Your "solution" makes a lot of sense for other social media platforms that are free to join and use. But Hive is a different beast and I'm not sure this translates in the same way. Hive requires buy in to become a consumer. An individual needs to invest in order to become a the consumer that you describe.

Attract consumers with money and attention.

Since consumers typically outnumber content creators on the internet...etc

So the question is: how does Hive get more consumers willing to buy in (with stake)?

You're not wrong but there are missing steps.