Not so sure about this. There's Patreon, there's superthanks on YouTube, streamer tips, etc. for smaller publishers and people in developed countries are increasingly fine with subscriptions to streaming services, Spotify and the like (though the proliferation of services may again drive people towards piracy).

However this is probably still just a minority, and most people are less annoyed by ads than by having to pay however little. I'm not sure that the market correctly prices their eyeballs though, relative to those who are willing to pay micropayments. Intuitively, I'd guess the second type are probably more willing to buy things online in general. But probably the numbers and engagement metrics are prioritized more as KPIs for promotion etc.