A lot of this is due to many services doing autoplay with no way to turn it off (YouTubeTV, ESPN+ on Roku, etc). There's a utility to autoplay for the consumer when they are binge watching a particular series. But when autoplay is picking random other shows to "simulate linear TV" then really its the service scamming advertisers taking advantage of this playing ads to an empty room effect just to get more impressions. I don't understand how advertisers don't bust them for it.
Advertisers measure outcomes, not raw impressions. Because everything is auction based there's a natural market correction based on this, so impressions could e.g. be worth 1/3 less come bidding time.
