I don’t mind paying for YouTube premium either. I hate ads though and use an adblocker everywhere, including running my own pihole.

Ads have gotten ridiculous. I don’t mind an unobtrusive banner here or there or a 15 second pre-roll every so often, especially if it is something that I’m interested in to begin with. But the infinite growth mindset infects this area just like every other facet of society, making the companies that run ads put more, and more, and more ads, crowding out content. There’s always a tipping point for people. My threshold is probably lower than most, but I think everyone has one and these companies just keep pushing and pushing and are surprised that more and more people get pissed or abandon ship altogether.

What really grinds my gears are things that are supposed to be “premium” but still have ads/micro-transactions. Mobile games have perfected this. Pay for a game, still offer in-game currency for real money. But then I hear about services like Hulu and Twitter charging money for “less” ads. I want to tear my hair out.

It’s definitely an unpopular opinion in many corners of the internet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much entitlement as people talking about how they deserve free YT.

I agree. I really like the creators I follow and don’t mind supporting them (especially when it means additional features and no ads). What do people expect? Do they really think a video sharing platform as widely used and performant as YouTube would be free?