I use unlisted and private videos. There's plenty of stuff I only want friends/families to see, but not the whole wide world. So, private or unlisted, then send the URL. It works great. So great, in fact, I can't think of anything better. Do you just not have this use case, or are you aware of a product that does this better?
I don't think the question is why it's useful to consumers, but rather how does it lead to revenue for YouTube? Do private videos drive substantial direct ad revenue, increase engagement, or similar?
Personally I'd bet on driving general engagement with the platform in some way, but the particular manner is not clear to me.
Well, without private, i would not have uploaded anything to youtube. After a few personal uses, I eventually started using youtube to upload and share content. I assume they want to capture the audience like me.
Also, the versitility of youtube as a tool leads me to buy youtube premium for $10/mo.
Also, the most professional content creators upload private, then schedule the video public at a time that will get the most exposure by the youtube algorithm. They also pre-prepare multiple thumbnails and swap them out for the first few hours of public exposure. it's a calculus.
Well in that case the answer is super simple: The same reason Google provides any other free service, whether it be Maps, Gmail, Photos, Search, Hangouts, Meet, Pay, whatever. The more Google services you use and the more time you spend using them, the more you can be monetized.
