I cancelled YT Premium after paying pretty much since Google Music was a thing. The price keeps going up ($14/month now here in the US), and Lite is meh even for the discounted price (e.g. no background play I think?).

They just keep building the wall higher and higher, while they survive only because creators keep filling it with content. Nobody is watching "YouTube Originals" or their first party content. YouTube exists solely because of third party creators.

Not only that but I can survive with Brave or Firefox with UBO or whatever. It's not that hard to avoid the ads, even if it's a little inconvenient vs being able to use the app.