>what is stopping me from just cutting out Google and paying the content creator directly? Nothing per-se, but if you talk to content creators they'll tell you

>what is stopping me from just cutting out Google and paying the content creator directly? Nothing per-se, but if you talk to content creators they'll tell you that they prefer Patreon or youtube monetization or similar systems for at least one simple reason: their per-month income is more predictable, which provides them with a sense of financial stability. For many creators this isn't a full-time job, but rather a time intensive hobby that brings in enough money to pay for itself with maybe a little extra. But feeling confident that their expenses will be covered next month provides them with a necessary sense of security to keep doing what they do. If they were to rely on people mailing them cheques every month, many people would simply forget and creators could never be confident of approximately how much money they'll have next month. Patreon and youtube monetization don't provide any guarantees about future income, but in practice creators find that it typically doesn't change that much month from month. This doesn't mean that youtube monetization or patreon have a permanent monopoly on the payment system for independent creators. Far from it actually, the fact that Patreon broke into the scene previously dominated by youtube monetization demonstrates that if your system provides relative stability to creators, they will be willing to adopt it. We are still in the infancy of this social transformation, but already we see a clear picture starting to emerge of what creators and their viewers require to make it work.