You can't completely escape advertising while still participating in modern society but there's still a huge difference between free and premium YouTube in this regard.

Yes, creators have paid sections but they are skippable (and note YouTube helps you skip with a little white dot in the UI[1]) and creators have a strong incentive to protect their credibility. They have an ongoing "relationship" with their viewer. Not so for the random companies that get to spam you with unskippable adverts for crypto scams or fat-free yoghurt in the freezer version.

[1]They don't like sponsored segments as they don't get a cut most of the time. They do have a programme for arranging sponsored segments via the platform, in which case they _do_ get a cut. I'm not sure if they still offer the little skip-helper dot in that case... Anyone know?

> creators have a strong incentive to protect their credibility.

This comment is sponsored by Raid Shadow Legends

> YouTube helps you skip with a little white dot in the UI[1])

Is that a premium feature? How does it look? I don't remember ever seeing it (that said, SponsorBlock solves this).

> and creators have a strong incentive to protect their credibility.

I haven't seen this play out very much to be honest.

There's a huge difference indeed — uBlock + SponsorBlock are superior. Not only do I not see any ads at all—including self-promotions of the video creators and their sponsorship segments—I also get to skip content-free intermissions, tangents, etc. and jump straight to the highlight of the video.