You may think that more people watching videos means more adverts seen, which in

theory means a greater income .. but that's not the case ... there are many
variables.

Video 1 might be targeted at affluent males in New York. Advertisers will pay a
lot to reach those people.

Video 2 might be targeted at girls in Morocco. Advertisers may pay less to reach
them, for example.

So, views are more important, but you can't take that one metric in isolation.

Having lots of subscribers tells YouTube that your videos are worth watching, so
they are more likely to promote your videos.

And the same goes for playlists, too.