Add in that 80% of published items (tweets, Facebook posts and so called articles) is just repeating the first 20% then why would you want to pay to be near such value-free claptrap.
And maybe that is the answer. The model from say the 90s was advertising sat next to some of the best news reporting and best fictional tv and radio ever, and then we exploded the volume of news and content - of course the value must go down. It’s only now that we have reached a point where the expansion of the content universe is so spread out that it’s thinned out so much it’s not worth a dime at any one point - so why pay?
Humans need to talk to other humans about the weather, their back aches and the local politics. That’s good for society, But the rest of the world does not need to listen or treat it as a publication.
Maybe we will learn that just as web of trust is the right way to do security, word of mouth might be the right way to do consumerism - that advertising will have to change - perhaps the only way to succeed is to build products that make peoples lives measurably better, not find the lowest cost product that can make a profit at the thinnest part of the broadcasting world - we don’t do broadcasting any more so don’t do broadcast advertising. Build a brand on your reputation- one sale at a time.