> You are inherently freeloading off of everyone that does pay for Premium or watches ads.
You seem to be assuming that watching ads would reduce the number of them, or reduce the price of Premium. All evidence is to the contrary (e.g. the presence of ads on pay-for TV, like cable)
It wouldn't reduce the rate of ads or price of premium, but if everyone ran an ad blocker and didn't pay for Premium, YouTube would either shut down or make the uploaders pay per watch or per GB served, perhaps, leading to a worse experience.
Would that lead to a worse experience? It would certainly cut down on spammy, AI generated content. I already fund many of the creators I watch through Patreon or other means so I suspect it wouldn't change much for me.
Yeah, my 9-year-old grandson could not upload his hillarious videos about dinosaurs anymore. Please explain to him that he can open some Patreon to support his Youtube fees instead.
You seem to be assuming that watching ads would reduce the number of them, or reduce the price of Premium. All evidence is to the contrary (e.g. the presence of ads on pay-for TV, like cable)