I've also observed this myself; the other day I DLed a BBC-made 30min documentary off their official YT account (videoID=Pxozxj03l18) and though I initially wanted the 720p25 variant (in h264), I went, in the end, for the 1080p25 one (h264, ca. 1600kbps), because 720p25 was a measly 500kbps ...
... They're probably targeting ChromeOS laptops and/or Android-based UHD SmartTVs; little do they care for "legacy" OS/HW setups; and h264 still costs them patent fees, whereas their own VP9 codec (and av01) is royalty-free...