An Internet without marketing advertisements. Is it possible?

[p0wn3d]

Remember back in the 70's and 80's before cable TV? We only had channels 3,6, and 7. We loved TV but couldn't stand the commercials every 5 minutes. The internet has turned into one big TV commercial. Websites are now 10% content and 90% ads. It is so sad that we let this get out of control. Don't get me started on social networking and how they exist to be the big TV commercial just to make boatloads of cash.

[amcnellis]

I completely disagree. Internet ad supply far outstrips demand due to proliferation of UGC and other "non-premium" content. If you look at the prices of ads on any given ad exchange, particularly those with large amounts of long-tail inventory like Google AdX, CPMs are in the pennies versus ~$10-20 for television and newspapers. Additionally, just look at video ads. In an ad-supported, long-form online video (like Hulu), you see significantly fewer advertisements than the equivalent program on cable TV.

Finally, look at search ads. You think it's not worth seeing a couple of inconspicuous (yet often fully-relevant and targeted) text ads in return for Google's products? Same thing for Facebook...