Paywalls can provide early access at best, but most people are incredibly confused about that fact. Financial data and OnlyFans are good examples.

Netflix et al sell convenience and fantastic service (search, history, personalization, etc) - not files.

What you can sell is access to a gated community, which isn't a file. Twitch does it right. Most people are still trying to sell files (read: JPGs), which is madness.