Re: It's not entirely unreasonable
Publishers of those videos already have a way to monetize the vids, as long as they're a youtube partner then they earn a commission from the ads.
But I guess some would like to be able to charge $x per month or similar. I'd imagine they're the same people who's views will go from hundreds of thousands to just a handful.
Apart from a few special cases, like online workouts and that kinda thing, the whole model would be impractical. You're not likely to signup to a bunch of different youtubers and pay them all $x a month. So more likely you'd pay one fee to Google who would then give the youtubers 0.5% of that. So just more money into Googles pocket.
There are alternatives to Youtube with better features, nicer layouts etc. People use Youtube because it's free and fast. Take away the free bit and people move on.
Some things earn money for Google, some things cost them. Overall it all adds to locking people into the Google ecosystem and earns big money in the long run.
If they really want to help video creators then they could increase the amount of commission they pay them for ad clicks because right now its insanely low.