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YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

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161–170 of 191 posts

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#161
post #73

YouTube Premium is literally the service HN wants: honest payment to support a Google service costs and creators publishing on it. It's a sustainable service which actually earns more for creators than ads and data mining (at least according to last CPC values I've seen for video ads). And yet, it seems like the author of this piece still feels entitled to complain about being asked to pay the price of service and th…

It's the opposite for me. I've been paying for Youtube Premium since back when they were calling it Youtube Red, and the nag screens haven't gone away. When I'm signed in, Youtube still sticks up banners that remind me that I have exclusive content I don't care about. I still get reminders about all of the "cool" features I don't want. I still have to jump through hoops to archive content that I care about. I'm payin…

It may be that you aren't using many / any of the premium features and they are afraid you might cancel because you don't understand all the fabulous advantages you're getting by paying. Sort of like, if you purchased the winter package for your car the entertainment system were to boot up reminding you that your rear view mirrors are heated.

I hope it's clear I'm not defending them; just theorizing what sort of hamfisted reasoning might have gone into deciding to spam you.

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#162
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about competition or regulation. Someone needs to find a way to drive down the cost of bandwidth. Disclaimer in bio.

> Disclaimer in bio. Honest question: why not just write "I work for Google" instead of asking people to click through first? It's not significantly longer if that's what you're trying to avoid.

You have a fair point - I usually write the full sentence.

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't dispute any of that. I'm saying that, as a YouTube premium subscriber, I'm not clear exactly what I'm paying for. I mean, I guess fewer ads is better than more ads but I think a paid service should be able to provide me with stronger guarantees.

For decades, people have accepted ads in television, though it's a paid service.

And then they jumped at the first ad-free alternative. Which at first, was cable. After that ship sunk under the weight of ad-crap the Internet was the new thing.

For a while, people managed with ad-blockers until they became too easy to use and too popular so now... Netflix had a brief moment where there were no ads. Now they advertise (their own content, but still).

So from what I gather, people have spent decades running away from advertisement.

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#164

Dunno if it's a regional thing or what but the last month of Android YouTube has been just insane with ads. I used to only get video ads, then earlier this year got a little banner below the video that was about the ad that played before the video. But now I have entire blocks of totally unrelated traditional-style ads for nothing YouTube or video related (like women's shoes) in the suggestions section.

I use Firefox on Android. YT app is unbearable.

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the opposite for me. I've been paying for Youtube Premium since back when they were calling it Youtube Red, and the nag screens haven't gone away. When I'm signed in, Youtube still sticks up banners that remind me that I have exclusive content I don't care about. I still get reminders about all of the "cool" features I don't want. I still have to jump through hoops to archive content that I care about. I'm payin…

> and the nag screens haven't gone away I'm also there since Youtube Red and I'm not sure what you mean. I've never seen a nag screen so far. I wonder if it's some bug, or some kind of targeting failure?

As another data point, I'm also a subscriber since YouTube Red and I get those nagging "popups" in the lower left of the desktop site.

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For decades, people have accepted ads in television, though it's a paid service.

And then they jumped at the first ad-free alternative. Which at first, was cable. After that ship sunk under the weight of ad-crap the Internet was the new thing. For a while, people managed with ad-blockers until they became too easy to use and too popular so now... Netflix had a brief moment where there were no ads. Now they advertise (their own content, but still). So from what I gather, people have spent decades…

It's the natural evolution. Everyone jumps on a great product, then it becomes heavily monetized and the user experience declines, and people run to the next firm's solution that has less ads, then once they have the eyeballs, they monetize it, it's cyclical.

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't we want to break up Google and fund creators without ads at the same time? Neither of these preclude the other.

Most Creators aren't making money from YouTube, if they were then most wouldn't be on Patreon, have merch stores, or put ads in their videos. Pretty much every channel I subscribe to does one or all of those things. Many creators, AvE springs to mind, are pretty candid about how useless YouTube monetization is to anyone who isn't a PewDiePie with multimillions of subscribers.

Most creators have other forms of income, because it's common sense to diversify your income when you can. For most YouTubers, they make most of their money from YouTube, and patreon, merch, and brand deals are just supplemental. Very few YouTubers actually do make most of their money from Patreon or Brand deals.

Content more generally marketable, such as comedy, or content targeting a different demo (such a Makeup/Beauty) have a very different make up, but are still heavily ad driven, and this is the type of content that broadly makes up YouTube. AvE, and his type of content, is relatively niche, and it's unsurprising he makes most of his money from Patreon. Patreon, in general, skews heavily to audiences that have discretionary income and can afford to pay peicemeal to their favorite creators.

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> YouTube Premium is literally the service HN wants: honest payment to support a Google service costs and creators publishing on it Except that's not what it is. They've bundled Ad Free with YouTube Music and YouTube Originals, which I personally have no interest in. How much of that ridiculous price is going to the production of that original content and music licensing fees? $15 a month is a big ask when I see zero…

> Amazon Prime did something similar but by bundling Video and Music but I was already paying for Prime just for the free shipping so it was just extra. This is an interesting statement. Users are paying for Amazon Prime Video and Music one way or the other. I'd happily pay $79.00 instead of the current $120.00 a year for Amazon Prime without the Video and Music.

My usage of Prime has shifted pretty heavily. I no longer order much from Amazon however we watch as much Prime Video as we do Netflix and I use Prime Music regularly at home, work, and in one of our cars. I would pay $6 a month for either music or video so $120 a year is fine with me. The free shipping and discounts at Whole Foods are now the bonus.

Re: YouTube’s annoying Premium spam

#170
post #73

YouTube Premium is literally the service HN wants: honest payment to support a Google service costs and creators publishing on it. It's a sustainable service which actually earns more for creators than ads and data mining (at least according to last CPC values I've seen for video ads). And yet, it seems like the author of this piece still feels entitled to complain about being asked to pay the price of service and th…

> YouTube Premium is literally the service HN wants: honest payment to support a Google service costs and creators publishing on it Except that's not what it is. They've bundled Ad Free with YouTube Music and YouTube Originals, which I personally have no interest in. How much of that ridiculous price is going to the production of that original content and music licensing fees? $15 a month is a big ask when I see zero…

Why do you care how they spend your fare? You should care if you are getting a fair value for your fare.
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