I would have thought that their very expensive membership fees and article/publication fees would have covered their operating expenses.
Why not? The advertising is never going to stop unless everyone blocks it. Content blockers should come pre-installed with all browsers. Ideally, they should be fully integrated features instead of mere extensions.
That's the only way for browsers to still retain their status as user agents. Browsers are supposed to act on our behalf by showing us the information we want to see. They aren't supposed to show us advertising noise for someone else's benefit.
> I would have thought that their very expensive membership fees and article/publication fees would have covered their operating expenses.
It's not about covering operating expenses. Memberships revenue + advertising revenue will always be greater than memberships revenue alone. It's an easy choice for them to make. Why would they actively choose to make less money than they could be making?
This advertising noise will never disappear on its own. We need to actively get rid of it. We need to make it so that advertising is a waste of money for companies. That's the only way to make them stop.
Because you forgot to install or enable an ad blocker. I know this is not a real answer to your question but it is the best answer to the annoying ads problem.