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Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

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Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#161

Post by rchaud »

endorphone wrote: post #127
zozbot234 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, thi…

Podcast ads have a much more insidious problem in that they perpetuate and encourage a disingenuous, lie-for-dollars[1] culture. Hearing podcasters gushing about products that just so happen to sponsor their podcast is exactly what advertisers are paying for -- that it's "genuine" and someone who you theoretically trust is pitching whatever they're selling -- and it's just incredibly greasy and distasteful. It is the…

You're right, but is the solution to that an adblocker? Or should users simply follow the age old principle of "buyer beware"?

I'm all for adblockers on the web, due to their tracking nature, but podcast ads aren't served from some third party that eats up bandwidth, causes page jumps or autoplays video. They aren't even like Spotify ads, which seem to know when you've muted audio.

Is it really that taxing to fast forward through them?

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#162

Post by egdod »

deadmetheny wrote: post #35
nickthegreek wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So its ethical to manually skip the ads but not to automate the process?

Yes. The current system can't predict one way or the other if users are skipping the ads; if this app were to become widespread, it becomes known factually and advertising revenue dries up.

Advertising revenue should dry up.

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#163

Post by walshemj »

xvector wrote: post #140
endorphone wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Podcast ads have a much more insidious problem in that they perpetuate and encourage a disingenuous, lie-for-dollars[1] culture. Hearing podcasters gushing about products that just so happen to sponsor their podcast is exactly what advertisers are paying for -- that it's "genuine" and someone who you theoretically trust is pitching whatever they're selling -- and it's just incredibly greasy and distasteful. It is the…

I was about to write a snarky, contradictory response to this, but I think you have a point. When a normal ad comes on, it's outside of the "content" you're used to. A different voice, a different presentation style, a different part of the webpage, a different section of the newspaper. When the content producer themselves is presenting the ad, however, you feel a bit more subconsciously inclined to trust them. IMO t…

Not really non US listers especially in the UK find this super creepy

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#164

Post by bearcobra »

Nextgrid wrote: post #102

To the people saying this is morally wrong, let me give you a different perspective: I watch a lot of YouTube videos and they are ad-supported (although I do support them on Patreon whenever possible). The ads are for the likes of SquareSpace, Skillshare, etc (there's also lots of shit like VPN providers but let's focus on the good ones first). I'm already aware of these brands, I even recommend one of them to client…

It would be interesting if a service existed where you could mark ads as "watched" to stop seeing them anymore. On the other hand, advertisers seem to believe they need to keep advertising to consumers who already know their products. Coke spends something like $5 billion/year on ads despite probably being the most recognized company on the planet.

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#166

Post by jmhnilbog »

reaperducer wrote: post #100
nickthegreek wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A world where all podcasts have lo-fi production values and only weirdos with too much time and a LOT of interest in the topic at hand make them would be wonderful. The audio version of the early web. They can have podcast web rings instead of ads!

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#167

Post by [deleted] »

avocado4 wrote: post #96
aloukissas wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#168

Post by quadrangle »

The big picture is that podcasts are economically public goods (non-rivalrous, non-exclusive), or at least would be completely if not for copyright restrictions legally.

Ads detract from the value. In other words, as a resource, ad-laden podcasts are worse than ad-free podcasts.

If you ask people to pay to access the ad-free versions, that's a "club good" (non-rivalrous but now exclusive). That also dramatically reduces the value to the world. (Also, the existence of ad-laden ones is a detraction itself, even affecting the ad-free versions because ads create conflicts-of-interest).

So, all the economics here is about about the public goods dilemma. How the heck can fund the work without all these detractions? Taxes? I'm not saying the answer is easy, I'm saying we should get the question right.

The one view I reject: that somehow ads in podcasts are a good thing. Rather, ads are an unfortunate compromise given the challenges of funding public goods. There's little room for debate there.

What is called for is specifically funding models that somehow coordinate critical mass of people without the use of paywalls or detractions like ads.

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#169

Post by criddell »

throwGuardian wrote: post #85

This is why we can't have nice things. Podcasts rely on advertising for revenue, and given the static nature of pre-recorded ads, they are the least intrusive in this era of AI driven hyper real-time ad-targeting. Reminiscent of print ads on newspapers. So respect the effort of the creator and stop automating ad skipping. Heck, I even implore you to listen to the ads that make your favorite shows available for free,…

NPR inserts targeted ads when you download an episode.

Re: Show HN: I built a podcast app that skips over the ads

#170

Post by mortenjorck »

rahuldottech wrote: post #12

Cool 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…

Ok. It seems to be nearly unanimous here that as clever as this app is, it’s on a fast track to a tragedy-of-the-commons situation in podcasting.

Allow me to propose a pivot.

Most listeners know in the first few seconds whether an ad falls into the “hey, that actually sounds interesting” category or the “no, I still don’t need a Squarespace/Casper/Mailchimp” category. Take a page from YouTube and play the first 3-5 seconds of the ad, and then give the user a big skip button that skips the entire ad segment.

Your app will still have the USP of a better experience than jumping back and forward in 15-30 second increments, and it preserves the ad-supported model with a proven UX pattern validated by one of the biggest advertising platforms in the world. You could even form partnerships with podcast networks who want insight into what ads get skipped and which get played for longer.

This HN post brought to you by mortenjorck product consulting.

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