I hate Youtube Shorts so much that I just installed "SmartTubeNext" app on my Chromecast (suggested in the comments here about Youtube hate). So that expert team is making decisions that drive away users from their apps. The great thing about SmartTubeNext is that even though I pay Youtube to not show ads, the content I watch is often littered with in-video ads, which SmartTubeNext will automatically skip. So, is me leaving the Youtube app part of their "optimal results"? They've optimized so much they created an app that I absolutely hate. I pay for youtube, and now I'm cancelling my subscription because this other app doesn't show ads and doesn't force me to see "shorts" and other things I don't want in my Youtube experience. It seems to me that they are optimizing for paying-user cancellations.