It is a very good question and everyone is constantly trying to answer it.
To me the answer is simple.
A huge SEO funnel was created. Getting ad revenue from that is one clear solution and injecting that back into the users further incentivizing being vested and engaging.
I really do feel I could solve the issues here and promote HIVE but a lot of people have sort of been tossed to the side and ignored.
Without the additional revenue streams everyone is playing a hot potato game or in some ways HIVE becomes a cleverly disguised ponzi. A tough description but I really do think I could fix the issues with HIVE but it would take a lot of money to build a front end that would be more cohesive and allow video.....etc. Hosting expense is the hurdle but by gamifying the ability to unlock video upload capibilities or leveraging other hosting like DTube did with their YouTube upload option that saves a lot of space.
I think everyone wants to come up with some way to do what Richard Hart did with HEX where it becomes some mechanism to get everyone to chase the carrot with little to no actual work.
That was cleverly marketed to his existing following and he did a lot of interviews with other content creators.
There is no reason HIVE can't be a better mouse trap than HEX.
Honestly there are too many cooks in the kitchen and unfortunately the cooks are very technical but lack the ability to market to "normal" people. Also those in power are typically extracting enough out of the system to just keep doing what is going on.
I hate to say it but I wouldn't be surprised if in the next 6 months some group of guys break off and fork / rebrand HIVE again in another attempt to get the system right. No one can agree on it because no one owns it and has the ability to command subordinates to work towards the same goal. Everyone is going to go in every direction.