If I’m already paying to receive a publication, why should I have to deal with these annoying ads asking me to subscribe? I’m already a subscriber… and an agitated one.

Publishers generate a decent number of new subs from the inserts in existing subscribers’ magazines. Eliminating these inserts would cost them money. Plus, some think it would be difficult to separate subscriber’s issues from newstand issues when printing and binding.

To offset these costs, I would be willing to pay a 10% premium to not get inserts. Would you be willing to cough up some extra dough to avoid these pesky ads?

However, I’ve begun to rethink whether targeted advertising is a good idea, thanks to the ads on Twitterrific. When I decided to try Twitterrific I had the intention of buying the ad-free version if I liked it enough. I love Twitterrific but I don’t plan to make this purchase because, can you believe it, I actually like the ads.

Twitterrific’s users tend to be tech-saavy web users. Marketers advertise on Twitterrific mainly to reach “creative, web and design professionals” and the ads I’ve see thus far are for stuff I’m actually interested in. Below is a screenshot of some ads I’ve seen lately.

In order for us to enjoy all the free online services, we must endure the advertising that pays for it. But, online advertising is so poorly done that I’ve been trained to ignore ads on the web at all costs. If the ads were more geared towards my interests, however, I’d be more likely to pay attention or even take action. Twitterrific’s ad-serving partner, the Deck, has achieved this. I pay attention to their ads because I usually find something interesting or discover a cool company I didn’t previously know about.

Now I’m not saying I want my surfing habits tracked in order to get better ads. But, if there was another way to achieve this without invading my privacy (opt-in surveys?), I think I might view advertising in a whole new light.