Ads are but a few sheckles nowadays or we wouldnt have sponors merch and every other cash revenues for even the most mildly "successfull" creators

Perhaps you are also forgetting YouTube puts ads on videos now regardless if the creator has the abiity to do that

10 years ago, ads may have been the main source for creators

Edit: cant forget em3 ads back to back or some.people haveeven seen 10 back to back, no creator is good enough to deserve that kind of torture to sift through as a viewer