I don't want to pay google. I want to pay the publisher directly. All this will do is give google even more power over publishers which is the last thing we need.
More power? The already use countless google products, AdSense being where they currently serve ads from. Publishers don't lose power. Google relies on publishers for revenue, I don't see them purposefully hurting a publisher.
Patreon.com does exactly that. There must be others, as well, but Patreon gets mentioned a lot on the science channels on YouTube.
Sorry, you said "directly", and Patreon clearly isn't direct. But it seems to be effective.
Yes, well if things continue as they are hopefully this will become a reality by necessity.