Question, how do content creators get paid if the platform has no ads? I thought they get paid when I watch an ad, and even more if I engage with those ads? In fact, I maliciously (is this the right word) clicked on scam ads (youtube sends me lots of those).

And is it really worth 4x its price? I mean its just ads getting removed. I can tolerate ads easily.

They're paid with the subscription money based on how many members watch! If you only watch a small number of videos or don't mind ads then it might not be worth 4x for you. However I personally find advertising deeply disturbing and am willing to do whatever it takes to be free of it.

Google shares a portion of their YT premium revenue with creators. In general a view from a YT premium user will earn a creator more money than a view from someone using YT for free and viewing ads.

(But any info I can find seems anecdotal, I don't think youtube publishes any numbers -- and earnings will depend on where in the world those viewers are, etc...)

YouTube Premium pays content creators based on the amount of time that Premium subscribers watch their content.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6306276?hl=en#zipp...

From what I've seen creators say, they get more revenue from a Premium user than they would have if the user had just watched some ads.

I’m curious about the potential for adverse effects. Let’s say I pay YT $12/mo and Google keeps $3 for their costs. If I watch 1 video that month does that creator get $9? Does the creator get 5c per view from me regardless and some subscribers subsidize others?

I wish there was more transparency around what my money is actually buying.