The problem is that by doing that, you’re skimming the top percentile of your user base with the most purchasing power. You’re much less attractive to advertisers then.
YouTube has essentially monopolized video (especially being that Netflix has no adverts). YouTube knows that from that position, it’s competing only with adblockers.
Which makes the New York Times very attractive to advertisers since they show adverts to their subscribers, meaning that they offer a pre-selected audience of people with higher purchasing power.