It would only be a matter of time before they started showing ads to paying users too. Pay for a magazine subscription? Magazine is filled with ads anyway. Pay for a cable tv subscription? Filled with ads anyway. Pay for HBO? Get shameless product placement (they claim they don't take money for it, but that doesn't change the substance of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuIJVLrIAZQ) Pay for netflix? More product placement. Pay to see a movie? Ads before the movie, product placement throughout. Pay for Hulu? More like paying for ads.