YouTube Premium is worth it IMO. No adds, the ability to minimize, and downloading videos locally, all within the same app are killer features.
It's sad that a basic element of computing is now considered a privilege people need to pay for.
Just like it's sad that being asked to pay the creator and service provider is now something we need to write whole articles to whine about.
How do you thing we'll get rid of personal data tracking and collection if you don't even want to pay a pittance for service you're using?
Also, it's very naive to think Google will suddenly stop tracking you just because you're paying for Premium... quite the opposite actually, as you've now given them a valid credit card and billing address.
When I open a browser tab with audio in it I expect to be able to switch to a different app and the audio keeps playing. YouTube explicitly uses hacks to break that on mobile. I consider it very nasty to get out of your way and interfere with browser & OS features like that.
It’s the easiest, and most sanity-proof way to get money to most content creators I watch.