Google warns users of these apps that their experience may deteriorate soon. They may “experience buffering issues” or see errors such as “the following content is not available on this app” when trying to watch videos.
Similar to Google Search, ads have become insufferable for many users of the service. There are too many of them, they may break the viewing experience, and they may show inappropriate content.
YouTube Premium is expensive. What weights more for some users is that its functionality is severely limited when compared to third-party apps.
The cat and mouse game continues.
For those looking to avoid ads or improve privacy, here are some options for free, open source, privacy-friendly frontends to YouTube without advertisements:
Not wanting to see ads is not just about money. Firefox offers the build-in Reader View mode for clutter free reading which is like a breath of fresh air. Several people including myself have problems getting too many impulses, or attention-grabbers if you wish, e.g. like web page pop-ups, banners, ads and what not. Besides that I do like to be manipulated. Now you can say : “Pay Google for no ads” but there’s the privacy aspect.