Handbook of Media Economics, vol 1B

underlying behavioral driver in our results because the combination of obtrusiveness and

targeting diminishes ad effectiveness more for privacy-sensitive items (such as healthcare

and financial products) and for people who exhibit privacy-sensitive behavior while tak-

ing the survey.

Acquisti and Spiekermann (2011) reinforce this finding by showing that

obtrusive pop-up ads online negatively affect willingness to pay for the advertised goods.

This again emphasizes that though much of the privacy debate may be focused on data-

enriched ads, there are many other negative ways that advertising can intrude on users’

privacy beyond behavioral targeting. A more comprehensive approach to user privacy

would therefore consider how obtrusiveness also hinders ...