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YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

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Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#641

Post by lelanthran »

ben_w wrote: post #626
tired-turtle wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also get YouTube Music, which is not as great as Spotify, but nonetheless worth something. In fact, that’s the primary reason everyone I know who has YouTube Premium subscribes: music steaming + ad-free YouTube. That needs to be factored into your calculation, no?

> That needs to be factored into your calculation, no? Only if I get to pay for a lifetime of access with a hand-drawn picture of a seven-legged spider.

I remember that being hilarious. Do you have a link to it?

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#642

Post by amatecha »

deafpolygon wrote: post #525
anon-3988 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mate, Youtube have existed for almost 2 decades and you probably used them for most of it. I have used it to watch countless hours of lectures, talks, interviews and entertainment. You probably have the same experience of it for the past 2 decade too. If you are not going to pay for THAT, you aren't going to pay for ANYTHING. Just admit you want free stuff. Stop deluding yourself into thinking that Youtube is somehow…

Google set the standard for free online videos. It's what they used to aggressively drive other competitors out of the market. Now they want to reap the "benefits" of market dominance.

Yeah, I had this discussion with someone recently. Companies of that size can drown out competition for years, decades even, by operating at a loss (or just not making much profit at all) because they have numerous revenue streams and the pre-existing highly-profitable sources can subsidize the not-so-profitable new one. Once you have a nice big customer base, tighten the screws and wring money out of the users now that they are captive. The rate at which that process occurs varies, but it's basically inevitable, especially for publicly-traded corps.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#643

Post by Daedren »

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 do not want to pay

We don't REALLY know that. If adblockers are effectively blocked, we might see an increase in people paying. The big value add of Premium was something people here were taking for granted because that "feature" was available for free.

Anecdotal but I knew a few people who are paying for it because of Apple TVs and iPhones where it's less trivial to block the ads on the apps.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#644

Post by amatecha »

candiddevmike wrote: post #120
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.

Try youtube-dl or one of the clones.

Yeah, yt-dlp is great. It happily grabs stuff Invidious can't play. Indispensable IMO.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#645

Post by janandonly »

I've been enjoying an ad-free experience on my iPad, iPhone, and Mac by my one time purchase of "vinegar".

https://andadinosaur.com/launch-vinegar

If YT would now block me completely, I would simply have one less reason to use them at all. PeerTube is my go-to first stop anyways.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#646

Post by bryanrasmussen »

freehorse wrote: post #615

It is not just about youtube. The whole internet is bloated with ads right now, and the vast majority of them quite the opposite of discrete. I just cannot browse the internet without adblocker, it is too slow, but more importantly too distracting. I could count the times that I have found an internet ad interesting in my lifetime using half the fingers of one hand. Personalised or not, the vast majority is useless,…

>I just cannot browse the internet without adblocker, it is too slow, but more importantly too distracting

not saying this applies to you but might it be that ads are distracting enough that they would be an actual accessibility problem affecting people with ADHD - if so is not allowing people to block ads likely to run into legal issues?

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#647

Post by mschuster91 »

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…

The problem at the core is subscription fatigue. Netflix, Prime, Disney, HBO, newspapers, cable TV, sports... that shit adds up.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#648

Post by xattt »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #646
freehorse wrote: post #615

It is not just about youtube. The whole internet is bloated with ads right now, and the vast majority of them quite the opposite of discrete. I just cannot browse the internet without adblocker, it is too slow, but more importantly too distracting. I could count the times that I have found an internet ad interesting in my lifetime using half the fingers of one hand. Personalised or not, the vast majority is useless,…

>I just cannot browse the internet without adblocker, it is too slow, but more importantly too distracting not saying this applies to you but might it be that ads are distracting enough that they would be an actual accessibility problem affecting people with ADHD - if so is not allowing people to block ads likely to run into legal issues?

Yes! Ad blockers are an accessibility tool for people with executive functioning disorders!

Can you imagine the uproar if a mainstream website blocked screen readers for people with low vision?

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#649

Post by dale_glass »

xkbarkar wrote: post #533
lostmsu wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is spot on. People assume Vimeo is the only competitor to YouTube, but that's wrong. Reddit is a perfectly fine competitor to YouTube in a sense that people don't really need the content to come in form of video.

No, just no. Reddits poor quality commentaries that are mostly bots and teen trollers, do not compare to millions of hours of content from verified experts amd amateurs alike showcasing or explaining something of interest to the viewer. Thats like compairing backroom gossip to news. Sure both have their biases and inaccuracies, but at least one of them holds a resemblance of accountability as opposed to the other tha…

Reddit is enormously variable.

Yeah, stay far away from the most popular subs. The traffic is insane and there's no time to form any kind of community.

But you can find very good quality subreddits.

Small subs are often better, because the mods haven't burned out yet and people know each other.

And there's gems like /r/AskHistorians. Moderated with an iron fist, quality content is the only thing to be found there.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#650

Post by thiht »

Natsu wrote: post #616
Veserv wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it perfectly showcases that people do not want to pay 1000% more money for the privilege of paying a monthly subscription. Youtube Premium costs $12/month [1]. Ads average something like $2 per 1000 views to the creators (in some of the most common categories) [2]. Youtube takes a ~45% cut, so Youtube makes ~$4 per 1000 views from ads. So, to reach $12/month, you would need to average 3000 views per month. At a a…

Also there's the fact that once enough people get on board with the ad free subscription services, they usually just start adding ads anyway.

I don’t know why you’re being downvoted, that’s true. I paid my Android TV $2000 and guess what? They added ads on the Home! Google sucks and there’s no way I’ll directly give them money, ever again.
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