I think it's incorrect to assume that small websites rely on advertising to keep the lights on. They are the ones who definitely can't make enough on ads to sus

I think it's incorrect to assume that small websites rely on advertising to keep the lights on. They are the ones who definitely can't make enough on ads to sustain and are always funded primarily some other way. But at the same time running ads they let advertising companies to profit from all of them in aggregate. Given that, I don't see any point trying anything that somehow keeps ads around. Intrusive online advertising doesn't really need to exist.