I just want to say that there are ways to watch youtube without ads that don't involve adblockers and vpns. Hint: it just works for me without ads by default and I am in the US. It's nothing fancy but I won't advertise it so they won't crack down.
Yeah, it's not hard. I've got an app on my phone and plug that redirects to a different front end on desktop. It all just works
Oh interesting, i too had been experiencing no ads but what they did recently caused me to get them again. I could never figure how i caused it to happen. Good to know it is/was purposefully causable.