Is the AI industry finally admitting that ads are… actually OK? Is the tide turning? Maybe.
Over the weekend, an August clip of Marc Andreessen of VC giant Andreessen Horowitz on the TBPN podcast went viral. In it, Andreessen makes a full-throated case for advertising.
“If you really want to get to a billion and then five billion people, you can’t do that with a paid offering… you need an indirect business model. Ads are the obvious one,” he says. “If you take a principled stand against ads, you’re also taking a stand against broad access; global per-capita GDP just isn’t high enough.”
He adds: “A well-targeted ad at a specifically relevant point in time is actually content; it enhances the experience.”
After TBPN posted the clip, it blew up — with a number of big Silicon Valley, AI, and entrepreneurship figures reposting it.
Why This Matters:
Until now, the AI crowd has largely treated advertising as uncool at best and corrosive at worst. Sam Altman is the best example — long skeptical of ads, yet recently acknowledging that Instagram’s ads “actually work pretty well” and can provide a good experience.
Relatedly (sort of), yesterday, The Information ran a story about an AI coding startup that went all-in on ads and is seeing clear benefits.
So, the fact that Andreessen’s comments got so much positive air cover is notable. It raises the question: did one of the industry’s most influential VCs just give the AI world permission to say out loud that ads can be valuable — both to a business model and to consumers?
Experts React:
Here are some of the best takes on X about Andreesen’s comments:
Our Take:
Expecting everyone to pay subscription or premium fees simply isn’t realistic. Ad-supported models always circle back to lower costs and help scale digital products. Whether it’s Netflix or a future version of ChatGPT, that’s just how the economics work.
To be fair, not all the buzz was positive. One user commented: “Not once ever have I used a product of any kind and thought ads enhanced the experience.” Fair. There are plenty of terrible ad experiences.
The real open question is whether AI will help fix that — not just financially support AI services, but actually improve the quality, relevance, and delivery of ads themselves.
