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You have full local admin access, right? And a dedicated workstation that's powerful enough for the job?

I'm not in the target market for this, but I can absolutely see a class of people for whom this style works completely.

That is if you can install the app. Some people aren't tech savvy but quite internet savvy. That wouldn't be us :P But some older aunts and uncles that I know, definitely.

Would they pay for a subscription in order to do video editing in the browser though?

It's not a gimmick, it's just better user experience. Look at it through the lens of an average user rather than a power user ("power user" in the context of someone who is fluent with technical aspects of computers, not the domain).

I'm not arguing that the app itself has better video editing UX -- it may very well be that local apps win there. But for onboarding, no installation wins.