Nearly 70% of ‘parents’ targeted by ads don’t have kids

The reliability of socio-demographic targeting—grouping audiences based on a combination of social and demographic traits, like age, gender, income, and lifestyle—in digital advertising may not be reliable. 

According to a study from Adlook, which surveyed 1,325 people in the US, a substantial difference exists between targeting assumptions and actual audience composition.

Among the commonly targeted segment of women aged 18-24, for example, precision was found to be less than 20%. Among those targeted, 43% were men, 61% were over 24 years old (35% were above 55), and only 18% were women aged 18-24.

Further, 67% of users targeted by ads as ‘parents’ don’t actually have kids; 76% of users targeted as ‘married’ declared they were not; and over half (52%) of those classified as ‘mums’ are men. 

Mateusz Jedrocha, Adlook's chief product officer, said: “Legacy media-buying strategies and limited offline tools, like panels, force complex consumer profiles into broad categories such as ‘women 20-44. ‘This is unnecessary in today’s digital age—when brands can target consumers based on real interests and behaviours.”

Overall, over half of all impressions reviewed in the study were misclassified into conflicting age groups, meaning the same users were wrongly labelled across multiple, contradictory segments.

Over a third (35%) of impressions were simultaneously eligible for both the women and men segments, while 55% fell into two or more age groups, demonstrating significant classification errors. 

Jedrocha added: “This is the inevitable outcome of flattening nuanced audience insights into simplistic demographic assumptions that rarely align with real-world behaviour. The result is wasted adspend and reduced campaign effectiveness.

“These findings expose a critical issue in digital advertising that too many are scared to call out around the lack of accuracy in socio-demographic targeting. But it’s not just about data accuracy; it’s about moving beyond outdated, simplistic audience definitions. 

“Brands must adopt solutions that embrace the complexity of modern consumer behaviour while improving transparency, reducing costs, and being privacy-centered.”

The story was first published on Campaign's sister title Performance Marketing World.