Being on YouTube is the same as being on Television, seeing it as a network is part of the problem. New media doesn't fit into old frameworks. Many YouTube creators have set up successful crowdfunded channels. Certain topics are always demonetized and can't run ads, and creators just use YouTube to help distribute content. Patreon rolled out its own platform after Vimeo became too expensive to host on. Twitch, arguably, is a meaningful competitor to YouTube but exclusively focuses on live streaming.

Over the last couple of years, YouTube managed to get top Twitch creators to switch with contracts of above 1 million dollars. Some leaked ad spots, like watching a trailer on stream or playing a game for 30-60 minutes, were between 2k and 10k USD for a streamer with around 8,000 average viewers per stream. There was a leak recently of how much top streamers on twitch made, and there were multiple 500K+ salaries. But the platform unfortunately follows the 1% of creators earn 90%+ of all income rule of thumb.