I've signed up for Vessel. The site looks alright, though the video quality does seem a bit lower than YT. Also, it's missing a chromecast feature as far as I can tell which is a bummer for me...
At the very least, I hope Vessel will be the wake-up call Google needs to fix Youtube. At the moment, I can't really see myself spending a significant amount of time on Vessel.
Keep it up though! I love and support the channel and understand you need to try things out if you want to stay profitable.