Google screwed up like a lot of companies do. YouTube was never profitable to run. They were just burning through cash to keep the lights on and become the number one video host online.

Internally there became a mandate to try and turn it into a profit making machine and the advertisers caught wind so they stepped in with their demands knowing that they were going to be the source of the profits. This is where the content restrictions started to happen as videos needed to become ad friendly.

I wish YouTube would have figured out another path to help provide the service and pay video creators. At least with Premium you don’t get ads and Sponsor Skip means you don’t see embedded VPN and game sponsors.