Targeted marketing

I do have a PVR, so I skip thru commercials. But skipping :30 at a time still allows me to see bits and pieces. The wife and I often boggle at how badly targeted so much TV advertising seems to be. That, or we are totally atypical of the audience. But right now I am looking at something interesting; the HD-only channels have HD-specific ads. Disney movie ads with a few seconds at the end dedicated to the HD format DVD. An ad for a camera that has HD output, so when you take photos of the kids you can show them off better (direct from the camera, if you are like that). Etc. Its interesting, because its been recognized for what it is: a market I am totally certain of. Everyone watching these has this specific piece of equipment. We can appeal to that! I'll bet there is a lesson here about how targeted marketing has largely failed in desktops and mobiles; even mobile browsers tend to have UA strings that say the device is mobile, if not which one. Even if privacy concerns leave out the near-term option of addressing customers based on carrier-provided information, location and other specific info, there's probably something that would allow more targeted marketing than "get the latest hip-hop ringtones!"