YouTube Premium has existed for years now... You're absolutely able to pay for an ad-free experience, and it provides more financial support to creators than ads do
That's different though. Paying through Patreon is directly giving the creators a larger share, but neither party (you or the creator) pays for video hosting service in this transaction.
Your argument only makes sense if you watch the creator's videos exclusively on Patreon (paid by the cut they take from your transaction) or on a platform like Vimeo (paid directly by the creator for hosting). In which case, what Youtube does isn't relevant to you.
YT Premium revenue goes to the same creators you watch otherwise but they get compensated more for your views than they do for any other person's views.
e.g. Linus Tech Tips posted up their share of revenue from AdSense in 2024; YT Premium made up 37% of their revenue despite being 29% of their views.
The existence of premium is not the same as parent poster’s, “make us pay for it” idea, aka a paywall.
If YouTube and its content actually has value, then presumably a paywall would have no effect of revenues of YouTube or creators. On the other hand if the content is actually nearly worthless, the vast majority of people would find something better to do with their time.
the OP said "make us pay" not "give us the option to pay"
Until they make us pay, put the entire site behind a paywall or similar, I'll keep enjoying their public web content using my clients of choice, some of which modify the content in various ways for various reasons, entirely of my choosing.
