[deleted]
Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
91–100 of 285 posts
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#92Cool idea? Yes. Good idea? No. If we do stuff like this, the podcast industry will switch to a closed system which would require you to install proprietary apps to listen to stuff. Likely several different apps for different shows and companies. As it exists today, it's a very open system, with publicly accessible feeds and the ability to use any app. Don't ruin it. It's not hard to press the "skip forward 30 seconds…
Agree. And it helps in general that podcast ads are largely inoffensive. I can't watch terrestrial television with its obnoxious commercials anymore. But I don't remember the last time a podcast advertisement annoyed me enough to even skip it.
> Agree. And it helps in general that podcast ads are largely inoffensive.
For me some podcast hosts are so ridiculously funny that I actually intentionally listen to their ad reads. There's been a time or two when I've gone back and re-listened to an ad because I was dying from laughter the whole time. Most of the time it's because the hosts are ripping on the advertiser a bit but it still seems like an amazingly good value for them. The only other time I'll ever do this is for Super Bowl ads, even though those are generally pretty lame. (Other hosts do just dryly read their ads with nothing ad-libbed -- or don't read ads for their own show at all (NPR) -- and I'll usually skip those when it's convenient.)
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#93Cool idea? Yes. Good idea? No. If we do stuff like this, the podcast industry will switch to a closed system which would require you to install proprietary apps to listen to stuff. Likely several different apps for different shows and companies. As it exists today, it's a very open system, with publicly accessible feeds and the ability to use any app. Don't ruin it. It's not hard to press the "skip forward 30 seconds…
I agree that this app is somewhat less than ethical and that folks should refrain from using or supporting it. It's one thing to block 3rd-party ads on the Web, which come with fairly severe privacy implications for the user and ruin their Web browsing experience - but none of this applies to ads which are simply part of an open audio podcast. If the industry shifts to proprietary players in order to enforce ads, this will mean more invasion of privacy, not less, and we will all lose.
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#94[deleted]
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
So its ethical to manually skip the ads but not to automate the process?
Is it ethical not to look at a billboard when you're walking down the street? Is it ethical to mute the TV when commercials come up? I think it's just your choice, right?
This wasn't meant to be a question of ethics, but one of incentives— let's view it from a standpoint of "will this ultimately be bad for society."
> Is it ethical not to look at a billboard when you're walking down the street?
This is fine, you're in a public space where somebody paid for an ad on nearby private property, and society wouldn't be worse off if everybody ignored billboards, advertisers were no longer willing to pay for billboards, and we got rid of the lot of them.
> Is it ethical to mute the TV when commercials come up?
This is fine, you paid for the TV and you pay for cable, and there will be no consequences to many people muting the TV during commercials.
If, however, you're given something for free that could be taken away, and it is able to be offered for free due to the business model of ads, taking this concept to its conclusion where everybody automatically skips over ads will make the free and open podcast system no longer viable.
Advertisers will no longer be willing to pay for ad space on podcasts, and the podcasters will have to move to charging per episode, or more likely, getting tiny royalties from a company like Spotify.
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#96Cool idea? Yes. Good idea? No. If we do stuff like this, the podcast industry will switch to a closed system which would require you to install proprietary apps to listen to stuff. Likely several different apps for different shows and companies. As it exists today, it's a very open system, with publicly accessible feeds and the ability to use any app. Don't ruin it. It's not hard to press the "skip forward 30 seconds…
How is this different than, say, Brave blocking in-flow YouTube ads? Minus the fact that this one is a paid app.
It's not different. Brave's business model of inserting themselves as a middleman and charging a ransom is awfully unethical.
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#97So how does it really do the skipping feature? Do you transcribe the podcast and look for standard advertising copy for companies like Squarespace, hello fresh, etc? Would it register a false positive if one of those company names is said?
Well, I couldn't tell because I wouldn't want to create competitors! I don't think it will ever register a false positive. It's really that good.
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Podcasts and podcast advertisers know we can skip them, they accept this. If they see a lot of users skip ALL of them, it isn't okay.
How are they seeing that ads have been skipped? That seems like it would only happen if your player is spying on you.
The coupon codes or referral links being advertised will see a drop in traffic.
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#99As a podcaster (Mixergy.com), I love this. My listeners should never feel guilty about skipping ads. If my ads aren't interesting or don't improve your life, you owe it to yourself to skip. I keep working to improve my ads. Most recently: I hired a copywriter (Neville Medhora) to go over my ad reads. And today I recorded interviews with 10-second ads, instead of 3-minute ones.
But Andrew, they don't care if you put effort in to curate ads that your listeners might find valuable, they just want to skip the ads regardless.
They want you to keep working your tail off, and entertaining them for free - they are apparently entitled to it.
Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Podcasts and podcast advertisers know we can skip them, they accept this. If they see a lot of users skip ALL of them, it isn't okay.
How are they seeing that ads have been skipped? That seems like it would only happen if your player is spying on you.
That seems like it would only happen if your player is spying on you.
No. It works the same way any newspaper, radio, and TV advertising work.
If advertisers sponsor a podcast and get zero return, then the advertisers stops sponsoring the podcast and the podcast dies.