Is it that they exist at all? That there are too many of them? That they’re unskippable?

Yes, and they’re in the middle of the video. And they spy on my internet use to manipulate me through targeted ads.

If you were Chief Ad Engineer at YouTube, how would you structure the ads system?

There should be more ways to avoid them. I don’t use YouTube enough to justify a premium sub, but I would be interested in paying either for specific channels or watch time.