> [1]It's not completely ad-free
So it's like an unlimited data plan, then.
I keep trying to remind myself that there really has never been a time when organizations were not abusing language in order to make bad ideas more palatable, but from a consumer's point of view, it's infuriating.
I'm fine with a company saying unlimited data with a note that says except for Thursdays from 4-7pm. The problem is when they say unlimited data, but it's not really unlimited at all for anyone. That would be more like hulu saying it was ad-free and then showing commercials after you watch more than 100 minutes.
When they transitioned from everyone seeing ads (free and paid users) to having an ad-free option they had to make a choice: keep the hold-outs and just play ads on their content, or strong-arm them (and lose some content).
YouTube is now strong-arming everyone with YouTube Red, "Sign our new deal or we're hiding all of your content from paying subscribers."
[1]It's not completely ad-free, there is a small list of shows that they couldn't get the rights to play ad-free and those shows have an ad at the beginning.