I disagree with your last sentence. As someone who runs a few online businesses, the goal is to move the traffic from the walled garden directly to the domain as much as possible. TikTok, Google, Facebook and all the rest can derank or ban you with no reason at all at any moment, imploding your business overnight. It presents an untenable level of risk that I think a lot of people overlook. For that reason, a strong domain remains extremely important.
Not as much experience as you, but do people really care about what the domain name is as long as it does not look obviously scammy? People click links or CTAs but would rarely actually type the domain. Agree it's important to move business away from the big platforms. I know lots of brands are moving their product away from marketplaces.
Domain ranking is more about reputation than exactly what the TLD is. Good TLD helps for sure, but is not the end all be all. Age, backlinks, content, etc. are the real ranking factors.
