I don't mind paying for services I use to avoid my data being the payment (like Kagi or Protonmail).

But I don't like the idea of paying Google AND having my data farmed.

I'd be more willing to pay if it wasn't $10/mo (annual cost) for a bunch of stuff I don't care about. If they had a cheaper option that was just ad-free (maybe $5/mo?), I'd be down for that.

I also like what Kagi does with their duo plan for 2 users. Some kind of duo plan for YT premium would be nice as well, since I (and many others, I'm sure) don't have a family of 6 people.

Screw YouTube and Google. They aren’t getting a dime from me.

It's simply a more honest model - you get content, they get money.

I would love to be able to pay for an ad-free experience for the various websites and services that I browse and use in a straightforward way instead of being leeched for ad-revenue

I don't have any philosophical objection for paying to use a platform I enjoy, but in the case of youtube, they have been so deliberately detrimental to society in terms of platforming fascists that I feel bad about the prospect of paying them, even if much of the money is going to creators I do like who I'm actually watching

Also the student version is so cheap and there is so much more content than anything really. YouTube music is awesome too.

Same. I hate google, but YouTube pays content creators better than any other platform. And I am 100% on board with any service where I pay a monthly cost instead of being inundated with ads.