I’ve downloaded live streams that were hosted on YouTube for a brief period. This includes several plays from The National Theatre (England) and simulcasts of the ‘Live from Here’ public radio show in the late 2010’s. What’s notable about these is that they included the warm-up prior to the broadcast and encores after the broadcast finished. In some cases, these were at least as interesting as the broadcast show. These shows would stay up on YouTube fore a day so so after the broadcast, so I would capture them during that period.
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My usage of a youtube downloader is to get MP3s of DJ sets. I don’t want the video, just the audio.
For ‘videos’ that I want to listen to as a podcast I also download YouTube videos to extract the audio and upload to my podcast server. In the past I’ve downloaded YouTube videos and put them on the iPad for my son to watch on a train or plane.
As a matter of interest, do many subscribe to their premium subscription?
I do, I think I’d find it hard to go back.
Yes, subscribed for years. I can’t imagine going back to the ad-infused version.
I (indoor) row about 30 minutes daily and watch my “workout” playlist. I enjoy so much more content without interruptions from advertising. The emerging issue is that more YouTube presenters are integrating sponsorship messages into their content. 
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Exactly. The trend of sponsors within the content is increasing, if anything. I never considered subscribing, because YouTube is an ad platform, just as much or more than a content platform.
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I subscribe to avoid ads, and I use the SponsorBlock for YouTube extension to avoid segments within videos that are sponsor-related.
Sometimes a brave uploader will put up a British TV crime series and it gets by the copyright bots. I can imagine someone downloading such a playlist before it gets deleted. Like this one. 
If you’re using SponsorBlock you don’t need to subscribe to avoid ads, it should block them too.
Ad-blockers generally work when watching YouTube via a web browser. But I know of no such equivalent if you’re watching on an Apple TV (my preferred way of watching long-format videos).
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I subscribe to the premium subscription. YouTube has also introduced a premium-lite subscription that retains most of the features of the premium subscription at a lower cost.
Regarding embedded ads, when the ad starts, a button appears on the timeline that lets me skip it.
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Speaking of mini right-angled hex wrenches…
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It’s okay, @turbineseaplane
Go ahead and post. I might try to be funny and fail, but otherwise I welcome you. 
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- Sometimes a self employed widely traveling consultant family member has seen or heard about something on YT and would like a copy to watch when it’s convenient (broadband not always available), or to refer to in work/advising
- Build a local archive of videos in which the family member appears
- Home internet over cellular is bandwidth limited so in case of need it’s expensive to just jump on YT and watch same thing over and over, ie
- Very very rarely (couple of times over last 7 years) I find a diy project hits a snag that I can’t resolve by text/still image sources. As I can’t memorize videos, having a local copy would allow for repeated viewing of a video that correctly shows avoiding the snag without repeated burning of cellular data
- As I knowingly use YT/Google products so rarely, I avoid logging in to my account whenver possible and iirc Downie and possibly others don’t require this, so a YT video could be viewed with minimal contribution to the Alphabet Machine
- A friend recently got a new job in science and I couldn’t really visualize what they do, and the employer site had some videos, on YT, that I was able to view for above reasons
- More broadly, I’m not even sure why I save the videos, I very rarely go back and watch them. Some kind of collection habit I suppose, but that’s another topic…
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Sorry about that.. I’d posted a recommendation for SaveTheVideo only to realize I use that for things other than YouTube. 
Figured out the recommendation I was thinking of though!
I would add concerts and musical performances to put on my Plex server.
I always worry about that sort of content getting DMCA pulled suddenly or randomly.
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The other day I found a video on YouTube (posted by Paramount+) that neither Downie 4 nor 4K Video Downloader+ would download. That’s the first time either of those failed for me. I got ClipGrab and it, well, grabbed it with no problem.
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Have used various video downloader tools for similar reasons others have listed.
Until recently, it was sometimes a necessity for offline presentations (ie. classroom), where the network or service could glitch or introduce ads on a campus-managed system where we could not install ad-blockers, etc. With downloaded files on USB device, instant access is there when any clip is needed during a discussion.
Also, over time it becomes increasingly more difficult to locate specific videos, or decent quality versions. Newer search code de-prioritizes content that is not being tapped by current “trends” or that are not promoting a product/service. Beyond the search problem, many useful, informative, entertaining videos that have vanished over the years for whatever reason. So even if you have the bookmarks for a URL, it may be gone.
Another application is having access to videos for offline environments (maintenance, repairs) where signal may not be ideal or available and having greater control of playback. Youtube, for example, introduces overlays and elements that even block important content in the video underneath (most commonly near the end where suggested videos pop up).
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Wow. Bananaball is quite something. Heart in the right place, lovely to see it.
In addition to software products for downloading, there used to be a way of digging into the code of the desired video’s page (Developer Tools in the Menu Bar or similar), identifying its url and downloading from there. That requires visiting the actual page though, and I don’t know if those techniques still work.
With url in hand maybe VLC would work to play/record and as maybe a last resort, play the video and do a screen capture video (though I haven’t tried it and maybe sound isn’t included even if the video works).