The relevance of the study is due to the need to optimize the procedures for identifying the target audience online. In this regard, the article is aimed at identifying the benefits of finding the target audience for the subsequent promotion of the product through streaming micro-segmentation of network users. Orientation of the marketing company at the potential consumer significantly increases the cost effectiveness. However, society responds to this by forming a limited rationality in the behavioral aspect. This phenomenon is considered on the one hand from the point of view of the consumer and on the other hand from the position of the supplier of goods and services. Using this method, paternalism on the part of the state is possible, but the question of intervention and control remains more philosophical. The leading method is the method of abstracting that allowed comparing the developments in the methods of market segmentation and adapting them to modern realities. The article compares the basic concepts of classical economics and modern methods of identifying the target audience. The materials of the article are of practical importance for medium and large enterprises actively working in sales and consumer search.