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On a purely financial level, it's far more accurate to say I'm stealing from Google than from creators.
You are first and foremost stealing from them. Google has plenty of money.
I frequently watch all the way through sponsorship segments that are entertaining and most creators vet what sponsorships they take so I also frequently use affiliate links if I am interested in a product.
If google cant afford to host youtube its odd that its been around for decades in its current form but thats their problem. Not mine.
"If creators wanted to get paid they should just run more ads" fucking LOL
YouTube creates the (so far) unmatched creator compensation system with YouTube Red (now Premium), and now that Premium users generate so much more money for creators than Ads, they have to increase ads to compensate. Blocking ads literally makes you the bad guy, it's hilarious how people are trying to spin this as some freedom thing.
Just say you think you're too good to pay for entertainment.
Anyways, Ublock Origin still works great and I highly recommend it to everyone. I also highly recommend supporting the folks who make it as its a wonderful tool. Kind of like I recommend signing up for the patreon of creators you particularly enjoy ;)
I don't see how having "plenty of money" changes whether or not you can have something stolen from you...
In reality, you're stealing from both Google and the creators.
Whether you view it as justified is up to your own morals and perceptions.
Cry me a river, Google steals from creators as well when they put ads on videos that creators explicitly chose not to monetize. I would bet that Google's revenue from this dirty trick dwarfs all the money lost from folks running ad blockers.
I think this is fair TBH. If you want Google to pay creators, but you also want to access YouTube for free without paying or viewing ads, something isn’t lining up.
This is why I let the ads roll. Even though it’s crumbs for the creator, if enough people do it, they do make money.
The other exposes you to content that's designed to hack your brain (or occasionally your computer).
If saying no thanks to both makes me scum then that's fine.
You're getting it at someone else's expense. If you're doing that and not giving the expected value[1] in return (ad view, premium sub), then GP is right. That's virtually the definition of freeloading.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong to do so - but I think it is wrong to pretend it's something else.
[1] expected value because those are the terms under which the content is made available.
If their ad views are so important they can develop their own native application with rootkit drm to make sure you're watching ads, etc.
I'm always amazed of how people forget that option