I don't know if the user targeted stuff has picked up yet, but I've been noticing image ads on pages I visit a lot more than I used to, especially when they say "Hey Clearwater!" or "Hey Tampa!". I've already found a new local place to grab lunch I never knew existed before.
With well placed ads, CTR will go up for sure. For some websites, user-targeted ads are better, for others no. Depends of traffic source. (if from search engines - I'd prefer usual ads, if from social sites - i'd prefer user targeted ads). I hope google will allow us to switch user-targeted ads and usual ads per domain or channels.
That would be nice. I looked at an ad via the Manage Ads screen, but I didn't see anything that stuck out.