Kinda makes sense tho. Either they earn money on you from ads or they make money from you because of subscription. Or you're like me and you still block the ads even though YouTube does everything it can to stop you.

I wouldn't really mind watching some ads before a video, but I don't wanna get constantly interrupted or have the ads track me everywhere. I tend to watch the in-video ads from creators tho, because most people I follow have relevant ads, funny ads, or ar the very least deserve some revenue.

set your VPN to Albania

Unwatched app for those on iOS

Yes.
I signed up with Google Play Music All Access in its two month intro way back when. At the time it was $7.99mo for life. They included YouTube Red when that launched. Now after all the name changes and price hikes, I'm still locked in at $7.99. I'll keep it as long as that lasts.

I'd have paid the fee for ad-free YouTube if it didn't also come with an (expensive) subscription to YouTube music.

Nowadays though I don't want to give Google money for anything, even incidentally. I just use Ublock Origin.

That shit is real

I'm playing both sides, but actually.

Friend one day added me to his family plan because they had one space open. I'm still in the habit of always going to youtube in ways I can ad-block but am always pleasantly surprised when I go in the normal youtube app and I have no ads. I'll pay for the service though