I think a/v vs text is the wrong dichotomy. I think it's more about passive content and "commercial" content vs. active content and individualistic content. The web used to be about conversations, it used to be about individual passions. Some of that still exists, but it's being pushed to the margin as click bait, memes, sharable bite-sized content, and "hands off" content has risen to the fore.

Having used gopher a bit before the first browser it was inline images that made the web revolutionary imo. I remember being amazed by the pages with layout and images. So at least for me the web has always been a very visual medium.