I think the ideal setup from a user-convenience standpoint is where you just pay a monthly subscription to access everything and the money is distributed across

I think the ideal setup from a user-convenience standpoint is where you just pay a monthly subscription to access everything and the money is distributed across whatever you watch the most. Though obviously that has a lot of logistical issues, like how you could get all these competing companies onboard with something that takes so much control out of their hands. And also the fact that watch time isn't a great metric for who deserves the most money. It wouldn't be surprising if low-quality, factory produced children's content would start making the most money since parents would just throw on some kid's show and let it babysit for most of the day. That's basically what happened on YouTube, with the weird auto-generated algorithm/SEO-optimised children's content.