Brave aren’t cutting back, they’re the only ones paying us right now albeit tiny amounts. Its the third party advertisers who seem to be cutting back on paid advertising in pop-ups and new tab pages - that’s where the rewards are. January was a good month, but in February there were barely any third party advertising campaigns. Brave can’t force people to pay to advertise on the Brave platform so that we get paid!
@Saoiray kindly explained it in detail to me here He also provides a useful link to check how many ad campaigns are running in your region. Check it out.