Billions upon billions of dollars and decades of research have been spent on marketing and advertising because it works.

They don't necessarily want to convince you to buy their product directly. What they want is for you to constantly be reminded of their brand so that when you decide to buy a product, your first thought might be their product. If you're thirsty and you walk into a store, they want you to think of Coke. If you're hungry, they want you to think of McDonald's. Even if you don't really like it, maybe you don't buy their product, but you're thinking of it, so maybe you'll talk about it and remind someone else of it.

Watch data is valuable because it lets them know how to keep your attention so that you'll watch more ads. It tells them which ads to associate with you personally, and which videos to put which ads on for maximum effect.

I think the basic idea is that data collection is a form of uncompensated labor. The matter of what it's worth isn't the issue, but the fact of it being worth anything to anyone at all, and it being taken from you with little to no choice in the matter. Not to mention bought, sold, traded, etc.

Yes, a lot of it is tied to agreeing to a EULA, but we all know that just about anything we click on or do on our phones and computers is tracked, stored, sold, and used to make money in dozens/hundreds of ways, EULA or not.

I don’t think I’ve ever bought something because of an advertisement.

Side note, this is incredibly difficult to believe, tbh.