I think the average user feels "They have nothing to hide" or "I don't really care". However they feel this way because they think they still have the ultimate control over their privacy. They believe that if they wanted to they could pack up every byte of data and quit the internet and that their digital ball of privacy info goes home with them.

Most user probably don't realize that the camera, gps and microphone on your internet connected devices are actively gathering data all the time.

They think that there is a special wall between what they post and what they do with the rest of their day; it's not.

The amount of time that you use the service, what you click, how long before clicks, etc etc etc is all tracked too. There is a data profile to "anticipate" and "guide" the users to further engagement. And all of that is before you talk about how much data-selling and brokering occurs.

I think the audience is simply being smarter with their money. A bunch of recent franchise movies have missed the mark and the audience is saying as much.

Super Mario
Dune
Across the Spiderverse

All franchises. But they have so far given their target audience what they've wanted.

Why go see Flash when it'll show up on Max (or whatever) same with Indiana Jones which will be in Disney+ soon enough.

I think more and more "news" websites will do more and more if this. If a sites primary driver is not quality or accurate reporting or blogging but clicks for traffic you can expect more to follow suit.