Lately there’s a lot of ads in the episodes, but I suppose that’s not something the creators can do anything about?
I guess that is happening as we move from content creators just happy to cover their costs to bigger publishers wanting to turn a profit.
After all Gary Lineker (Goalhanger) has now to make up for his loss of income from not doing Match of the Day any more! 
It depends on the monetization model. If they want to make money they need to sell ads, charge listeners, or both.