I don't measure my justification of subscriptions from the company's value; I measure it in value to me. We've really stretched the envelope of this virtue, to the point where 3 ads before a video and ad-priority UIs are becoming more and more prevalent AND justified - because people using free services for 6 hours a day can't understand that they should probably pay for the obvious value it's bringing them on a day-to-day basis.
Yawn. While you remain ignorantly poised about your freeloading on products in a post-adtech internet, you'll only find your free plans more bent over a barrel.
How much of your $9.99 does a content creator actually receive? I much prefer to block ads, and donate or buy merch from the creators who I follow with intention. I reckon that the $20 or so that they receive directly vastly outweighs the amount they would get from ads or a Premium sub, even after several years of dedicated viewership.
