Hulu always had ads, and now they offer an ad-free version[1]. So they've moved in the opposite direction of what you're describing.
[1]It's not completely ad-free, there is a small list of shows that they couldn't get the rights to play ad-free and those shows have an ad at the beginning.
I keep trying to remind myself that there really has never been a time when organizations were not abusing language in order to make bad ideas more palatable, but from a consumer's point of view, it's infuriating.
It's ad-free except for 7 shows. It's not even like it's the 7 most popular shows, it's just the ones they couldn't get the rights to play ad free.
I'm fine with a company saying unlimited data with a note that says except for Thursdays from 4-7pm. The problem is when they say unlimited data, but it's not really unlimited at all for anyone. That would be more like hulu saying it was ad-free and then showing commercials after you watch more than 100 minutes.
Yeah I mean you can look at it that way of you really want to but be realistic. Hulu wants to get all the content they possibly can.
When they transitioned from everyone seeing ads (free and paid users) to having an ad-free option they had to make a choice: keep the hold-outs and just play ads on their content, or strong-arm them (and lose some content).
YouTube is now strong-arming everyone with YouTube Red, "Sign our new deal or we're hiding all of your content from paying subscribers."
[1]It's not completely ad-free, there is a small list of shows that they couldn't get the rights to play ad-free and those shows have an ad at the beginning.