It works for me.

I believe Google has decided to wage an all-out war on 3rd party Youtube clients. And I believe they will win: they own Youtube, the servers, the client, and they have the resources to keep this shit on forever and grind everybody down.

But here's how it's gonna go down for me - and I suggest you do that too:

I watch my favorite Youtubers because it's free and it's convenient. But all of them are on alternative platforms like Nebula, Curiosity Stream, History Hit... Hell, some of them are even on PeerTube and that's free too.

The minute Youtube pisses me off a bit too much, I'll subscribe to those platforms and never watch another Youtube video ever again. I'd rather pay $100 a month on access to alternative platforms than give a single cent to Google. And if I don't have $100, I'll read more. And if I can't read, I'll go for a walk. But one thing's for sure: Google will NEVER get any of my money. EVER.

So whatever they do with Youtube, they've already lost as far as I'm concerned.