[bigtimeidiot]

>ad revenue is the only way to directly capitalize on your popularity among those people.

Are these people clicking ads, though? I doubt it. And if not, you aren't monetizing them directly via that method, either.

[elsonrodriguez]

They don't have to click to monetize, but yes, some click.

Enough so that you can offset the cost of the hobby in many cases, and make a living in that rarest, most desirable of cases.

[sfifs]

Most advertising is cost per impression, not click. Search is pretty much the only major cost per click type of advertising.