It seems obvious to me that they didn't mean economic value. Clearly ads make money. People don't pay for them recreationally. As for 10x more ads if they get

It seems obvious to me that they didn't mean economic value. Clearly ads make money. People don't pay for them recreationally. As for 10x more ads if they get less effective, that doesn't make any sense. Advertising supported media isn't showing the minimum amount of ads needed to cover their costs out of some sort of altruism. They show the profit maximising amount. Any more ads will cost them more eyeballs/clicks than they currently get.