I wasn’t responding to your mention of ads, I was responding to your assertion that there weren’t overblown sensationalists at the same time you liked specific channels.

Yeah, of course they weren’t of the same quality, but during that same time period they both existed and were more popular than the one’s you mentioned. Fred was pulling in double digit millions of views on most of his videos for a couple years. That’s more than what could be said for any of the creators you listed.

Of the channels you highlighted as positive the only one that competes with Fred is TomSka with the asdfmovies, and those were spaced a year apart. Hell, Hawp, 5sf, and Nathan Barnatt never broke 10M views and rarely even broke 1M. Furthermore, TomSka in asdfmovie is overblown sensationalism.

What I’m attempting to highlight is that the platform has always had it’s cringeworthy creators and that your rose-tinted glasses don’t automatically elevate the creators you personally liked to popular status. That’s not a bad thing per se, but obnoxious sensationalist creators operating at the same time as your preferred channels (and thus in your perceived glory days) were bigger and more popular than those you mentioned.