I know this will get hate, but I still enjoy LTT.

Video Essayists:
Barely Sociable - mysteries and dark stuff
CGP Grey - stuff you forgot you wondered about
Computerphile - explanations of topics tangentially related to Current Tech Thing
Defunctland - documentaries about theme parks and their experimental ventures
Disrupt - thought provoking dark topics; a bit over the top (this is why I don't watch Nexpo)
hbomberguy - venting about video games and pop culture
Jacob Geller - existentialism framed through video games
LEMMiNO - investigations into things that have left a societal impact
Numberphile - professors geeking out
Philion - explorations of sticky situations in pop culture
Quinton Reviews - mercilessly in-depth explorations and reviews of millenial and gen z nostalgia
Slightly Sociable - more mysteries and dark stuff
Solar Sands - existentialism framed through pop culture rants
Summoning Salt - mostly retro gaming speedrunning content
Veritasium - educational content
Wendigoon - paranoid nerd content
Wendover Productions - explorations of how the world works

Other stuff that interests me:
Captain Disillusion - breakdowns of digital trickery; digital media education
danooct1 - examining retro viruses
Surveillance Report - an approachable, not-too-paranoid, privacy news podcast (breaches, legislation updates, commentary, etc)
TechLore - privacy info and commentary
videogamedunkey - video game critic; pop culture commentary

Here's my superlist..

Critique of dumb capitalist ideas: Adam Something https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcvfHa-GHSOHFAjU0-Ie57A

Science/Design Practical: ALEX LAB https://www.youtube.com/c/ALEXLAB

Most awesome demonstrations of DIY science shit ever, dude is a genius, 100/10 do recommend.. Applied Science https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333

Material Physics and other Physics stuff: AlphaPhoenix https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCWeRTgd79JL0ilH0ZywSJA

Model rockets, flight computers and other cool shit (dude builds a landable solid rocket booster, very cool): BPS.space https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILl8ozWuxnFYXIe2svjHhg

A younger Veritasium/Tom Scott: Atomic Frontier https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbCq5Y0WPGimG2jNXhoQxGw

Machine shop shit and good humour: AvE https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil

Good humor and crazy ideas: Boy Boy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_S45UpAYVuc0fYEcHN9BVQ

Interesting sciency stuff, not too technical: Brainiac75 https://www.youtube.com/user/brainiac75

Practical Morons: Allen Pan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVS89U86PwqzNkK2qYNbk5A

Material physics, general science stuff, usually on a nanometer scale, dude owns a SEM and some other cool tools. Breaking Taps https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC06HVrkOL33D5lLnCPjr6NQ

South African dude, was an apprentice at Hacksmith labs: Build IRL https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4gbCGiEov1VAcOFpfGKPiA

Surely everyone knows that hexagons are the bestagons: CGP Grey https://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey

Cool chemical reactions in slo-mo ChemicalForce https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqONNjBkukcc2yXbmHL8niQ

Chemistry vids: ElementalMaker https://www.youtube.com/user/ElementCollector1001

Chemistry vids from a rambling (smart) idiot: Explosions&Fire https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVovvq34gd0ps5cVYNZrc7A Extractions&Ire https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvFApMFo_AafXbHRyEJefjA

Very detailed Chemistry videos: NileRed https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRedNile 2nd Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1D3yD4wlPMico0dss264XA

Chemistry stuff: Thoisoi2 - Chemical Experiments! https://www.youtube.com/user/TheThoisoi2

Crazy medical edge cases: Chubbyemu https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKOvOaJv4GK-oDqx-sj7VVg

Interesting medical stuff from a cardiologist: Medlife Crisis https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgRBRE1DUP2w7HTH9j_L4OQ

Impressive redneck DIY projects: Cranktown City https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ3KKU5-uaoLyKnGVzv1XNw

Woodworking projects: DIY Creators https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChKlSK39lLg8eZHIX0iVzLA

Crazy high quality DIY projects: DIY Perks https://www.youtube.com/user/DIYPerks

In depth engineering videos focussed around cars: Engineering Explained https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineeringExplained

Optics, dude makes lenses n' shit: Huygens Optics https://www.youtube.com/user/huygensoptics

Australian redneck DIY projects: I did a thing https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJLZe_NoiG0hT7QCX_9vmqw

Lots of 3D printing, lots of jet engines and turbines: Integza https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2avWDLN1EI3r1RZ_dlSxCw

Large scale 3D printing stuff: Ivan Miranda https://www.youtube.com/user/superazote

Very in-depth practical game prop DIY projects: JAIRUS OF ALL https://www.youtube.com/user/jairust

Dude hates his life but builds cool robots and shit: James Bruton https://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbruton

Movie and game inspired crazy DIY projects: JLaservideo https://www.youtube.com/user/JLaservideo

Interesting and strange DIY projects: Joel Creates https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHk0IYEDJxQGQ-nbd3yP_KA

Discussions of science and other weirdness: Kyle Hill https://www.youtube.com/user/ScienceBasedLife

Full Mac repair videos from angry repair man: Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/user/rossmanngroup

Some DIY stuff, not my fav but he's okay: Louis Weisz https://www.youtube.com/user/WeiszCracks

3D printing and other projects: Maker's Muse https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMakersMuse

Heavy technical electronics stuff: Marco Reps https://www.youtube.com/user/reppesis

High voltage electronics: Plasma Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg45A-ph7Eu8jQgfrwDkHLg

Electronics/DIY projects with an artistic flair: SeanHodgins https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE-bw6PRKuDlH6fP1mP4nOw

Electronics, 3D printing and other crazy projects: Zack Freedman https://www.youtube.com/user/ZackFreedman

Electronics: GreatScott! https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab

Electronics and bad DIY booze: bigclivedotcom https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom

Ozzie electronic engineer: EEVblog https://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog

Dumbass electronic engineer who likes blowing shit up and shocking himself: ElectroBOOM https://www.youtube.com/user/msadaghd

Your weekly space/rocket reports: Marcus House https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNHHEoiSF8pcLgqLKVugOw

Space and astronomy news/info: Scott Manley https://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg

Dude who does crazy stuff to pianos: Mattias Krantz https://www.youtube.com/user/Mattiaskrantz

Dude who builds useless robots: Michael Reeves https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtHaxi4GTYDpJgMSGy7AeSw

Minis and dioramas: Nerdforge https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCggHsHce2n3vvbJf_8YKrMA

Thalasso hobbyer たらそほびや https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdYAt_kceIuiDwklp0EeIFw

Cool science and DIY stuff: NightHawkInLight https://www.youtube.com/user/Nighthawkinlight

Super interesting socail documentaries: Oki's Weird Stories https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjDQKxiTVpXutZc2Ra9wCAg

Model planes, drones, rockets, racing cars etc: PeterSripol https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7yF9tV4xWEMZkel7q8La_w

ProjectAir https://www.youtube.com/user/ThatScienceGuyJames

rctestflight https://www.youtube.com/user/rctestflight

Tom Stanton https://www.youtube.com/user/tomstanton282

RCLifeOn https://www.youtube.com/user/RcLifeOnSimon

Interesting physics stuff: Physics Girl https://www.youtube.com/user/physicswoman

3D printing and design: Proper Printing https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqfMW0tMZEciSXQym8x0EoQ

Podcast hosted by a bunch of science youtubers: Safety Third https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7QE72cxiBkiwnvGoFfqYOg

Random DIY projects, like turning a Tesla into a truck: Simone Giertz https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3KEoMzNz8eYnwBC34RaKCQ

Science and practical stuff: SmarterEveryDay https://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2

Interesting experiments and simple explanations to strange phenomenon: Steve Mould https://www.youtube.com/user/steventhebrave

Crazy engineering by a genius: Stuff Made Here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj1VqrHhDte54oLgPG4xpuQ

Lasers and high voltage: styropyro https://www.youtube.com/user/styropyro

Long form DIY stuff with detailed explanations: Tech Ingredients https://www.youtube.com/user/TechIngredients

In-depth explanations and history of technology: Technology Connections https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy0tKL1T7wFoYcxCe0xjN6Q

Testla coils: teslista555 https://www.youtube.com/user/teslista555

Science and bioengineering: The Thought Emporium https://www.youtube.com/user/TheChemlife

Redneck science: TheBackyardScientist https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBackyardScientist

3D Printing: Thomas Sanladerer https://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasSanladerer

Dude who tells you about interesting things and places: Tom Scott https://www.youtube.com/user/enyay

Ozzy redneck DIY: Turnah81 https://www.youtube.com/user/Turnah81

DIY projects and fabrication: Tyler Bell https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL0FT83RjTWCmc6n9lLojmQ

Interesting theory, math, physics and science subjects: Veritasium https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium

Insanely detailed miniture mechanical projects: W&M Levsha https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLt9kIslIa1ffiM8A04KORw

Dumb but entertaining DIY stuff: William Osman https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfMJ2MchTSW2kWaT0kK94Yw

Fun videos and skits:

Chris and Jack https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Liv5-jdU2Qk53lTtYDG2w

Matthew McCleskey https://www.youtube.com/user/foreignduckslap

MattColbo https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDyqjn-9rKdcAe0gTMAkqyg

Joma Tech https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV0qA-eDDICsRR9rPcnG7tw

Gus Johnson https://www.youtube.com/user/gustoonz

Goat-on-a-Stick https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDyR_C_QVjZR24ze0fl5S_Q

brian david gilbert https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCakAg8hC_RFJm4RI3DlD7SA

FilmCow https://www.youtube.com/user/SecretAgentBob

Max Fosh https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb31gOY6OD8ES0zP8M0GhAw

Lee Hardcastle https://www.youtube.com/user/leehardcastle

Joel Haver https://www.youtube.com/user/MakingShorts

Steven He (emotional damage) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP0_k4INXrwPS6HhIyYqsTg

Trent Lenkarski https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiAj9NhvUTfNaq4YwOHGEyA

YT is basically my television or my background music during work. As long as I can use adblock to avoid ads, i'm happy.

I don't read books or watch TV shows or watch movies or watch sports.

I watch a ton of educational, engineering, cooking, BMX, woodworking, and retro game channels.

Favorites are:

• Technology Connections
• Mark Rober
• Backyard Scientist
• Allen Pan
• Lockpicking Lawyer
• Smarter Every Day
• Rex Krueger
• Stuff Made Here
• Retro Bird
• Spencer Foresman
• Action Lab
• Veritasium
• Vsauce
• Ethan Chlebowski
• That Dude Can Cook
• Stumpy Numbs
• Electroboom
• Styropyro
• Nile Red
• Anthony Panza
• Sam O'Nella
• Collin Furze
• Sam Pilgrim

Oh my. I should stop. There are so many more.

Generally, I tend to focus on smaller creators, their qualities are usually better.

The channels I watched include Nitro Rad (gaming), MattKC (tech), and Modern Vintage Gamer (retro console/gaming).

Nebula is pretty great, I like a few people there. I'm also on YouTube a good bit, but only the channels I subscribe to

On YouTube itself, a few I like:

• Tom Scott, every week is something unexpected and somehow also something I want to know more about (link)
• A Great Big Story: My family really enjoys this one. It's short interesting videos about different places and cultures. I like the ones where the host compares a food/practice from different places (link)
• About Here: Local creator in Vancouver/Canada that does stuff about local issues (link)
• Neo: I think it might be tied to a company, but the videos are interesting and very high quality. I like the 3D renders that they use. This one's also on Nebula (link)
• Babish, mostly the basics series and any foods from shows/movies I've seen (link)
• Jun's Kitchen: Really nice and peaceful cooking clips. Their cats are great too (link)
• Mustard: cool videos with nice renders about historical planes, trains, and stuff. Also on Nebula
• Thomas Flight: nice analysis on movies and TV, for things like visuals and sound design

Otherwise, here is a messy list of some more:

• Captain Disillusion: learning about visual effects and trickery
• Colin Furze: whatever crazy thing he's building today
• EngineerGuy: a bit technical, but interesting
• EuroCarGuy: to fall asleep to, no talking just driving
• Hagerty: also a company run channel, but it's got fun car content
• Ice Cream Sandwich: it's funny
• Kurzgesagdt: watching this one for years
• Memable Data: a recent one, also cool visuals
• Michael Reeves
• Simone Giertz
• Technology Connections
• The slow mo guys
• Veritassium

Coding and computer science:

• Andreas Kling
• Ben Eater
• TsodingDaily
• Computerphile

Physics, chemistry, and engineering:

• Practical Engineering
• Applied Science
• Tom Scott
• ElectroBOOM
• CuriousMarc
• Great Scott
• Big Clive
• Nile Red
• Extractions&Ire
• Explosions&Fire
• Cody's Lab
• Numberphile
• Periodic Videos
• Veritasium
• Technology Connections
• Steve Mould
• Colin Furze

Food:

• Tasting History
• Adam Ragusea

Philosophy:

• Big Think
• Royal Institute
• School of Life

YouTube uses an algorithm to recommend videos to you. If you have difficulties, this may as well be specific to you. Either you subscribed to the wrong people. Or your algorithm is stuck in some kind of vicious circle. My YouTube feed is pretty much alright.

Townsends: great colonial cooking channel can't believe the guy doesn't have a PBS show.

Karl Jobst: good @ explaining speed runs, truly an absolute legend.

History matters: Consice answers to obscure history questions that you've wondered about or forgotten. Also check out history marche/historia civilis if you like history.

The Tim Traveler: European Tom Scott lite.

RedLetterMedia: skanies analyze bad VHS tapes

The operations room: Extremely well done summaries of warfare & battles.

Your comment about finance videos has nothing to do with YouTube at all. That’s literally the entire industry. Both my dad and myself have worked in finance and it’s been that way as long as I can remember. YouTube is good for educational science content, car stuff, and video game stuff. Keep politics, finance, and any sort of channels who can only stay in business by churning out new idea after new idea off of your list.

I usually watch educational content with a little bit of 3blue1brown and Kurzgesagt to name a few.

Only thing I watch on youtube anymore are, like, 8 out of 10 Cats does countdown and TaskMaster.

I used to watch a lot more, but a lot of the channels I used to watch ended up losing their god damn minds with covid and i just checked out and moved on.

I dont know i actualy rarely have those types of scummy videos on my feed. But then again i might have Just trained my Algorithm well.

I don't know when it started but nowadays I love 1 hour+ video essays, and some light gaming content.

Wendigoon, Jacob Geller, Nexpo, Inside a Mind, jwlar, hbomberguy, ssethtzeentach, mandalore gaming,

Mumbo Jumbo, Vinesauce Vinny / Joel, Mickey D, Joov.

Ashens. Steve1989mre

Really? Maybe I'm not on this side of YouTube but for me there are tons of great channels to watch. I'm more interested in science/tech/engineering/video games stuff. I watch Tom Scott, nilered, explosions&fire, Scott the Woz, 8bit guy, summoning salt, electroboom, captain disillusion, I did a thing, William Osman, LGR, Michael Reeves and plenty of more good, not clickbaity, drama free channels I'm watching.

Just here to mention Techmoan. I think he deserves a lot more love for his attention to detail and his excelent production.

The beautiful thing about YouTube is that fundamentally, it is still an incredible platform for anyone to be able to create content for the entite world to watch. That is so cool when you really think about it.

However, the horrible thing about YouTube, is the algorithm that is designed to push all sorts of views and opinions onto people, burying all of the actual good content beneath thousands of hours of utter shite and adverts.

If you know where to look, you can still get all the entertainment and information you need from it!

The majority of the content I consume comes from YouTube these days. Here are a couple of my favorite channels:

• Usagi Electric - old computers and vacuum tubes
• Diesel Creek - big equipment restoration and salvage
• Robot Cantina - silly car projects
• Look Mum, No Computer - analog synth madness
• RCTestFlight - RC cars, drones, etc.
• Project Air - experimental RC stuff
• BPS.Space - Amateur Rocketry
• Tasting History - Food history
• Tokyo Lens - exploring and discovery in Tokyo
• Integza - mad science stuff
• Jeff Geerling - Raspberry Pis etc.
• Nile Red - backyard chemistry
• Studson Studio - making models from garbage
• Mr. Chickadee - super chill, traditional woodworking

I have away more niche channels too for bicycles, retro computing and model building. Just too many to list here unless someone’s interested. I can make a list for a particular niche.

I do. And it’s mostly Linus Tech Tips and Formula 1.

I second the folks I see talking up Nebula. Great shit on there.

The ones I spend the most time with are probably Fact Fiend, Animalogic, vlogbrothers, Seth Skorkowsky, XP to Level 3, Hello Future Me, Gus Johnson, Reuben Solo, Andrew Rousso, EVNautilus, David Firth, Adam Millard…

Then there’s a bunch that I only watch on Nebula now: Extra Credits/History, Legal Eagle, Nerdwriter, Adam Neely, Philosophy Tube, Innuendo Studios, Tale Foundry, Just Write, Like Stories of Old, Lindsay Ellis, RealLifeLore, TierZoo.

Then there’s this guy who just makes long, quiet videos of him interacting with stray cats. Good, good, gooooooood shit. Changed his name recently.

Yeah, it's my main form of entertainment. What am I supposed to do, stare at a wall!

DankPods is pretty cool. It's been on hiatus since late July, but I still cannot get enough of it. If you're into old electronics, audio and the sort, check it out.

The dude who owns it, Wade Nixon, also owns Garbage Time (fixing cars), The Drum Thing (drums and cymbals), Hello, I'm Gaming (gameplay of cheaply made games) and Dankmus (Simpsons remixes, although this one is much more inactive than the others).

A lot of good ones have been mentioned already, but one that I'm missing is Ghost Town Living. It's a guy that bought a old abandoned miners town and moved there at the start of Covid and is slowly bringing it back to life while exploring the town's history and its many mines.

Edit:

Others that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

• Let's game it out - playing games...the wrong way
• T90Official - commentator on Age of Empires matches
• AI Explained - thorough explanations by someone who actually reads the white papers
• Xiaomany - Dude that speaks many languages and surprises people by talking their native language
• Device Orchestra - Making music using devices such as electric toothbrushes
• Dad, how do I? - The Youtube dad. Explaining how to do stuff as if he's you're dad

Others that have been mentioned before but worth mentioning again:

• Captain Disillusion
• Max Fosh
• Tom Scott
• Peter Santenello
• Louis Rossmann

Happy to say I don't watch YouTube much anymore, except when someone recommends some random video.. And then I use Newpipe to watch it.

I'm just so over big tech. You know that feeling when you get so tired of a person that even seeing them from a distance fills you with anger? That's big tech for me now.

Gamers Nexus, Vaush, Keffals, Renegade Cut, Jacob Geller, Philosophy Tube, Moon Channel, Not Just Bikes, Armchair Urbanist, Sam O'Nella Academy, PatricianTV, RedLetterMedia, Polyphonic, LoneVaultWanderer, Writer Brandon McNulty, Ladyknightbrave, HiTop Films

Here's a few slightly lesser known creators that I'm a big fan of:

• Aliensrock, let's player who mainly focuses on puzzle games. He gives good commentary on his though process and there's just something comfy and satisfying about watching a smart person solve puzzles.

• Atrocity Guide, makes long form documentaries on unusual people and groups, etc. She always dives down some absolutely bizarre and fascinating rabbit holes. Personal favorites are her videos on Ullillillia and Nasubi.

• Bloodrunsclear, stitches together clips of movies and TV shows to create fake movie trailers.

• Britanick, legendary sketch comedy duo, every one of their videos has had me in tears laughing. They stopped uploading as much after becoming professional movie and TV writers, but have come back with a patreon in light of the writers strike.

• Monstergarden, this guy who's been designing a strange and fascinating twist on the traditional fantasy setting via artwork, in universe writing, and even a short animation or two.

• The Exploring Series, an SCP youtuber who goes into very in depth explanations of various SCP articles, as well as occasionally talking about other franchises like 40k or reading Lovecraft stories. Pretty much my only connection to SCP stuff anymore, I mainly like his voice and use his videos to go to sleep.

• Venjent, a drum n bass artist that started blowing up on tiktok after he made a dnb track out of a creaky door. Extremely cheesy, but he's so sincere and friendly that the cheesiness is charming, it helps that the songs are all bangers too.

• Night Mind, explores and discusses various pieces of internet horror and "unfiction". As someone that grew up on ARGs and creepypasta, Night Mind is singlehandedly keeping my love of internet horror content alive.

The only YouTube channel I currently wat h is Cracking the Crypic. It's 2 British guys that solve various logic puzzles; mostly sudoku and most of those are crazy variations on sudoku. Each video also has a link so you can also play the puzzle if you want to.

There is one of the presenters I much prefer to the other but the entire channel and community around them is one of the most wholesome things on the web.

Highly recommended if any of that sounds interesting to you.

Less now that I have this wonderful extension:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/watch-on-odysee/

But unfortunately there's some creators you can't find elsewhere yet.

Nick Johnson who does amazing (and kind of depressing) videos showing you all around the cities and towns in America: https://www.youtube.com/@NickJohnson

AItrepreneur for AI tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@Aitrepreneur

Ordinary Things for hilarious deep dives: https://www.youtube.com/@OrdinaryThings

Climate Town for hilarious deep dives into climate change: https://www.youtube.com/@ClimateTown

I'm a big fan of video essays. But I feel like the algorithm sucks for that. I like the deep dive newsletter, because it just sends a recommendation of a couple of great video essays once a week. They also describe why the videos are so good. I've watched a solid number of video essays I would not have clicked on if I was just scrolling.

Posts like this make me feel so old. I never watched YouTube. I mean, I'll search for and find videos that I saw elsewhere to watch again from YouTube. But I have never browsed YouTube for something to watch.

And I think that's a generational thing.

I am subscribed to dozens of channels. Some that consistently put out interesting/good content are:

Donut Media (with SponsorBlock enabled)

The Proper People

Tom Scott

The B1M

Vox

Joe Scott

BBC Earth Lab