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Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#91

Post by bad_user »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #86
xyproto wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anyone from Google is reading this: what happened to "don't be evil"?

1. Making money is not evil. 2. Adverts only appear on YouTube for videos where monetization has been enabled or a third party owns the rights to the content. The description given by the GP post is somewhat misleading.

2. You're wrong. Monetization doesn't have to be enabled. The switch is in YouTube's settings and it's called "Allow advertisements to be displayed alongside my videos". That's not monetization.

I've also never met a single Romanian that earns money from YouTube videos. Google treats us as second-class citizens anyway (I still can't sell apps in Google Play btw). The clips I'm talking about have been in the dozens, many by volunteers, by different publishers, all of them with the ads in question. And as I was explaining in another comment, when I started distributing links, I wasn't aware of those ads because I was not targeted and publishing a link is also an act of publishing.

So yeah, rejoice in the availability of that checkbox. Everything is good.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#92

Post by jjwiseman »

I worked on the YouTube ads team (Adsense for interactive media, or AFIM) for a while.

The people on that team saw themselves as helping to create the replacement for TV, and part of that job was to create a model that paid the expense of hosting and distributing video, with all the associated infrastructure, as well as allowed for content-creators to make money--basically to make it a viable business. Ads are the primary means of making that happen, but they've experimented with other methods too.

They care a lot about the user. To contradict another poster, they don't show ads at every opportunity; that's not the Google way, and they have detailed data on exactly how many ads you can show people before they stop watching videos. They also strongly encourage advertisers to use skippable ads--they make users happier and they encourage more interesting ads (it's also not entirely true that advertisers don't have to pay for skipped ads).

The only thing worse than YouTube ads are the non-Google attempts at video ads. Google's UI and targeting are 10x better than the competition I've seen.

(It's been over a year since I've worked on AFIM, so my info could be out of date.)

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#93

Post by bad_user »

itchitawa wrote: post #83
bad_user wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me they are annoying because they disallow you to skip them for the first few seconds. Their targeting also doesn't do a very good job. But let me tell you the real problem with YouTube ads. Recently in my country there has been a public outcry against a mining project, which is dangerous not only because of ecological reasons, but also because it needs special laws that trump our constitutional rights and the who…

The real problem is the viewer who get suckered. Let people watch both and learn to make decisions for themselves.

I'm not talking about censorship, I'm talking about piggybacking the efforts of your opposition to get your message across. And when we are talking about a company that has been delivering advertisements for 10 years (I'm not kidding), to the point that during the protests there has been a total media blackout happening, probably because they were afraid of losing money, the fight is really not fair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Romanian_protests_against_...

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#94

Post by xerophtye »

kitsune_ wrote: post #77

The problem I have is the really shitty targeting. With as much as Google must know about me, their ads usually are about stuff I have absolutely no interest in. I am from smaller country, so I get that the pool of advertisers must be smaller too. I bought a new bike this year and religiously researched this topic and consumed a ton of cycling videos. What ads do I see? Cars. I don't have a driver's license. Facebook…

For me, i visit a google-ad website once, or click an ad once, it starts showing up EVERYWHERE. Examples: Leap Motion, and one other vacation site that lets you book hotels in Maldives. Heck, what ever happened to RELEVANT ads? Why not show me more cool tech products?

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#95

Post by cLeEOGPw »

tjmc wrote: post #38

Frustrating yes. Disgusting no. YouTube is provided to you as a free service and advertisers pickup the tab. Google paid over $1B for YouTube and people upload over 10 new hours of video every minute. Did you honestly expect they'd wear that kind of expense for ever?

Is YouTube even profitable yet? A few years later, despite being one of the most visited websites on the internet, it still was at a loss I think.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#96

Post by davedx »

jjwiseman wrote: post #92

I worked on the YouTube ads team (Adsense for interactive media, or AFIM) for a while. The people on that team saw themselves as helping to create the replacement for TV, and part of that job was to create a model that paid the expense of hosting and distributing video, with all the associated infrastructure, as well as allowed for content-creators to make money--basically to make it a viable business. Ads are the pr…

Interesting info.

> they have detailed data on exactly how many ads you can show people before they stop watching videos

Anecdote: YouTube caused me to install AdBlock. I'm not anti-advertising, but the amount of ads shown on YouTube videos reached a tipping point for me sometime earlier this year. I'm not ad-intolerant, but it seemed to be showing me more ads per minute than on regular TV shows. Of course that's just perception.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#97

Post by davedx »

alanctgardner2 wrote: post #8

I don't know why it did't happen sooner. I started pre-roll seeing ads on mobile as well, which I don't remember until recently. I don't get why it's disgusting. This is how video creators and Google are supposed to get paid. It's annoying to me that people want free content, and they keep pushing companies to "get traction first, then monetize". This is what has to happen, or else Google has to keep subsidizing prog…

I'd rather pay a monthly subscription to YouTube than see the amount of ads they show. Instead I've installed AdBlock. Now they get 0 revenue from me.

Games on app stores have figured this out: many of them have "Ad supported" or "Paid" versions. Why can't Google?

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#98

Post by tux1968 »

It would be interesting to try some new ideas that advertising over the internet allows. How about an option for users to consume a few minutes of commercials in a row, and then get X number of videos ad free? Or allowing users to influence the ad selection by manually entering an interest/disinterest list.

Could be alot more flexible than the television model.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#99

Post by option_greek »

davedx wrote: post #96
jjwiseman wrote: post #92

I worked on the YouTube ads team (Adsense for interactive media, or AFIM) for a while. The people on that team saw themselves as helping to create the replacement for TV, and part of that job was to create a model that paid the expense of hosting and distributing video, with all the associated infrastructure, as well as allowed for content-creators to make money--basically to make it a viable business. Ads are the pr…

Interesting info. > they have detailed data on exactly how many ads you can show people before they stop watching videos Anecdote: YouTube caused me to install AdBlock. I'm not anti-advertising, but the amount of ads shown on YouTube videos reached a tipping point for me sometime earlier this year. I'm not ad-intolerant, but it seemed to be showing me more ads per minute than on regular TV shows. Of course that's jus…

Also, ads in middle of a video are much better than ads at the start of a video. Some times it becomes ridiculous when the ad length is 1/4th of video length (though most become skippable after 5-10 secs).

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#100

Post by damon_c »

kitsune_ wrote: post #77

The problem I have is the really shitty targeting. With as much as Google must know about me, their ads usually are about stuff I have absolutely no interest in. I am from smaller country, so I get that the pool of advertisers must be smaller too. I bought a new bike this year and religiously researched this topic and consumed a ton of cycling videos. What ads do I see? Cars. I don't have a driver's license. Facebook…

Yes. I just bought a desk last week. Now all I see is ads for desks! Having just bought a desk, I am probably among the people least likely in the universe to buy a desk!

If there was a button that said, "No Thanks, I just got one of these", I'd push it just to help out.

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