Well lets see,
"Advertising paid for rent, wages, health insurance, utilities, all the normal stuff that you pay for when you have fourteen souls working together. That money keeps the lights on while we do the things people expect from us: thrice weekly content drops, two annual shows, the scholarships, Child's Play, etc. "
I have to say not unreasonable, if you use Adblock you do stop giving them ad revenue, so asking for money and keeping this more as a donation item then a mandatory thing seems okay, besides if it fails, they pay the money back, and they just keep the ads.