Delete this, YouTube will catch on and block this workaround.

Edit: disregard. Here is a custom GreaseMonkey/ViolentMonkey userscript to automatically do this for you:

// ==UserScript==
// @name         YouTube to Embed Redirect (Desktop & Mobile)
// @namespace    http://tampermonkey.net/
// @version      1.1
// @description  Redirects YouTube video URLs (desktop and mobile) to their embed version.
// @author       BaroqueInMind
// @match        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v*
// @match        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v*
// @grant        none
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
    'use strict';

    // Extract the video ID from the URL
    const videoId = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search).get('v');

    if (videoId) {
        // Redirect to the embed URL
        window.location.href = `https://www.youtube.com/embed/$%7BvideoId%7D`;
    }
})();

If you use yt-dlp you can save your subscriptions in a text file and download all their latest vids on a schedule.

Easy enough ChatGPT can write you this script and you may also find examples online.

If not directly useful for you, i am also putting this down for others. Do not let a monopoly dictate what is “the normal way” to do things.

I also like to grab a bunch of content all at once and then watch at my leisure.

If you're tech-inclined you might like pinchflat or Tube Archivist, which can archive channels/playlists in the background with video metadata automatically, which you can then use with JellyFin.

Need to be comfortable with /c/selfhosted@lemmy.world type setups, however.

I always wonder what part of the world those who do are in. Cuz I get the feeling YouTube is only doing this shit in certain regions. Or if it's just a hiccup with the adblocker itself, because it was shown pretty early on when these reports first started being posted that it was an issue with AdBlock Plus as well as there being workarounds for uBlock Origin due to some buggy Firefox updates.