When I tried it in the past, I kinda didn’t take it seriously because everything was confined to its instance, but now, there’s full-featured global search and proper federation everywhere? Wow, I thought I heard there were some technical obstacles making it very unlikely, but now it’s just there and works great! I asked ChatGPT and it says this feature was added 5 years ago! Really? I’m not sure how I didn’t notice this sooner. Was it really there for so long? With flairs showing original instance where video comes from and everything?
Some instances have different ways of making money. TILVids for example shares money from donations with the creators. Theres also support buttons that help creators out. As well as ads on some instances as themes. Most are just nonprofits trying to do good in the world.
Its not as popular for the same reason your on fediverse, the interface allows anyone without ads to see your videos. The insentive does not always need to be $$, it most cases, its community building.