That connection was implied, but not explicit. Just wanted to make sure I was drawing the right inference. I guess my thought would be that there are plenty of ad-free business models that would allow this content without (explicit playing before and during content) ads. It’s also my experience that there are still ads with their paid service, which is why I stopped paying for it. I would happily pay for a YouTube ad-free experience.

Some other user mentioned that there “was no free lunch” but explicit ads before and during videos don’t have to be the payment for said lunch.