If YouTube decides to mangle the original content to fight back… then maybe that’s finally the impetus people will need to switch platforms.
Switch to where? Everything that's not just a different youtube frontend is either shit or doesn't pay the creators. Federated FOSS sites aren't an option either cause once an influx of users outside the tech bubble happens, the server capacity will hit ground bottom.
Latency is a non issue if you make the service even remotely decentralised. One server per EU country is enough to push the latency below 50ms, which is more than playable, even for shooters and MOBAs.