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Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

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Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#31

Post by fnordian_slip »

Why do so many comments see not listening to / viewing ads as immoral?

Even if this will become the new norm, and there are fewer advertisers and people would make less money from it, this change could be very positive for the podcast ecosystem. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and the majority are without ads or rarely include ads. They are products of passion, and not full of fake testimonials about scammy expensive multivitamins or really bad mental health services.

Imho, the web was a lot better before Google and social media ruined the discoverability of small personal websites and blogs with great content, and replaced it with (nowadays AI-generated) blogspam and clickbait that is highly profitable, but ultimately worthless.

We will not return to the good old times with the web. In fact I believe that the genie is not only out of the bottle, but we actually created an automated Pandora's-box-opener in the current state of AI, compete with endless unboxing videos. But maybe we can go one step back with podcasts. I believe it would be worth a try.

Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#32

Post by phito »

Terr_ wrote: post #25
pixxel wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advertising doesn’t work on me. I fast-forward through ads. I never sit and listen to them. Ever. Am I unethical?

> Advertising doesn’t work on me. I think there's a preponderance of scientific evidence to show that there's probably some kind of effect on you as a member of homo sapiens , even if it's not necessarily conscious or not exactly as strong as advertisers claim it is to their clients. For example, would you say you are immune to the Mere-exposure Effect [0]? Absent some particular gripe, you'll unconsciously give an e…

Thinking that ads don't work on one's self has to be some sort of Dunning-Kruger effect

Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#34

Post by cess11 »

interblag wrote: post #8

This is interesting as a technical PoC but also feels a bit unethical. The moral case for ad blocking on the web seems pretty clear: online advertising is built on massive exploitation of user privacy, has horrible UX, and is often implemented so poorly that it tanks pageload performance. In short, I understand why people use ad blockers on the web. Podcasts though? In RSS-based podcasting, which is what this tool ta…

Do you have other feelings that you consider important enough that they should cause me to think carefully about something?

If your media contains parts that you needed to be convinced by money to insert I'll probably skip it entirely, for me it's a signal that the material is produced for other reasons than your interests and passion, and there are many other people that don't make such compromises. Some of them put a price on the material, some don't. I might be willing to make a deal with you, but I do not want to be pulled into your deals with third parties.

Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#35

Post by klunger »

andrewstuart wrote: post #33

I don't get it. You want the podcast, you value the work, you don't want them paid?

Exactly. If you are going to use this, I believe you should also become a patron* of the podcasts you do it to. And, in that case, you often have access to an ad-free version anyway.

*or "tip" or whatever other monetization channel they have. Very few rely solely on ads.

Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#36

Post by noirscape »

interblag wrote: post #8

This is interesting as a technical PoC but also feels a bit unethical. The moral case for ad blocking on the web seems pretty clear: online advertising is built on massive exploitation of user privacy, has horrible UX, and is often implemented so poorly that it tanks pageload performance. In short, I understand why people use ad blockers on the web. Podcasts though? In RSS-based podcasting, which is what this tool ta…

I'd say the easiest comparison is that it'd be about as ethical as taking a VHS recording of a TV program and skipping through the old ad breaks.

Personally I don't see an issue with that; but even if you do, I'll also note that the overwhelming majority of companies that rely on Podcast/influencer ads in general have utter shite quality products. It's one thing to get a traditional radio ad break telling you about the current supermarket sales, it's another to hear the fiftieth VPN ad who is totally about convincing you that they're just for watching Netflix overseas, the twentieth food delivery company, bad earbuds manufacturers or shite like razor delivery companies and cast iron BBQ grills. To put it quite simply; there's a reason these companies aren't pursuing more traditional avenues and it's probably because they'd get undesired scrutiny if they did.

There are of course outliers, but the amount of false advertising for shoddy products compared to actually desirable shit is so low that the bar is below the floor.

Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#37

Post by pragmatick »

andrewstuart wrote: post #33

I don't get it. You want the podcast, you value the work, you don't want them paid?

Why wouldn't they get paid? You download the whole episode, it's not different than downloading it to your phone. They don't know if you listened to the ad any more than if listening via an app without this step inbetween.

Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#38

Post by noirscape »

andrewstuart wrote: post #33

I don't get it. You want the podcast, you value the work, you don't want them paid?

Sponsorship money is to my understanding pretty much always paid beforehand; the marketer gives a sum of money and just for doing the ad read, the podcaster gets paid.

Actual payment on clickthrough/conversion rate is pretty uncommon. The podcaster isn't harmed by anyone skipping the ads.

Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#39

Post by wruza »

jjayj wrote: post #18
askl wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it matter if I actually listen to the ad if there isn't anything that's tracking if I do? It shouldn't hurt the podcasters revenue. I'm not getting a hellofresh subscription anyways even if I hear an ad for it.

My completely ignorant and uninformed opinion: If the vast majority of folks started skipping ads, and ads thus no longer had reasonable conversion rates, companies would stop investing in podcast ads and many podcasts would stop being produced.

Probably, but subj has zero chance to ever serve vast majority. It’s a tool for people who’d never buy anything from ads either way and know what a local server is. No real ethics issues here.

Re: Show HN: Adblock for Podcasts

#40

Post by rPlayer6554 »

noirscape wrote: post #38
andrewstuart wrote: post #33

I don't get it. You want the podcast, you value the work, you don't want them paid?

Sponsorship money is to my understanding pretty much always paid beforehand; the marketer gives a sum of money and just for doing the ad read, the podcaster gets paid. Actual payment on clickthrough/conversion rate is pretty uncommon. The podcaster isn't harmed by anyone skipping the ads.

The more people that use this, the less that ads will be worth.
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