This is only true for certain segments of the internet. Internet gaming, for instance, has successfully leveraged a subscription based model, as do some specia

This is only true for certain segments of the internet. Internet gaming, for instance, has successfully leveraged a subscription based model, as do some specialist interest sites. Personally, I suspect that the main reason that the first Internet mega-corps have been ad based, is just because that is the easiest industry to implement on what most people are still regarding as merely another media channel. However, I strongly doubt that it is even close to being the most profitable thing you could do with a global computer network.