I agree that all these other companies are competing with YouTube. I mean like you said… there is tons of original content on YouTube that would never get made

I agree that all these other companies are competing with YouTube. I mean like you said… there is tons of original content on YouTube that would never get made via “mainstream” / “traditional” producers. Take all the FPV train videos made by train engineers on their routes. Or the dudes who sit around at popular inlets in Florida recording lake boats attempting (and often failing) to go into open ocean. Or the person who does ASMR car detailing. Or the dude on Australia who jets out plugged drains. Or the people who live stream airplanes landing at LAX for 10 hours. Nobody would ever put that onto a cable TV channel yet each of these content creators have a loyal audience that at minimum funds a hefty beer fund.