People block ads. And for good reason. If a big website wants to make money from ads, they need to force the advertisers hand sometimes. OutBrain and Taboola are the worst.
Bear in mind ads is just one revenue stream. There are times that ad market has collapsed and prices dropped. Having a second (or more) reliable and recurring revenue stream makes solid business sense and allows them to move away from soem of the crappier ad practices.
Maybe they can start anew if they used bearable ads - something like The Deck (no affiliation, just an example).