Your article is from 2000. Consumer behavior and internet technology have changed massively since then.

Subscriptions can be ok but many don't want to pay $10/month for something they don't use $10 of (true of pretty much all services besides Netflix and spotify).

All digital content can make use of Bitcoin micropayments. Off-chain works too as there are still essentially no fees (again compared with the prohibitive $0.30 + 3% fee with credit cards).

Why watch an ad for 30sec when you can pay a fraction of a penny in Bitcoin and watch instantly? Onarbor, https://onarbor.com proposes exactly this.