I get what you mean about the monetization ruining the hobby, but also realize that there would be a significant lack of creators (and therefore content) if they couldn't make money from their channels. People were doing it for fun back then and they could afford to since they didn't have to worry about high quality, well produced videos. Even today, plenty of people join YT to make content without the idea of trying to make it rich or make a job out of it.

I watch mostly gaming content online, and I feel that a lot of these YouTubers wouldn't make content if they weren't getting paid, especially for those who are livestreamers and VTubers who's whole life depends on subs and spending money on them.

I think it's justified that these creators want to be paid for their work, as these quality videos take teams of people and hours of editing and love put into them. You can still love your hobby and also want to get paid for the mass amount of effort it takes to do so.

So the shitposts, fan clips, video essays, art memes, gossip channels, etc. would still exist, yes, but some of the longer content that needs higher production would just tank. Stuff like gameplays, cooking videos, makeup tutorials, etc., at least in my mind.

I want Peertube to succeed without needing ads, but I just find that extremely hard and unrealistic to do. Maybe if online culture shifted entirely from ads to sponsorships instead, creators would go to Peertube, but that would require us to actually use these codes and pay money to said sponsors for them to make money. Plus, sponsorships are the new ads, which is why I use sponsorblock, defeating the purpose.