Author responded in another thread earlier:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15774729> 60% of all traffic through Code Sponsor came from Github. 15% came from ad blocked traffic (I have no idea the referer). About 15% came from websites and then the remainder came from different repository websites (dockerhub, npm, etc).
From the monetizable repo views, 86% of all views were from Github. Barring a massive cultural shift, Github has to be part of the equation.