Does anyone find any value over doing paid courses online vs just watching youtube videos about the content?

I've learned just about everything in my career by reading/watching tutorials and following along. I'm confused as to why people pay for that kind of training when it's freely available. Is there real value there?

I pirate the paid courses. You and I are not the same…

I buy, rent, download, etc books. I will watch occasional courses on youtube for very targeted subjects.

If I’m trying to learn a subject I have 0 experience with I’ll often get a course. However I only buy it when one of those 90% sales are on (which is quite often). Mostly use it because at the very least it presents a nice outline of topics to understand what I might dig into more myself.

Hands on experience.

Text documentation.

Books.

Video calls / remote screen sharing with friends / team mates etc.

In my opinion most video stuff is ... Slow. I can read like a maniac but watching videos is excruciating, especially with no subtitles - as, you might have guessed, I can read the subtitles faster than listening to the voices.

I'm not against live conferences, especially with good and funny speakers, but I think that slow progress in getting necessary information is the number one joy killer when working on sth new.

Books, books, and more books.

If I can't find what I'm looking for I'll end up buying it.

Videos piss me off, sometimes I just want to jump Around certain topics and get my dose of knowledge, videos though.... not for me.

I’d say the thing with like udemy courses is they are always getting updated. So if you worked in say iOS app dev and you really wanted to know the latest knowledge about the latest iOS app dev topics buying a udemy course that will get updated can be better.

Reading books

Quality of content. Both Udemy (10$/course) and YouTube (free) have videos that range from total shit to really good. There are other platforms which have better quality control, but you'll usually have to pay much more.

Personally I often prefer written content, but it depends on the topic.

I generally find courses to be more structured, and a good way to get into something you know zero about. But that's because I tend to check them out while eating, and watching videos is easier for me than reading while/after eating. Of course, there are very good YouTube tutorials out there too.
For more in depth stuff, I have to do either books or tons of documentation.

Dedication.
For some people it's difficult to find time to spend on something they have constantly available and doesn't hurt if you don't do. If you pay a course and you don't do it, it's like losing money, so it's a motivation.
Another advantage is certificates.
I myself, a full stack developer with years of experience payed a basic course from a University to have at least one paper that says I'm a dev. Certificates from free courses don't seem to hold much value.