Subscriptions are really lucrative. Iirc most ads pay like 0.1-0.5 cents per view, so you’d need to watch an insane amount of videos to equal the cost of a $2 subscription. I could probably make a site that brings in money if I had 5 $2 subscribers and a half 100 medium quality vids. Start scaling that up and it can be really profitable while offering subscribers a fair shake.