The point with "free" is generally, we, the humans, are the product then (i.e., search exists to serve us ads so we are influenced to buy things / click ads, Facebook exists to sell us ads, and chatgpt is free, so they can gain more data on what people are using/typing in, so they can make it better, etc.).

Whereas with paid (like Netflix), the product is the entertainment and user satisfaction with said entertainment; as they switch to ads, it becomes more how can we convince/hook people in to watch as much content as possible so we can continue to serve them ads (the same way youtube works), and then you optimize for more ads not less until finally people have had enough of it and pay a premium (sort of like pandora where you have so many ads it makes the experience almost unbearable when free; imo)