It’s where all the good documentary and factual content has gone lately.

Nebula exists.

In case you don't already know, Deutsche Welle have superb documentaries in voluminous quantities

I think by this point, the only option is breakup and mandatory federation with independent frontends, service providers all competing against each other. They have a monopoly.

Google would argue they don't really have a monopoly since they compete against streaming, but that's a malicious, pre-information age interpretation of monopoly power.

The thing is if, you couldn't block ads on YT, I would probably get premium, there is no way I am watching their ads.

Note, I do subscribe to multiple "indie" content creators that I enjoy, but I am not watching ads on YT (or anywhere else).