If it becomes possible for users to access the product without also driving ad revenue, they will soon discover that the service they offer to users is just as much a part of the core product you describe as the ad platform. Without eyeballs, ads are worthless.
Then there are two choices:
1. make people pay for that service directly (i.e. acknowledge as a product, separate from the ad business); or
2. make the part of the product with ads good enough and palatable enough thast users keep visiting.
If it becomes possible for users to access the product without also driving ad revenue, they will soon discover that the service they offer to users is just as much a part of the core product you describe as the ad platform. Without eyeballs, ads are worthless.
Then there are two choices:
1. make people pay for that service directly (i.e. acknowledge as a product, separate from the ad business); or
2. make the part of the product with ads good enough and palatable enough thast users keep visiting.