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

761–770 of 1001 posts

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#761

Post by m4tthumphrey »

AltruisticGapHN wrote: post #755

I think YouTube Premium LITE is definitely worth the 7 € I pay for it, and I wish YouTube would actually tell users about it. If I had known there was a LITE option I would have subbed probably years ago - but it seems like they do their damndest best to try not to tell you about it. Twitch does the same. They have some kind of site-wite subscription ("twitch turbo"). Although I think it is a tad expensive for what i…

I just Googled it... looks like it was released in 2021 for select countries. Still not available in UK. £7 seems like a reasonable amount and I would 100% pay that. £12 is just too much.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#762

Post by crop_rotation »

throwaway290 wrote: post #699
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…

A model where the uploader pays. Vimeo pro plans have something like that. This idea that uploading is free artificially created by big data and somehow we think that's the way it should be. But really it's just their strategy, get as much data in then tax those who want to access it, even forgetting about the whole ML angle it's very simple to understand.

That model doesn't work, see the link I included about Vimeo.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#763

Post by elAhmo »

YouTube seems to be slowly forcing users to think about alternatives. For me, having ads interrupt video was the line I hoped they would never cross, and I see this as something that will drive users away in the long term. Showing me 4-5 ads for videos shorter than 10 minutes is quite ridiculous, and as a result my viewing has significantly dropped.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#764

Post by everdrive »

Mistletoe wrote: post #127
everdrive wrote: post #89

I'm pretty torn here. I don't believe I deserve access to free content, and there's _nothing_ wrong with any site blocking access if you don't want to see ads. I've done a lot of digital curtailing in my life, but Youtube has been hard to avoid. It's both good and bad, as they have some of the most amazing content in the whole world, but also some of the most addictive trash that I can't stop watching. Because the se…

Can you list some of the amazing content you like?

I listen to a LOT of amateur music on Youtube. This probably won't be most people's fancy, but I consider this to be the best performance of this particular song which exists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ6-8IIuJnc

There's a lot on Youtube like this. Music which is either just a cover, or is original that you literally can't find anywhere else because some hobbyist threw it up there and then stopped performing years ago.

There are also plenty of amazing lectures. I'm about halfway through this Yale course, but need to get back to watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo-YL-lv3RY&list=PLh9mgdi4rN...

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#765

Post by everdrive »

diego_sandoval wrote: post #186
everdrive wrote: post #89

I'm pretty torn here. I don't believe I deserve access to free content, and there's _nothing_ wrong with any site blocking access if you don't want to see ads. I've done a lot of digital curtailing in my life, but Youtube has been hard to avoid. It's both good and bad, as they have some of the most amazing content in the whole world, but also some of the most addictive trash that I can't stop watching. Because the se…

Have you tried deleting your watch history so that the "bad" content srops being suggested to you?

All this does is reset the bad content. The only way to really master youtube is to block recommendations, which can be done with uBlock Origin.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#766

Post by everdrive »

AuthError wrote: post #106
everdrive wrote: post #89

I'm pretty torn here. I don't believe I deserve access to free content, and there's _nothing_ wrong with any site blocking access if you don't want to see ads. I've done a lot of digital curtailing in my life, but Youtube has been hard to avoid. It's both good and bad, as they have some of the most amazing content in the whole world, but also some of the most addictive trash that I can't stop watching. Because the se…

consuming content for free where creators expect to get paid is polite way of stealing if you really think about it

Many of the creators I listen to sell their content, and when they do, I pay for it if I can. (some do not sell their content on a service which allows for non-DRM audio purchases.)

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#767

Post by rixthefox »

Personally whenever I find videos I like on YouTube I will immediate send them into yt-dlp and save it locally to view after the fact.

At this point the amount of advertising has become so pervasive that I’ve lost all care. This “monetization” game as far as I’m concerned is blackmail to creators as their content is heavily regulated by the platform and god forbid you say the wrong thing and then all the money you would get per view goes away but the ads will continue playing because someone else is going to get that money.

What a scam.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#768

Post by YetAnotherNick »

jjulius wrote: post #428
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>... you have to be honest that you just want a free experience. No, I want an experience that commits to showing the ad(s) up front and not interrupting the video with more ads in the middle. I use YT primarily for music. I don't mind letting ads play at the beginning. It's when they inject them into the middle of a song and, suddenly, when I'm jamming out, RIGHT at the peak of the track when I'm having the most fun…

> No, I want an experience that commits to showing the ad(s) up front and not interrupting the video with more ads in the middle.

Of course you would, and of course YT and its creators earns significantly more if they show ad in the middle. Not 100% sure, but AFAIK content creator could disable ad in the middle if they want to.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#769

Post by mda »

thematt wrote: post #34
wnevets wrote: post #4

On a related note as someone who uses YouTube constantly YouTube Premium is absolutely worth it.

What makes it worth it? Isn't the experience the same as just running an ad-blocker?

Actually better, because I share it with my family and no one has to deal with installing / configuring adblockers on different platforms (mobile app, TV, laptops whatever) It also includes Music so together I think it is a pretty good deal. Prices in some countries are ridiculously cheap as well (My only problem is the sponsored content in youtube videos, I would give some extra money to skip that crap as well.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#770

Post by mortehu »

culturestate wrote: post #757
meindnoch wrote: post #719

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spaced repetition ;) It works, and they know it.

The ad I most frequently get on YouTube - we’re talking three times per video, every other video - is for a shingles vaccine targeted at adults over 60. No amount of spaced repetition is going to make me, an adult decades under the age of 60, talk to my doctor about that shingles vaccine. This cannot possibly be a truly cost-efficient ad platform.

Thank you for spreading the word about our shingles vaccine. It's nice to see the ad is working.
Post reply on HN