And the answer: "Why does CNN show ads? To make money. Why does CNN include tracking services? To learn more about the reader, to show more targeted ads, to make more money. Why does CNN use social media buttons? To get people to share the article, to get more page views, to get more ad views, to make more money."
And as ads make them less money they show more of them, or more intrusive ones. They a/b test where to put them or how to make them "appear" suddenly on the hope of stealing a click, and they try to disguise them as other news stories. But the bottom line is that the ad supported web at the ad rates people can get, is challenging at best and in cases like Dr. Dobbs Journal, well they give up.
And as ads make them less money they show more of them, or more intrusive ones. They a/b test where to put them or how to make them "appear" suddenly on the hope of stealing a click, and they try to disguise them as other news stories. But the bottom line is that the ad supported web at the ad rates people can get, is challenging at best and in cases like Dr. Dobbs Journal, well they give up.