> How does that compare to just donating directly?
It's definitely less effective than monetizing creators directly, I think that's the best option when it's available, and you have the time, energy, and motivation to do it. But if I watch just 2 or 3 videos from somebody but don't seek to support them outside of the platform, I prefer that they get _something_ for the value provided rather than nothing. I'll admit that I'm a bit lazy and it's convenient to have YouTube directly transform my views into dollars for them.
> If they were to do that anywhere in YouTube, you'd think that would be some kind of TOS violation.
I highly doubt that. Just search for videos about de-monetization or the dislike count removal, people make videos criticizing the YouTube platform all the time. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong if there's some special language around their paid subscription specifically.
How does that compare to just donating directly?
> I haven't personally seen any content creators explicitly dissuade people from paying for Premium.
If they were to do that anywhere in YouTube, you'd think that would be some kind of TOS violation.