I'll start by saying I kinda abhor the existence of YouTube Premium. I hate that its value is largely defined by how much Google/YouTube is willing to cram their free service full of ads, and deny regular users access to functionality that other free apps have as a default (listening to audio while the screen is locked). I had a Red/Premium subscription back when YouTube was actually funding original content like Cobra Kai, and as thin as the offerings were I thought that at least justified the price of a monthly service. But now they have pretty much given up on having exclusive shows, but are still content to charge a monthly fee that rivals Netflix for a content library that is provided to them completely free.
I'm not even one of those people that screams bloody murder about having to watch ads -- I pay for an ad-supported Hulu subscription because at least there the advertising is regular and predictable, and generally short. But with Youtube things are so nasty and erratic. There are 10 minute videos with 3-4 ad breaks.....sometimes you can skip the ads, sometimes you can't. If you're lounging in bed and can't be bothered to get up and hit the SKIP AD button, you may be in for a 3-10 minute infomercial before your regularly scheduled video returns.
On one hand, the YouTube experience is now so bad that it almost makes sense to buy into YouTube Premium. On the other hand, I absolutely despise the idea of caving to Google's desires simply because they choose to saturate all their videos with advertising. This is a wholly different situation than something like Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu. With those services you can simply resign yourself to the idea that you just won't watch Queen's Gambit, The Boys, or Handmaid's Tale. YouTube is so utterly ubiquitous though that there's no way you can avoid it.
I'm not even one of those people that screams bloody murder about having to watch ads -- I pay for an ad-supported Hulu subscription because at least there the advertising is regular and predictable, and generally short. But with Youtube things are so nasty and erratic. There are 10 minute videos with 3-4 ad breaks.....sometimes you can skip the ads, sometimes you can't. If you're lounging in bed and can't be bothered to get up and hit the SKIP AD button, you may be in for a 3-10 minute infomercial before your regularly scheduled video returns.
On one hand, the YouTube experience is now so bad that it almost makes sense to buy into YouTube Premium. On the other hand, I absolutely despise the idea of caving to Google's desires simply because they choose to saturate all their videos with advertising. This is a wholly different situation than something like Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu. With those services you can simply resign yourself to the idea that you just won't watch Queen's Gambit, The Boys, or Handmaid's Tale. YouTube is so utterly ubiquitous though that there's no way you can avoid it.
