I really like the model of Talking Points Memo, an independent news site covering American politics. I subscribe to their "Prime AF" plan which 1) has a great name and 2) just doesn't have any ads, ever. It's really jarring to read it when logged out though, because their regular ad-supported site has so many ads it will cripple your web browser.

It’s little known that, in the bad old days, subscriptions subsidized the ads in newspapers and magazines and not the other way around.

The subscription also qualifies the viewer as someone who has money and is committed and is a better prospect to advertise to.

Weren't classified ads a real moneymaker for newspapers in the pre-web era? I don't know how that revenue compared to display ads, but losing it all to the web must have really hurt.

They were but I'm talking about the display ads.

(Brings me back to that time in high school when I was being harassed by another student and phoned in a free want ad to the paper claiming he had a little of Chihuahua puppies with his home phone number...)