I dont think its the same. First off, on my laptop sometimes I can barely see the pink shaded area around the sponsored listings so I honestly sometimes dont even now if I just clicked on a targeted ad or not. I cant be the only one.
But also, if I want to buy a Ford, and I type it in, and someone says "Hey theres a ford dealer in San Francisco! Check us out!" theres no reason why I would ignore it just because I live 20 minutes away and theres a closer dealer available. I want to see both of them to compare.
Theres a difference in buying your way to a top of a list that I just ASKED google to formulate for me, compared to what TV ads do. That would be like me searching ford, and a random Maytag Appliance link comes up hoping to just bury info into your mind. Thats when you start skipping the ads. But when theyre relevant, people often like then.
Finally, as stated by someone else earlier, as an actual consumer, I'm starting to give MORE relevance to PPC results than organic when Im shopping! When I want to buy/research something online, Im starting to trust the PPC ads more, thinking "Hey this is a real site that Im sure delivers something valuable, because theyre offering $1-3 for me to just LOOK at their stuff! Who knows the quality of that first organic link anyway.."
