Oddbean new post about login | logout what necessary security does SSL encryption bring to static only text websites?
It's about the reader, mainly. No insight into what pages were requested, predominantly. For webserver, guarantee of integrity, i.e. no providers injecting ads or scripts. Or otherwise changing content. Etc.
Actually, come to think of it .. static content is easily copied, so SSL/TLS's authenticity verification is not so meaningful, the normal case validates the domain only. But then, the content could easily be copied and hosted from another domain, which can just as easily have a valid cert.
The ISP and whoever else listens in (advertisers, databrokers, hotspot provider) only know of the connection to the domain, not the content actually requested. The client can be sure the content wasn't modified (censorship, tampering, injection).