Ads suck, but the type of ad is what is sucking the most. All I'm getting are ads for get rich quick schemes. You never see big name brands advertise on youtube anymore.
Part of me once wished for a utopia of only getting ads for things I have a reasonable interest in - working to inform me about options to spend my money on a service or product I need. It was based on Steam, which shows ads for games I like. No repeating ads to harass a particular message, no convincing people they need Brand X.
Last time I disabled an ad blocker to try it on desktop, I was getting scammy looking product ads. On my phone if I browse Shorts (revanced doesn't stop those ads) it's all straight-up financial/health benefits scams.
But the other night I accidentally opened the 1st party YouTube app on my TV instead of Smart Tube Next and the ads were for big brands. So there's probably a different level of desirability based on content type and device type at play.
I'm mostly getting product ads on YouTube, but they're so poorly planned and low-effort that they annoy the everloving spit out of me... In all regards, streaming services have officially become at least as bad as cable tv used to be...