The ad subsidized something, against my will. How can that be framed as some kind of "transaction"? Sure, if I can choose to direct or avert my attention to ads, like, using an app with ads. But in other less consensual cases it's difficult to make the case that ads are always a positive sum game.
You choose to use the app, not against your will, the app having ads is the consequence of you not paying for it, you make a transaction to be able to use the app you will see ads.
Ads are annoying but people wont buy subscriptions or microtransact for infomation, they wont pay for software either, if there was an alternative it would be running by now.
