For me it's much simpler than this... I don't trust the ads to run on my device. They're often disruptive at best, and sometimes little more than malware at wor

For me it's much simpler than this... I don't trust the ads to run on my device. They're often disruptive at best, and sometimes little more than malware at worst. I don't trust ad-tech companies to be ethical and responsible, and I don't trust most site operators to do their due diligence before an ad harms someone. I also remember what TV was like when it was primarily supported by ads... it wasn't "the good old days," it sucked. It was an era of the blandest, LCD-chasing content that was constantly at the whims of hundreds of advertisers. There's a reason that HBO was such a revelation back in the day, you paid them money and they showed you interesting things. And frankly what I've learned from the Patreon model of funding is that still works, and most people consuming the content don't need to pay for it; the percentage who can and do are enough. Take the fall of The Escapist recently, where all of the talent was fired/left and then formed Second Wind. Like most successful, but not top-20 YT'ers they make their money from merch, Patreon (currently about 13.5k people sending them north of $60k per month) and sponsorships. So to me the answer is that ads are a terrible way to make money, and we already have working, better alternative funding models that don't require paywalls (for most content) or embedded ads.