But if I sit through a torrent of ads. That's my payment.
You do not need to live this way. I've never seen a YouTube ad.
Never mind the brokering of all of the personal information it can glean from devices watched on and location etc...
This doesn't need to be true either. I use FreeTube and never log in
The day Google once and for all successfully stops ad blocking, etc., is the day that I stop watching YouTube videos.