My brother in code, Hackernews is a blatant ad for YC, look at title bar. They just decided they could afford the subsidy to run it enough to be the sole supporter.
In general, its easiest to charge the wealthiest group with the greatest motivation to spend and that combination means in almost all cases corporations are better customers than individuals. Hence, advertising replacing subscription.
Additionally this why consumer internet is so hard to standup and SaaS feels so much easier to take from 0 to 1.
The term is "content marketing", and yes, ads are ads but ultimately people trying to release quality content for free to shill their brand is not very high on the list of worst things about advertising, I'm sure you'll agree.
In general, its easiest to charge the wealthiest group with the greatest motivation to spend and that combination means in almost all cases corporations are better customers than individuals. Hence, advertising replacing subscription.
Additionally this why consumer internet is so hard to standup and SaaS feels so much easier to take from 0 to 1.