Between uYouPlus on my Apple devices and SmartTubeNext on my Android devices, I’ve almost never seen an ad on YouTube. I’d just stop using the service if I started to see them in any real number.
You're absolutely not wrong. I have the luxury of just using YouTube to watch golf videos and some niche hobby stuff; I clock in at less than a few hours a week. So, I could easily use that time on the treadmill or riding in a car to read, watch scripted media, or write my DND modules. My consumption of YT is far below most, so I'm certainly an outlier.
but in honestly, thats mostly because of covid, and a lot of the intelligent, reasonable people I used to watch falling face first into the conspiracy pit and going absolutely fucking braindead.