Sure but it’s the opportunism and greed that grates. They pay literally zero for the overwhelming majority of their content, and very little for the rest.

If you Writer-Produce-Star in a TV show that gets 2 million viewers on NBC or ABC, you’re well into the five figures per episode in individual take-home pay, maybe even six. YouTube on the other hand you might just about hit $10,000 for 2M views depending on niche, but they cover zero of your expenses and take none of the up-front risk. If you’ve got more than one person working on making that show, or you had any expenses attached to it, you’re pretty much screwed.

Google could VERY easily keep turning a profit on the old price, but shareholders demand infinite unending growth.