Most technology companies follow this same cycle. When they’re in the innovation/disruption phase, there are less rules, they just focus on giving people the best experience. When they start stagnating, suddenly every cent matters.
The irony is that the profile type most likely to have an AdBlocker is the Silicon Valley engineer. They spend so much time online, that it would be really annoying to have ads.
I already found a fix: I use another YouTube client that displays the stream directly without showing the ads. My guess is more people will do that - unless the adblockers get better. If YouTube goes as far as protecting the streaming servers themselves with greater authentication, people will likely go elsewhere… TikTok… Insta… or the many other video platforms that have been popping up as a result of censorship.
But I am skeptical everyday people are willing to wait for ads - or pay for social media.