I might read the article later, but your thesis is right.

This isn’t a arms race, it’s also convenience race.

Is it more convenient for me to turn off ublock, or go through ublocks menus and update its filters? Do I dislike ads that much? Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But some people will turn off their adblock of choice, even if it technically still works if you update it. Their conversion rate of viewer to ad consumer will (probably) go up.