Advertising either does or doesn't cause an increase in spending on whatever is advertised.

If it does increase spending on things being advertised, the absence leaves us with more money for all those other things that are currently ad-supported.

If it doesn't, it's a scam.

If those things supported by ads would be literally unaffordable by the consumers if not for those ads, because the consumers are so poor they have no money to spend, the fork is still true; it's just that if those ads work then they push those already-poor consumers into debt for things they'd otherwise not buy because they couldn't afford, making them even poorer.