I’m not super opposed for paying for a product or service that I use, but the cost they are asking is just too expensive for me. Not that I can’t afford it, but for the 16/month or 23/month for family doesn’t meet my personal value/service.
Even if it were affordable, eventually it will go up. The subscribe-to-everything trend in business right now is pretty clear. Pretty soon we'll see subscription-based clothing.
Not that it's a massive difference, but it's $11.99 if you sign up on the web. The $16 is if you sign up on an iPhone, since that has to go through Apple's subscription service where they take a cut.
For mobile,and I believe pc, newpipe or libretube on fdroid,or their respective websites. Front ends for YouTube,ad free(libretube strips in video commercials too),and totally free. For fdroid tho,enable repositories and add https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/ . its the best way to watch YouTube,imo