[rchaud]

> I would personally prefer to pay for a service with my money as opposed to my information and ads being shoved in my face.

You might prefer to, but Google and others know better when it comes to B2C pricing.

Look at Netflix, Youtube Premium, HBO etc. The price increases every year, consumers get pissed. That's because:

a) these companies are bad at forecasting their margins

b) the real cost of pricing these services is MUCH higher than consumers would tolerate, and is thus heavily subsidized at the early stages ($10/mo), in the hope that future revenue deals (cable TV syndication, IP rights etc) will offset those losses later. The subscriber base isn't part of that equation here.

This is much easier to accomplish with a B2B model, i.e. ads. That's because advertisers and companies have budgets available, and aren't as sensitive to price changes.