I've noticed more consistent engagement on other platforms and I think the direct monetary component (vs. revenue from embedded ads) is the driver.
In my five years on the blockchain I've noticed a direct correlation between the prices of the Hive/HBD (Steem/SBD) tokens and the level of real engagement. When the prices are high a majority of people put forth a lot of effort to gain the attention of big accountholders to gain their votes. There are exceptions of course.
Those who read and engage with your content consistently and genuinely are your core readership. For most people they constitute maybe 1-3% of their followers. Even during the height of my popularity here 2016/7 I would say that number wasn't much higher than 25%.
I like the idea of being able to directly reward good content creators with votes but the situation we find ourselves in now (low engagement) is the negative side of being able to do that.
I really do feel that communities are the best path forward and possibly the only way Hive will survive. Smaller pools of people with like-minded interests who are genuinely engaging with other people in their communities. In this next year I'll be shifting towards this direction.