YouTube has two things that I think make it hard to unseat:
1. It is very popular, people publishing there can pick up views for basically free. People go there to find videos. There are lots of eyeballs that you can pick up just by showing up.
2. It has ready-to-go monetization. Most major publishers will supplement YouTube ads with direct sponsors and merch sales, but having a baseline income available is a major benefit. Also people blame YouTube for the annoying ads, not you.
Both can be worked around, but you are fighting a major uphill that doesn't really have anything to do with the technical challenge.
The most important difference between YouTube and any other video entertainment service is that they do not pre-audit content creators and content. Anybody and everybody can publish there and start building their audience. You don't have to be from the right family, have the right political connections and right political opinions, or do unspeakable sexual acts for casting managers. You can be independent, and unlike Instagram, Facebook and etc, you can make money on your work.
1. It is very popular, people publishing there can pick up views for basically free. People go there to find videos. There are lots of eyeballs that you can pick up just by showing up.
2. It has ready-to-go monetization. Most major publishers will supplement YouTube ads with direct sponsors and merch sales, but having a baseline income available is a major benefit. Also people blame YouTube for the annoying ads, not you.
Both can be worked around, but you are fighting a major uphill that doesn't really have anything to do with the technical challenge.