If you're on a Mac and using FF (probably not FF specific), turning off "ambient mode" in youtube can save 30% cpu. I just found this out while searching why FF was taking 90% of my cpu while watching youtube videos in normal mode, but went down to 40% use if viewing in full screen. Turns out that this youtube "ambient mode" was the culprit. My lap is now cooler and the fan doesn't turn on anymore. I wonder how much power I've wasted due to this new "feature" they added 6 months ago that I didn't know about.

Or stop using the crap YT frontent entirely - https://yewtu.be

Run your own alternate frontend - https://github.com/iv-org/invidious