I used to use Premium, but then I stopped because I don't get anything in return.
Now it's just extortion from a criminal who says "pay money or you'll watch a lot of terrible ads".
What I get is third-party clients (on my phone) or plugins on my PC:
- can be removed from the subscriptions feed: community messages (I came to watch videos, not read posts).
- remove premieres (announcements, when it comes out then I'll watch it).
- remove short videos
- delete broadcasts
- choose to download h264 (because few laptops and phones support AV1, which is currently decoded by the processor, heating the device and draining batteries)
- disable video track downloading if you need only sound (including in the terrible YouTube music)
- view dislikes
- disable translation of video titles. It's annoying when the title is in English or, for example, my native language, and the video turns out to be in Vietnamese, Indian, and doesn't have an additional audio track or at least subtitles.
- Blocking video channels I don't like
- blocking videos with titles in a language that is not interesting or pleasant to my ears (for example, Indian or Vietnamese).
- sponsor block (integrated advertising, as in ltt, half of the video is advertising), and this is with mediocre content that is better prepared by blockchain games with a much smaller budget.
- selection of video quality, without resetting the settings
- setting the subtitle position (top/bottom)
- downloading videos in open video and audio formats (for offline viewing on the go in a convenient player)
- And finally, blocking the usual YouTube ads.
There are many more small features in the mobile apps.

What's in it for me with YouTube? Nothing!
- YouTube could create several levels of subscriptions.
- Create your own sponsor block. If a video has embedded ads, skip them and show your own. Or in the settings, give the author a choice: either he earns only from integrated advertising or YouTube advertising.
- All the other functions provided by plugins (and this is on the client side, there are no costs on the server side).
- warnings about deletion or skimming of videos in my playlist (I have 40% of videos in my music playlist for 5 years, and I don't know which videos were deleted to find the originals).
- YouTube can reduce its costs by banning uploads, or by strictly moderating stupid videos of 10 hours, which are looped 10-second snippets and the like, videos for cats, dogs, snails and fantasy animals that will never buy anything from ads.
- For podcasters, making it possible to download audio and previews is already a savings, because there is no need to store a meaningless "video".
And also big problems with YouTube:
- terrible search and filter.
- It takes a lot of computer resources.
- You complain about the channels not being shown to me, but they are shown anyway.
- videos/channels are blocked automatically for unknown reasons and complaints from the left heel of some offended mama's son
- the same thing is shown in shorts

If YouTube closes the api and pushes through a manifesto so that adblockers don't work, or work terribly. Then I will use YouTube as a regular site that I will visit once or twice a month, that is, it will definitely not be a premium subscription, and there will be a meager viewing of ads. AMD has also introduced a new streaming board, and more of them will appear, and separate blogger communities will be formed that are independent of YouTube, and YouTube will have an outflow.
Among my friends and acquaintances, almost no one uses YouTube anymore because it's not convenient. More of them are on social networks, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. That is, most of them will not even notice the death of YouTube, because it is almost dead for them, and they go there only when necessary.