That's what I thought, and it's kind of a silly point to make. You're just moving around the order of the steps. They still pay for it.

I believe he is referring to the fact that YouTube don't have to pay upfront for new content, they even get new content without hunting for it, and many smaller channels don't have partnership and so on.

Well, sure, but on the other hand, those smaller creators couldn't attract any attention or grow their audience without a platform to do it on. And, like it or not, youtube has that and doesn't charge those new creators anything to use the platform (unlike platforms like Vimeo, as one example).

Most of those large profitable channels wouldn't have been able to grow totbhwir current size without a free to use platform to spread their content to a wider audience.

There's give and take on both sides.

  ;

Of course, the payment share on ads and memberships is fair and equitable is a separate discussion...