I think a big reason why ads became the dominant way of revenue generation on the web (as opposed to micromonetization) was systemic issues that just took time to solve.
a) early internet adopters were mainly young people who didn’t have a lot of purchasing power yet
b) a complete lack of trusted means for online payment
More recently things have started to trend away from this because these two issues are now solved. You can see this in social media like Discord or Telegram who have a freemium model, movie/tv streaming like netflix or disney plus, new entrants like kagi or the general proliferation of SaaS offerings which can now sustain a premium userbase where previously you would’ve opted for an ads based model (think of the n different todolist providers etc.)
Ads have existed across mediums though, from print, to TV and now on the web. IMO they reflect a fundamental unwillingness of the general public to pay for information.
I think that for the majority, the issue isn't really the money, but the friction. Having to set up an account, or pull out a credit card, is an enormous friction point. The path of least resistance is to tolerate the ads.
A proper micropayment system could greatly reduce or eliminate the friction of payments, but we still don't really have one.
a) early internet adopters were mainly young people who didn’t have a lot of purchasing power yet
b) a complete lack of trusted means for online payment
More recently things have started to trend away from this because these two issues are now solved. You can see this in social media like Discord or Telegram who have a freemium model, movie/tv streaming like netflix or disney plus, new entrants like kagi or the general proliferation of SaaS offerings which can now sustain a premium userbase where previously you would’ve opted for an ads based model (think of the n different todolist providers etc.)