy something relatively inexpensive. And yet the targeted ads continue for months and only annoy me.

Flagged on this, most definitely. This is spooky but with that Utah thing going live (soon?) the whole world is becoming a science fiction novel, and not a happy one.

Originally posted by signalfire
What fascinates me about the application of a lot of this technology is, for sales purposes it often comes too late; I'm still getting ads for cars coming up long after I've bought one

Was thinking exactly the same thing as I'm reading this thread.
Surely by now the ad spammers should have a "he already bought one" flag to stop me getting ads for products AFTER I've bought one.

Originally posted by signalfire
There's a way to check it. Do a search on your computer for something totally out of normal for you, and also that you've never seen advertised on cable.

Oh, and thats also a nice little practical joke you can play on somebody if you get hold of their computer for a few minutes. Find out what they dont like (eg. clowns), then go to amazon.com and search for a lot of them. In the days and weeks afterwards, they'll be wondering "why am I getting all these ads for CLOWNS?!?!?"

Well I got enough odd answers to this thread to convince me it is at least possible. My cable and my internet are not one and the same, but who knows how it is all connected nowadays. The run of products I just saw advertised is random enough and NOT random enough to warrant my suspsicions.

By this I mean I bought some sets of superslinky ernie ball guitar strings, certain picks, a shure Microphone and searched for electric accoustic guitars, all were included in this one commercial. THen a commercial came on for a Nissan Rogue which I just bought, then a commercial for an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, then a commercial for supplements...including ascorbic acid (vit C) all back to back and that pretty much fulfills all of my internet searches and research in the last few weeks. NOT a random occurrence I am thinking.

Get ready folks, here comes the NEW WORLD, and it is happening as we speak. NEver think your internet searches are not being paid attention to. The time is NOW and it is happening as we speak in my humble opinion.

The internet just might be the universal consciousness that the pope was speaking of. Interesting times we are living in.

Originally posted by signalfire
...
There's a way to check it. Do a search on your computer for something totally out of normal for you, and also that you've never seen advertised on cable.

Wait for the coincidences to pile up.
...

edit on 27-5-2013 by signalfire because: addendum

The perfect suggestion. Do a "scientific experiment". For a week long, do searches on specific items (say 5 items) - something odd you won't typically search for and something you haven't noticed as a TV ad. Continue to search the same items (and visit sites about the items) for the entire week.

Then switch the items to different ones the following week. And so on. Continue this for about a month. Keep a well documented record of the items, times you searched, and times the items are advertised on TV (should they be advertised on TV) during the tests, and so on. The more detailed your record keeping the better proof you have of what you're saying is true.

DONE I searched a half dozen things I never searched before, we'll see if I find myself looking at commercials for them soon enough. lol Crazy stuff IMHO

Jesus Crispy Crunch does nobody know how to use anti-tracking mods anymore?

reply to post by SilentKoala

The advertisers would say you should want to be tracked so they can deliver targeted advertising to help inform you and allow you to make the best possible decision.

But they can go a little too far, and as some said keep sending you targeted ads long after you've made your purchase.

The response by nevertheless sounds reasonable to me about cable advertising. I think they target that by local markets but not by specific individual, yet, unless they've made advances I'm not aware of. That's probably the future though.

I have not had cable tv in about twelve years so I cannot say I have noticed anything out of the ordinary on antenna broadcasts. Then again I rarely even watch tv from the antenna either. Mostly Netflix.

As far as the computer goes. yes everything you search for will be advertised by Google on virtually every website you go to.

Originally posted by SilentKoala
Jesus Crispy Crunch does nobody know how to use anti-tracking mods anymore?

You say that like the technology has been around for a hundred years...some of us are old furts, y'know. And they didn't teach this stuff back when we were in school. Hell, I remember black and white teevee. Hell, I remember NO TEEVEE! (starred for the wonderful phrase 'jesus crispy crunch' though. Darn, I'm gonna steal that one.

And to the above poster about 'clowns'. Yeegawds, you ain't gettin' near my computer. Clowns are creepy.

reply to post by Coopdog


Its happened to be in the past....
But the part I dont like is that sometimes they come up with
something better than what I bought and for less!!!

Try doing porn searches and see if anything comes up.....