If there were no free television, people would still have a lot of low-intensity timekillers available-- gossip, unambitious games, drinking.

If they had to pay for television, they might have been so accustomed to paying for content that they'd have subscribed to google.

The more interesting question is how different would people need to be for advertising to not be worth doing. I think it would take people being much clearer about their motivations. I'm pretty sure that would have major implications, but I'm not sure what they'd be.

There are people who try to raise their kids to be advertising-proof, but I haven't heard anything about the long term effects.