As someone who has found multiple small businesses that I use regularly, and wouldn't have without ads that are relevant, I vehemently disagree.

Then you can opt in to sharing data so ads can target you more effectively.

And that would be fine and dandy if the permission request was allowed to be in the same format the Apple App store one uses - but it isn't.

It's blatant.

What’s your method for discovering those brands?

Sometimes it could be "YouTuber advertising", where instead of a YouTube ad, the advertiser directly pays the YouTuber to market the product.

Doesn't require any of my personal information to target me (targeting is based on the YouTuber's audience and metrics I'd assume), and I have made multiple decisions to purchase a product or not based on this advertising.

I currently pay for YouTube Premium, so I guarantee you I am not conflating this kind of advertising with YouTube's regular advertising.

You generally don't need those brands. If you do, you search for them, filter out spam, then judge.

Or you hear about them organically, by participating in specific forums or following well chosen publications.