More like, "in exchange, we'll make more honey that you can buy from us too."

I gain nothing by watching ads. All I get is the creation of a need or desire that I didn't have before I watched the ad. Ads increase demand. Telling me that your business will fail unless I voluntarily inconvenience myself is not endearing me to your business.

If you wish not to see ads (even ads which don't track, and pay you 70% of their revenue), then you stick with the default, out-of-box experience. Brave is an ad and tracker blocker, by default.

No, if I don’t want ads I use an ad blocker and script manager that only exists to block out what you’re selling. As a bonus I get to hope that far from being able to help save this wretched industry, I can help to hammer some nails in its coffin. Your business model would only be remotely appealing if things like uBlock Origin, NoScript and uMatrix didn’t exist. Fortunately they do, so I don’t even have to think about malware ads, inefficient ads, and just plain annoying ads. Even better I don’t have to “be the product being sold” or have to waste my mental energy critically thinking through the bullshit that is advertising.

Life without endless, wheedling attempts to sell, upsell, and generally manipulate you into buying more crap is frankly better than the alternatives. I can’t tell you how many cord cutters I’ve met who lost their tolerance for tv advertisement once they weren’t bathing in it every day. Ads are miserable, they drive a consumer culture that is pointless, and lead to endless loads of clickbait and “content” thst exists just be a platform form advertisement.

The industry doesn’t need saving, it needs euthanizing.

"I gain nothing by watching ads."

You get the site getting revenue, which allows it to continue existing and creating the content you enjoy.

I don't generally like ads, but sometimes they do advertise a product that I needed anyway or is better than what I was using before.

No, Brave says "no bees" by default. Secondly, you are hoisting upon ads a prejudicial bias by likening them, necessarily, to bees. Ads aren't the problem; the bees who hide behind them are. Either way, if you don't want them, you don't get them. It's an opt-in system.

Brave's home page proudly promises to "Block Ads" in big red <H4> tags and tries to convince you that the "average" user is losing hundreds of dollars a year over ads. Are you sure you want to talk about hoisting a prejudicial bias upon ads?

The new bees also never sting anyone, which is pretty good.