Is It Really Free?

In my quest for making money online, I, like a lot of people, do some select PTC sites. I know they only pay in pennies, but pennies do add up to dollars so I use the ones that have paid me as every dollar counts.
Using these PTC sites I have to look at a lot of ads. A lot of them try their darndest to sell you something, E-books or software, things that will make you richer than your wildest imaginings!
A lot of these ads also claim that they can make you rich without it costing you anything. FREE! is what the ads claim. I like free, who doesn't want something for nothing? But, I have to wonder if the whole thing is free, how does one make anything? Sometimes it's obvious, they want you to buy their book/software/magic potion and then you can turn around and sell that same thing to as many suckers online as you can find.
If you have to go out and advertise the product, then is it really free? Of course not, but you have to admit it all sounds good. Get rich for free? Not even in my imagination.
Even a winning lottery ticket will cost me a dollar. Which means I better click another one hundred penny ads...