There is no "ad-free" YouTube. Even if you pay, you will still see ads - https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1gnaetv/paying_to_... ... (ofcourse, those who pay will only see "premium" ads, befitting their financial status, unlike the cheap, ordinary every day ads for the lower class masses). Note that paying for YouTube doesn't prevent collection of your personal data (i.e. profiling). A comprehensive blocker like uBlock Origin helps prevents that to some extent by blocking the trackers.
I've been paying for years, I can tell you the only ads I see are sponsored and embedded in the video. Off YT content like NFL is not a proxy for the Premium experience, that's not what paying the $14/m is getting you
The NFL is an extra package, costs more, and comes with different terms. The NFL is a media / entertainment organization that exerts significant control over their content and the ads around them.
NBA is similar, they made their players leave Bluesky because the NBA has deals with other media / social companies. These company's control extends beyond the TV to the players themselves.
If YouTube’s servers choose to serve me data, I am free to do whatever I want with that data. That does not equate to stealing in any way.
If Google doesn’t like that, they are free to block me.
I often use patreon, make donations, buy products/merch, etc, to support YouTube creators. Everything I’ve read indicates that this makes them MORE money than me paying for a YouTube subscription would, and I feel better about not financially supporting a monopolistic company.
