I do not think that metaphor holds at all, if "water" is open web and "chugging" means spending advertising dollars there.

I don't have a link on hand, but GOOG and FB captured something like 95% of digital advertisement growth in 2017. In other words, out of each new 1$ shifted to digital from TV and print, 95 cents went to duopoly.

And advertisers which are still "chugging" open web, installing more and more "filters" and "purifiers" (different anti-fraud and measurement providers).

People from digital media are talking about digital media crash. [0] Buzzfeed failed their revenue goal and fired 100 employees. [1] Mashable was sold for peanuts. [2] Business Insider, granddady of ad-monetized clickbait, pushing more and more articles under "BI Prime", which means paid access.

A lot of people were clamoring for death of ad-supported publishing on open web. Well, the future is almost here.

[0] https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/theres-a-digital-media-... [1] https://www.recode.net/2017/11/29/16715350/buzzfeed-lays-off... [2] https://www.recode.net/2017/12/5/16735262/ziff-davis-mashabl...

Chugging means, the general public is not at all concerned about what it's being subjected to - be it privacy / tracking or the visual pollution of ads.

If the market is the decider then I think the market is saying - quite loudly - the water is great to drink.

> Business Insider, granddady

Now I feel like Methuselah, who played with dinosaurs before the Ark.