I did not see the connection, but I think private market investors did. They saw that if you could sell web ads (Google) or sell mobile ads (Facebook) at zero marginal cost to each additional advertiser, you'd have a company worth 10x revenue. Investors made that bet and for the most part have all been paid very well.
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In my mind the web has always had ads although maybe for a brief period this wasn't true.
The real turnaround that happened around this time and I guess before is that the platforms started realising how valuable user data was and the relative value of "smart" data-driven advertising as compared to "dumb" content- based ads.
Now when I see that a platform has amassed x million users I'm very cynical about their motives for doing so.