[orbital223]

The rule of thumb according to youtubers is that 1000 video views is worth about $1 of ad share. Youtube's ad share is about 50%, so 1000 video views should be worth about $2 of ad money for Youtube. Youtube Premium costs $12 a month which is equivalent to 6000 video views per month or ~200 video views per day. If I'm on a very youtuby mood I'll maybe watch 10 videos in a day. So, best case scenario, paying for premium comes with a 20x markup.

So your conversation actually goes:

HN/Reddit: "I would love to just give you the money directly instead of watching ads in exchange for advertizers giving you money."

Companies: "Sure, here's the ad-free version. You have to pay 20 times as much as the advertizers do though."

HN/Reddit: "Wait, what? That's bullshit. Why?"

Companies: "Fuck you, that's why."

[HDThoreaun]

The people willing to pay are the ones advertisers want to reach. Obviously we don't know the breakdown, but it's reasonable to think that advertisers would be willing to spend 20x less per ad if the high value users never saw them.

[anticensor]

HN/Reddit: "I would love to just give you the money directly instead of watching ads in exchange for advertissers giving you money."

Companies: "Sure, here's the ad-free version. You have to pay 20 times as much as the advertissers do though."

anticensor: "OK, then; what if I pay the same amount as for the ad-free one, and you show me twice as many ads as before?"

Companies: "OK, deal."