It turns out I can use some of the money I make in my work, to pay other people for their work.
I've been opening directly in VLC instead. Bonus: no ads.
Unfortunately, it seems to play 1080p videos at 360p, which, not to be a snob or anything, isn't watchable for me. Well, I'd prefer an ad than a really blurry video.
Looks as if that's available for desktop but not the Android app:
https://www.vlchelp.com/how-to-choose-youtube-video-quality/
Otherwise it should default to the best available quality.
youtube-dl, mpv, and mps-youtube are three other options, for which you can either d/l and play, or specify default viewer and/or options.
All three run under Termux on Android.
I think it's related to NoScript/uBlock/Firefox's privacy settings because the only way to get videos to play is to restart my browser with addons disabled.