Slow Download Issues
Unlike many other countries our download speeds in South Africa are very slow so to watch a YouTube video means that you have watch a few seconds then wait for the download of the next few seconds. Until recently, a solution to this was to find the video and choose 'pause' and wait for the full download before watching the video (you had to catch it before it fully downloads otherwise it reverted to to the base page). Recently they changed their system so that only 20 seconds or so could be downloaded so now the ONLY solution is to download the whole video if you want to watch it in one go.
Its a pity that YouTube's terms of service are as they are which means that (yet again) one has to bypass them - but of course if they really thought it was an issue they would make the process more difficult or use some less generic video format. Possibly they should do as you say and specifically endorse some product - but of course being a Google company now, this will mean some payment or at least having to put up with advertising.
