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I also tend to watch a lot of YT. Here's some of my subscriptions:

https://www.youtube.com/c/YannicKilcher - deep learning paper summaries

https://www.youtube.com/c/tested - Adam Savage's Tested, learn about making

https://www.youtube.com/c/smartereveryday - Learning about science/engineering

https://www.youtube.com/c/BadFaithPodcast - podcast about social issues

https://www.youtube.com/user/aragusea - Cooking, most similar to Alton Brown's Good Eats

https://www.youtube.com/c/Wendoverproductions - How transportation tech and geopolitics work

https://www.youtube.com/c/VisualPolitikEN - Geopolitics explanations

https://www.youtube.com/c/TechnologyConnections - How devices work

https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEngineering - Engineering explanations

https://www.youtube.com/c/Freakinreviews Reviews of As-seen-on-tv type products

https://www.youtube.com/c/3blue1brown - Intuitive/visual explanations of math

Beyond that I have various hobbies I follow like stocks, gardening/hydroponics.

As someone who uses YouTube for ~12 hours a day and has been paying for Premium since it was first offered (as YouTube Red) here is what I do:

- Listen to / watch podcast (2 - 4 hours)

- Watch videos from a handful of creators like Linus Tech Tips or Tom Scott (3 hours)

- Listen / watch various conference talks (1 - 2 hours)

- Listen to music (~6 hours)

That’s about how I use it. Don’t really need/use other services except I do need Netflix for the Seinfeld episodes. YT Premium is my only must have subscription.

See that’s where I think YouTube dropped the ball if they had got some of that popular content instead of funding new creators.

For me it's a great way to have some background noise while I work. I especially like railfan videos since they hit the sweet spot of:

- loud enough to drown out other, outside sounds (big problem for me these last two years WFH in a city apartment)

- consistent enough that they stop being their own distraction once you get used to it (hours of soothing air horns and crossing-guard chimes!)

- cool way to see landscape/drone shots of parts of the world I might never visit

- repetitive enough that any time I do take a mental break and actually focus on the video I don't feel like I've missed anything (my biggest problem with spoken-word videos / TV series / some music)

This is a good example, plus I'm in totally love with those high-hood GP9s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRE_rsiqSoQ

Here are some channels I enjoy for their long-form videos:

- https://www.youtube.com/c/DelayInBlockProductions

- https://www.youtube.com/c/RailfanJunction

- https://www.youtube.com/c/RanOutOnARail

- https://www.youtube.com/c/CoasterFan2105

- https://www.youtube.com/c/CaliforniaRailfanner

- https://www.youtube.com/c/ThornappleRiverRailSeries

As someone who has a similar usage rate (~6 hours per day), most of the time I just play any video podcasts that looks interesting and put it either on a background or on my second monitor.