Android

So there only need to be 135,000 peertube instances to hit YouTube scale? That doesn't sound like a big deal. It's not like they will all magically appear overnight, but neither did YouTube's scale.

Everything in the fullness of time. One person sets up an instance for fun. Another sets one up for ideological reasons. Then someone else sees setting up an instance as a practical matter, because their family doesn't need to put up with ads just to share home movies. That creates enough of an ecosystem that some people set up as a way to extend their reach or hedge their bets. Someone else realizes that their real income is from through paid subscriptions, so it's cheaper to run an instance than to pay Google their take. And so on.

Maybe it fails, but accepting failure before making an attempt is one of the most insidious flaws in human nature. It should be battled at every opportunity.