[dannycastonguay]

In practice, ads are there because sponsors are ready to pay for something good that consumers have no desire to pay for.

Thank you, advertisers, for paying for Gmail and all those good products.

[908087]

"Our products are so good that nobody is willing to pay for them" doesn't sound very convincing.

[dannycastonguay]

Maybe you have something to teach me.

Are you not convinced that Google Search, DDG, Gmail, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat are all "good" products in the eye of many people? As far as I can tell, all of those products are paid for by sponsors.

[joshuamorton]

On the other hand "consumers choose our products even though there are other free alternatives" does.

[908087]

These platforms have been coasting on network effects alone for years. The "I'd quit but I have no other way to stay in touch with (friends/family/whoever)." / "but all my (whoever) are on it" justifications you constantly see from people are evidence to support that.

[joshuamorton]

Yes, email and web-search, the peak of consumer-side vendor lock in.

Indeed, networks effects may sometimes be relevant to some of these tools. But that's certainly not always true.