Ads are only easy to block because they load from centralized, third-party domains. Physical print publishers don't leave blanks in their newspapers and send them off to advertisers to fill in. They approve and print the ads, just like any other content. If digital publishers made similar agreements to embed static ads, they would not be affected by ad blockers.

I don't mind ads that are targeted based on the content of the page, like how DuckDuckGo ads work. Google AdWords used to be the same, and it paid publishers much more than it does now.