They still probably use ad blockers for other sites though. It's essential on the Internet these days.
The number of malware or otherwise malicious ads is too damn high. There are articles that are so filler they literally have less content than ads, it's an embarrassment.
I even left ads on for nearly a year until a particularly metally hazardous on pushed me to turn them off, and I haven't gone back since. On the occasion I use YT outside my ecosystem, it suddenly feels so much worse.
It's pretty sad how not having the money for it makes it unbearable, while all of them don't need to experience it, disconnecting them from their practices.