Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

bleepingcomputer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 1001 posts

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#261

Post by wkat4242 »

pb7 wrote: post #182
TeMPOraL wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> YouTube premium perfectly showcases why ads dominate the internet, because even when there is a paid option for a service much cheaper than any alternative, people do not want to pay There's also a factor of quality and trust. I don't trust YouTube Premium enough to even try it. This is mostly colored by their constant, invasive disruption of my YouTube experience (particularly apparent on mobile) with YT Premium a…

[flagged]

It's not stealing. They get into this business knowing that adblockers are a thing and are fully legal. Most of them even shill ads inside their video like shady VPNs.

It might not be so ethical but it's not illegal, which is what stealing is.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#263

Post by stephen_g »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #173
crop_rotation wrote: post #126

YouTube premium perfectly showcases why ads dominate the internet, because even when there is a paid option for a service much cheaper than any alternative, people do not want to pay (And I am not talking about too broke to pay cases). Serving an infinite video catalog is very expensive in terms of all resources (And yes Netflix is not comparable, unlike YouTube, Netflix can highly leverage cache boxes at ISPs). Vime…

> YouTube premium perfectly showcases why ads dominate the internet, because even when there is a paid option for a service much cheaper than any alternative, people do not want to pay There's also a factor of quality and trust. I don't trust YouTube Premium enough to even try it. This is mostly colored by their constant, invasive disruption of my YouTube experience (particularly apparent on mobile) with YT Premium a…

That’s a shame that they’re apparently a bit pushy (I have Premium so don’t see any of that), because it’s been 100% worth it in my experience. I feel I get more than enough value from YouTube Premium to have it for myself, whereas Netflix I would cancel if I didn’t share it with my parents and two siblings. If they crack down on password sharing, it will go and YT will stay…

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#264

Post by porkbeer »

dmbche wrote: post #192

Kinda off topic - I'm not a dev at all, I'm wondering how inefficient it would be for creators to self host their videos? How necessary are the youtube servers? Other than that I see that the algorithm has some value in showing you things you wouldn't otherwise...but I'm not sure that's actually wanted or needed. How impossible would it be to have an internet without centralized video hosting?

Its about discoverability more than access. Access/hosting is just the expensive part.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#265

Post by sbarre »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #156
karaterobot wrote: post #67

Is it weird that this makes me want to subscribe to YouTube premium less than before? Feels like I've been poised to give them money for a while, since so many people seem to like the service. Now I feel like they're challenging me to a duel.

If you weren’t a paying customer, refuse to become a paying customer, and refuse to watch the ads, they don’t gain anything by having you as a user. It only costs them to retain you. If doing something as simple as asking you to hold up your end of the deal of using their website (letting ads load for the ad-supported content) is too much to ask but paying for the website is also too much to ask, you have to be hones…

Ehh the problem with this is that I don't block YT ads (I watch on a tablet), but I am still constantly bombarded (and I mean that) with full-page click-through ads, banners and in-feed blocks trying to get me to buy Premium.

YouTube, I'm watching your pre-roll and mid-roll ads like you want me to, so leave me the fuck alone with this premium shit, I'm not interested.

So it's not an "either-or" scenario.. If you are using the ad-supported experience, they still disrupt it (many times a session for me) with UI-interfering elements to try to convert you. And that sucks.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#266

Post by 8note »

crop_rotation wrote: post #126

YouTube premium perfectly showcases why ads dominate the internet, because even when there is a paid option for a service much cheaper than any alternative, people do not want to pay (And I am not talking about too broke to pay cases). Serving an infinite video catalog is very expensive in terms of all resources (And yes Netflix is not comparable, unlike YouTube, Netflix can highly leverage cache boxes at ISPs). Vime…

YouTube premium is the definition of paying to watch ads.

If you want to skip ads your option is to block ads, not to buy premium

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#267

Post by lamontcg »

karaterobot wrote: post #67

Is it weird that this makes me want to subscribe to YouTube premium less than before? Feels like I've been poised to give them money for a while, since so many people seem to like the service. Now I feel like they're challenging me to a duel.

My $25/mo for life youtubetv subscription is now up to $80/mo. I'm regretting that now, but also kind of stuck because I have family members on the account.

I'm definitely not signing up for youtube premium.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#268

Post by crop_rotation »

bigthymer wrote: post #256
crop_rotation wrote: post #126

YouTube premium perfectly showcases why ads dominate the internet, because even when there is a paid option for a service much cheaper than any alternative, people do not want to pay (And I am not talking about too broke to pay cases). Serving an infinite video catalog is very expensive in terms of all resources (And yes Netflix is not comparable, unlike YouTube, Netflix can highly leverage cache boxes at ISPs). Vime…

I think you make a good point but I think part of the problem is that it is difficult to get people to pay for something that they have gotten used to getting for free.

That is correct, and sometimes such free services go away if they don't make money in the long term. I don't want the same to happen to YouTube.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#269

Post by miah_ »

reaperman wrote: post #87
Nextgrid wrote: post #82

Invidious is a third-party frontend (you can self-host) that solves this problem: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious As a bonus, it is super fast because it doesn't have to justify the salaries of dozens (hundreds?) of frontend developers and can get away with server-side-rendered HTML and minimal amounts of Javascript.

Does YouTube get any money from this for their infrastructure costs?

Their CEO just got hundreds of millions of dollars as a bonus. I don't think their infrastructure costs are that big of a worry for them.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#270

Post by bigthymer »

beardedwizard wrote: post #145
crop_rotation wrote: post #126

YouTube premium perfectly showcases why ads dominate the internet, because even when there is a paid option for a service much cheaper than any alternative, people do not want to pay (And I am not talking about too broke to pay cases). Serving an infinite video catalog is very expensive in terms of all resources (And yes Netflix is not comparable, unlike YouTube, Netflix can highly leverage cache boxes at ISPs). Vime…

people are paying for the content with patreon, bypassing YouTube entirely. Why cant YouTube figure out how to get that money people are clearly willing to part with? Why blame the users for YouTube failure?

I think people are more willing to pay via Patreon because it directly funds the creators. The more YouTube takes, the less willing people are to pay.
Post reply on HN