> I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube.

90% of my YouTube use is on my smart TV. There's not really a straightforward way to block ads there. Used to be many years ago that a PiHole or similar would work, but they clued onto that years ago.

If it's a Google TV, there's an app you can sideload called SmartTube, which doesn't play ads and has SponsorBlock built-in. I went from often using my laptop just to play videos without being interrupted constantly, to actually enjoying using the TV app.

There’s a very simply way to avoid ads on YouTube tv — pay some money.

I spend less in nominal terms, let alone inflation terms, for my tv entertainment now than I did 20 year ago, even with Disney, Netflix, bbc, Paramount and YouTube subscriptions.

I have a Chromecast with Google TV, and it allows sideloading of APKs. I installed SmartTube which is a YouTube client that incorporates Adblocking and also SponsorBlock.

It periodically has issues loading videos when Google change something, but the app gets updated every time within a day.

If you are using an internet-connected smart TV you already decided you don't care about ads. No one is forcing you to make that choice though.

SmartTube works reliably for me on the smartTV for years now

The straightforwards way is to give Google money to get rid of them.