I think Steemit and the rest of the apps are leaving a ton of money on the table not bringing ads in. I am porting somee.social to the Steem blockchain. The delay with SMTs does not help, but SoMee would have used ads to reward content creators/consumers alike. The main point is anyone that does not want to see ads can turn them off, one click, gone forever. However, the ones that wish to help the platform they are on and earn some crypto for watching ads is a big market and unfair to those individuals but not giving them a choice.
If I were to wave a magic wand for Steemit:
Ads (tick for tack the Brave Model, by far the best model I have seen for Ads, all open source and free to the taking)
Using money from Ads, get SMTs done.

Really that is all I want from them. Give me SMTs, and I can do much damage regarding converting projects to the Steem blockchain. Moreover, Steemit gets enough traffic to get some great money for ads. Most people will watch the commercials to support Steemit. Win/Win/Win for all.