Once consumption goes down (to me this is no longer a question of if but rather of when) advertising will become redundant.
When advertising becomes redundant, Internet services that depend dominantly on it will likely see a sharp drop in income and revenues.
Those who have additional sources of revenue may be able to continue to exist, to do what they do, to pay their employees …. to sustain themselves.
Those who rely solely on advertising income will likely crash … they are unsustainable.
Most Internet services offered as “free” hinge their existence on advertising … that makes them, in my mind, unsustainable.
If you depend on such services … you should know they are not sustainable.
If sustainability is important to you, and if these services are important to you … ask yourself what you can do to show you care?
What can you do to help them achieve sustainability?
If they don’t want your help … where does that leave you?
What do you depend on?