> preference projection of someone who prefers subscription content than the majority of actual ad-subsidized content consumers

No - I'm referring to clickbait, chumboxes or low-quality articles whose primary purpose is to show ads - the content itself is only there to lure you into seeing ads and is universally hated even by freemium customers.

I suspect that there's a huge amount of content like this which subsidizes the platforms, ad networks and various middlemen.