What's worse is that the author fails to acknowledge is that these writers have the opportunity to cater towards niches and global communities. There are vast,

What's worse is that the author fails to acknowledge is that these writers have the opportunity to cater towards niches and global communities. There are vast, global audiences who would definitely pay for content and commentary from people who represent them and their interests. Moreover, online creators don't always have one source of revenue. This practice is employed widely by YouTubers: they supplement their ad revenue with merch, patreon, Twitch streaming, and so on. The average earnings on a single platform mean absolutely nothing.