I feel like it would be best to proxy YouTube, or subscribe to paid indie channels like nebula, but without a user base and without ad revenue or subscription revenue I don’t know how quality content can come to PeerTube. Maybe I’m just missing the content but when I’ve checked it’s all very low quality, just random unedited webcam vblogs mostly.
I saw a video where a YouTube channel broke down their income (I’ll try and find it but there are probably similar ones out there) and the amount coming directly from ads was quite small. Other sources of money include:
Like Spotify, the cut from streaming isn’t great but those on it can leverage their profile in other ways.
The Fediverse still has a bit of a problem with monetisation but Ghost is working on joining and that is the equivalent of Substack with different subscription levels and I think most Fediverse services could do something similar. So Peertube could build in a “subscribe” button so people who enjoy your content could sign up to throw you a buck a month. Obviously a similar system could be added to the instance so you could donate to them, as hosting video is expensive.
I do wonder if we need a FediPay/PayFed service that other services could just plug in, so you’d have a central account across your Fediverse identities - subscribing on Pixelfed could get you subscriber exclusive Peertube content.
Although, looking around, this channel has a “support” button with PayPal and Patreon links. It’s a little crude but works.
For ease of use, it probably has to be a bit slicker and “one-click” but it’s a start.