It's true, but many services nowadays (if not most) offer an ad-free service at full price.

People confuse "ad-subsidized" with "I pay and still see ads". They're not the same thing.

And market studies show that people overwhelmingly prefer ads over payments.

Those market studies are worthless because consumers don't know what is actually going on. They don't know what data is collected, where it's used, and they can't opt out.

Obviously if you lie to consumers you can get them to 'prefer' your product.

Do market studies show that people prefer ad subsidized with payments over payments?