Absolutely, I pay for YouTube premium and I think it's the best of all my streaming services. Ad Blocking, in this case, just reads like stealing cable.
Same thing with the web. My computer, my rules.
But google of course is unhappy about it, and will try to frustrate as many users as it can until they can push their "web integrity" crap down users' throats.
Technical curiosity: Can you still roll your own DVR? I know Plex has some functionality there, and CableCARDs are/were a thing but cable providers were trying to put an end to those. And I saw DRM for over-the-air is coming down the pipe with ATSC 3.0
yes it is not 100% tracking free, so are most if not all Internet services, all bad but YouTube does not stand out