Just for the record, I don’t mind that there’s ads and I agree that they need to collect money somehow. I pay for lots of services and understand that platforms (and creators) need to make money. The issue I have is that it seems that YT have aggressively increased the number of ads they show now. I think you’re right: how much is too much?

I'm not conflicted because no amount of $10 subscriptions will be enough for them to survive independently without being docked to the Google mothership.

Proof: YT Premium costs $14/mo. now. Would anyone say there's been a 40% improvement in the quality of the product?

No but there’s been significant erosion of $ purchasing power

Youtube's single largest capital expense is going to be Google Cloud. They're not paying market rates for that, and in any case, GCP pricing hasn't gone up to a level where YT would need to increase pricing by 40%.

They simply do not what their profitability price point is. And they never will, as they're not independent of Google.

Imagine paying someone who doesn't even stop invading your privacy when you're paying.