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Honestly, I don't mind a short ad every now and then to pay for the content that is offered to us "for free".
Hey, even this website relies on ads to supported the expenses.
However ... Google is going WAY overboard these days and spam the shit out of every video.
Not sure it this is the same everywhere, but here (EU) I get one or two ads before starting a video (often cannot click them away), and some ads in between (some can be canceled after 6 seconds).
I considered Youtube premium ($10-$20 per month??? WTF), but I cannot justify that kind of money for the handful of Youtube videos I watch every now and then.
Cheapest I found is about $92/yr. No thanks, that's almost the price of Netflix where there is more substancial content.
Anyhoo .. long story short, I started looking for an adblocker and found "SmartYoutubeTV" which works on Android TV (NVidia Shield, several modern TV's that run Android)
The APK is obviously not available in the Google Play store ... so you'll have to install this manually.
1. Download the APK here : https://smartyoutubetv.github.io
2. Copy it to you Android TV device if you didn't download it there (I used the Android TV build in option to access files over the network, to drop the APK there).
3. With a tools like X-plore you can run the APK so it installs SmartYoutubeTV.
SmartYoutubeTV in essence is a Youtube player app, just like the Youtube app itself.
You can even link it to you smartphone for casting.
Note: You may have to start the application manually first.
To enable casting from your phone:
1. Open SmartTubeNext and go to settings
2. Go to "Remote control" (2nd option)
3. Open your YouTube app on your phone, go to settings > General > watch on TV
4. Click on connect using TV-code and enter the code from your TV
