@jerzone @lfisk As a YouTube creator who has two "monetized" channels, I can tell you that it takes an awful lot of views to generate a decent amount of revenue. If there's a channel that you like, consider using a donate feature they might include in their video descriptions to send them a few dollars. You could also use super thanks features inside YouTube, but then YouTube gets a cut of the money, too. Ditto for memberships.
I haven't tried those out yet. Been a patreon for a handful of channels over the years, but that fluctuates.
It's not easy at all: the planning, writing, filming, editing, to then trying to second guess the YT algorithm-of-the-week to get viewers. We made a video recording/editing app for tweens and YT was always sabotaging things that were working, including the APIs we used in the app. Just the strangest company, but then again with so many millions of people trying to game it they have a huge task at hand.
@jerzone @lfisk What's really pissing me off these days is the thumbnails and video titles that are getting more and more like Clickbait all the time. It's frustrating. I hardly ever watch channels I don't know anymore. And if I do watch a new to me channel and I think it's poorly done or clickbait or the narrator is a talking head with a big fat microphone in his face, I tell YouTube not to recommend the channel anymore.