You are inherently freeloading off of everyone that does pay for Premium or watches ads.

I didn't say that doing is is immoral, or that we should collectively feel ashamed, just that it is inherently <not paying> for YouTube, and that YT has every right to try to stop this behavior - of course, balancing kicking people off the platform with any ground they lose to competing UGC streaming services.

> You are inherently freeloading off of everyone that does pay for Premium or watches ads.

You seem to be assuming that watching ads would reduce the number of them, or reduce the price of Premium. All evidence is to the contrary (e.g. the presence of ads on pay-for TV, like cable)

It wouldn't reduce the rate of ads or price of premium, but if everyone ran an ad blocker and didn't pay for Premium, YouTube would either shut down or make the uploaders pay per watch or per GB served, perhaps, leading to a worse experience.

Would that lead to a worse experience? It would certainly cut down on spammy, AI generated content. I already fund many of the creators I watch through Patreon or other means so I suspect it wouldn't change much for me.

Yeah, my 9-year-old grandson could not upload his hillarious videos about dinosaurs anymore. Please explain to him that he can open some Patreon to support his Youtube fees instead.

I doubt it. The data they collect alone is worth more than the storage and server costs.

> You are inherently freeloading off of everyone that does pay for Premium or watches ads.

So what if I am?

It's not freeloading when the alternative is psychological damage.

An alternative is to pay the subscription fee.

The alternatives are stop watching the content or pay for it. If you chose the ad-supported version then that's on you.

If not consuming the content exactly as provided is "freeloading", then I guess I'm freeloading when I fast forward past ads on my DVR too.

Do you do that? I hope you're consistent with your principles and watch every ad.

I find that there are often useful ads which inform me about niche products or services that I would not otherwise have known about.

It’s a fine line.

A lot of ads are just shit though.

I have never seen an ad that was more valuable to me than when I go out looking for a product or service to solve a problem or ask a friend for advice. The shotgun affect of push advertising makes even those theoretically "useful" ads negative value, because they have to compete for my brain and attention with all the other ads, meaning they have to be just as optimized for manipulation.