Quick LPT from someone who listens to a ton of audio books and podcasts at work: If you access YouTube via Firefox and tap "request desktop site" in the three dots menu and then play your video from there you can listen to the audio with your screen off, or in the background while you use a different app.
I use NewPipe ; I appreciate that the YT ads are removed but not the content creator sponsor segment - I respect the right of a creator to choose to have their channel supported through advertisement.
I also like that my "feed" is only the channels I subscribe to, not the terrible crap yt thinks is going to "engage" me, and this without having a logged account.
Add in the many customizable defaults, the tab organization, and NewPipe on my phone is the only way I ever watch yt, ever.
Libretube has better theming for oled, I like the audio only feature, sponsor block. New pipe was okay but CBA to ad api keys for sponsor block and theming looks jank
Having control over the UI helps. I never want to see "shorts" on start-up but its also nice to have control over share/cast buttons, do I care about up/down votes? Auto play or next video recommendations?
Then there are options to skips youtube ads (by just not loading them) and sponsor segments (by using sponsor block).
Continued playback with a locked screen can be handy sometimes too.
A lot of the UI is designed to encourage user engagement and monetize that engagement. My priorities differ.
Some of these features are available with YouTube Premium but that's comically over priced (and still doesn't offer as much control). The Family plan is currently around 150% the price of Netflix Premium :/
If newpipe/tubular had the option to sync your piped or invidious account to sync the subscription and watch history automatically it would be by far the best.