I get that it started for free with less intrusive ads, but YouTube has had a huge impact on the way we all share and consume information. Understanding how much money it takes to run a service with the technology needed to provide high definition videos on a site that is up 99.9999999% of the time, I have no issue paying for a service that has changed my life in many positive ways. Now I do hate price gouging like everyone else, but it's inescapable from gas & groceries to all streaming platforms.
I cancelled Disney+ after the last increase, if YouTube premium does the same, I'll have to reconsider, I can't justify paying over $20 to only get rid of ads.