The thing is, YouTube ads are the worst way for creators to monetise on the platform. They pay terribly compared to things like sponsorships, Patreon, merch sal

The thing is, YouTube ads are the worst way for creators to monetise on the platform. They pay terribly compared to things like sponsorships, Patreon, merch sales, etc. Unfortunately for YouTube, most creators hence wouldn't really be affected if just about everyone used Adblock, since the money made is often 'beer money' if you've got less than 100,000 subs. And with anti adblock techniques almost always being trivial to work around, it kinda leaves them in a tough position. No one really likes the ads (except maybe for YouTube themselves) and very few people really depend on them (except YouTube itself).