[simonw]

My guess is that the $2/user/month thing is an average across all of the users, and the fact that you use YouTube enough to even consider to pay to go ad free puts you in the much higher range of dollars-per-month users such that $14/month may even lose them money.

[smcin]

Yes it's a very broad global average. Advertisers pay much more for North American users, then European users.

[tonyedgecombe]

And the ones they want to reach the most are the same ones willing to pay for a subscription to remove ads.