cheap ≠ free Making nice things is difficult and time-consuming.
If we want people to make nice things for us, we have to pay for their rent and grocery bills and raw materials.
If you are spending less than $1 per hour on your entertainment (podcasts, videos, articles, games, books, etc.), consider finding ways to support creators and the infrastructure that supports them.
I totally agree. I pay for most of the podcasts and written stuff I read with subscriptions. For the most part, that gets me ad-free content.
It’s annoying that there are professional podcasters who don’t give me an ad free subscription option. I’m pretty sure a $50/year subscription fee would be more lucrative than the fractions of a penny they get for throwing an ad at me. But whatever.