When I read a printed tech magazine, I get the ad targeting that may be interesting for me, just because of the content I'm reading. There is no other information flowing back to online advertisers, or, to be more realistic, person tracking companies, which is what they really are. The content should be enough to determine the ad category, which would suite your desire for more engaging ads.
There's no reason why online publications can't do that as well. If I read a blog post about food, show me an ad about the coolest frying pan on earth and also one about the one with the best price to performance to ratio.
Show me ads for a Porsche even if I can't afford it, I may in a couple of years, and in the meantime the ads may have told my subconsciousness that this Porsche should be my goal.