> So, even if you're hiding the video, you're still punished by the wait, as your ad-blocker simulates an ad-watch.

I would gladly accept a pause instead of an ad. I needed to stop using the android TV device because of how many ads they were pushing on 10-minute videos. It was too distracting. It just made me stop using YouTube completely on that device. No content is worth so many ads. Nothing.

Now I am only using the laptop, where some kind of ad blocker still works.