On the upside, some content of independent authors is largely supported via avenues like Patreon and tips, not ads.

Most of the websites I produce do not have ads on them. I don't make much money, but I do make some and it's better than it used to be. I'm hopeful that there will be more of a trend towards small content producers making enough to survive and we can begin to crowd out the "cancer" that is some of the worst commercialized stuff.

It doesn't have to go away completely. We can just refuse to let it choke everything.