It seems that the only purpose these executives have is to siphon money straight up the organization to themselves. Do they provide any use to these studios other than that?
I don't think that Libby itself is. There's DRM and while there is probably a way to strip it, I don't think that is easy and/or publicly shared. But Overdrive, which is Libby's predecessor, allows for DRM free MP3 downloads. But they've been trying to sunset Overdrive for a long time. The Windows desktop program needed to download the MP3 files is no longer linked on their site, for example (but is still downloadable if you know the exact link). I'm honestly not sure why it even still works unless it's to comply with some ancient contract they have with a library somewhere.
Probably his own indifference. He clearly has no morals, and he'll be surrounded by even more comically evil villains, but I suspect they'll have a problem getting him to care about their pet evil plans. If it isn't making him money or jerking off his ego, he seems to have, traditionally at least, not cared.
If I'm being honest, I can handle an ad in my pause menu as long as it doesn't interfere with the rest of operating the device. If I can unpause and reach the closed captioning or audio menu, fine, whatever. What really gets my goat is pre-roll and mid-roll ads. Can't stand them.
It's rage bait. It just a polarizing content meant to rile up the masses and make us argue and bicker. It takes some societal grievances and amplifies them needlessly.
If we get Trump in again, I wouldn't put money down betting on us getting another Democratic president ever. Which is why I'm really hoping he listens to the criticism and gets his shit together. And if he gets his shit together, I'm hoping people are willing to allow themselves to be won over. If we just stay mad cause he didn't do something sooner/enough, we are also fucked.
There are too many potential paths in which we are fucked for my comfort.