I find this a false proposition, there are plenty of other ways to to support a video streaming platform. There is nothing that suggest a platform like youtube has to exist in it's current form either. If a monetizing strategy does not work it is not the users holding it wrong. People consumed videos online before youtube and will be consuming after youtube just fine. It is not like Google is the creative mind behind the content either, in fact, the streaming part is by far the most boring problem.
I really dislike the attitude of defending megacorps and worrying about their bottom lines, especially anti customer ones like Google.
You claim that there are plenty of other ways to support a video streaming platform yet fail to mention even one of them.
Things cost money. Every monetizing strategy involves users paying for it or the company making money from the users indirectly. OP mentions both of these. So tell me, what's a monetizing strategy other than these that works?
People consumed videos online at a very limited scale before YouTube, and those videos were usually hosted by few, generous individuals. Even if every user in the world decides to contribute 50% of their device storage for a decentralized streaming platform, I doubt it would even fit a small part of all videos in YouTube's catalog right now.
I really dislike the attitude of hating megacorps without really proposing any viable alternatives.
Nitpicking alternatives is not the main point. There is nothing that suggest a platform like youtube has to exists in its current form.
Consider a freemium model without the threat of adxtortion, obviously this would require youtube to offer a significant value add and/or premium content besides trying to be a monopoly and gatekeeping eyes. Make it purely subscription based (e.g. Netflix before ads). Ask creators to pay for the blue checkmark. Make it a loss leader. Plenty of adult streaming sites manages to do just fine without youtube style invasive ads. I'm sure much smarter people can name countless other ways as well, it also does not need to be a 1-1 alternative either.
I really dislike the attitude of defending megacorps and worrying about their bottom lines, especially anti customer ones like Google.