> I don't understand why more people don't pay for YT premium considering how much content is on there.

None of the channels I care for gate their content like that. If I want to support a content creator, I can do that by letting patreon or a merchandise tshirt company take a cut, rather than giving that cut to google.

without google you'd likely never have even been aware of the creator in question. why is that a valueless service to you?

Since Google has incredible amounts of money already and are therefore not imperiled by my refusal to given them even more money, the relevant question is why I should give them more money. There is no rational reason for me to do so.