It is not my responsibility to make sure a company is profitable. If COSTCO willingly gives me enough free samples to feed my entire family, it is not my responsibility to then buy a bunch of COSTCO products to pay them back.

Youtube chooses to give away video content for free. If they can't afford to do that because I don't watch their ads, they have every right to stop giving away their content for free. I am not required to support their current revenue strategy.

I think of it as walking into the store and ignore the person shilling their Walmart rewards card. Some people will stop and chat, others won't. I'm the second category.

I disagree with your assertion that blocking ads is equivalent to stealing.