Wherever I go, I often see the sentiment "This website has ads, so it's trash" pop up in conversations. And honestly I don't quite get why. 90% of the internet has always had ads, you just scroll past them and mind your business. At least they're personalized now so you can pick a topic you like instead of diapers and miscellanous spammy trash as there once were.
And that is really sad. In the early days, I disabled my ad blocker for Youtube, as I tend to do with the websites I enjoy, but evidently I've had to re-enable it since to keep my sanity.
As so many others, I don't have a problem with passive or "docile" ads, but I do have a vendetta against intrusive anti-user experiences, which has led me to block ads and other kinds of annoyances /intrusions per default.
The whole "need for more aggressive ads as result of adblockers" is a self fulfilling prophecy.