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YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

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Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#311
post #222

I don't really understand either side of the equation here. So, on the one hand you have people who use ad blockers. The first retort that comes to mind here is: Well, we'll take our business elsewhere. Which is odd because without ads they aren't paying and them leaving is the goal. Of course on the other hand ... when I read the title my thoughts weren't that I would be okay because I don't ad block youtube. My tho…

I'm really puzzled with the ad business model. I always wonder if those silly mobile game ads can get really bring the mobile game developer additional revenue? And even for other ads that look less stupid comparing with those mobile games, I think I had never been attracted to purchase something due to ads, nor I would prefer them when I actually need to buy something (note that I keep my spending minimal, so I am probably not their targets anyway...)

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#312

If this really comes, I think it would be not too hard to modify the ad blockers, that ads are being "served" but into the void (muted, invisible container). In a way, that makes it hard or impossible for ad blocker dedection. Blocking youtube ad videos will be more hard to block without detection. Not an optimal solution, as it still uses more data, but nothing is, if we cannot solve the base problem that we have an…

You might want to try: https://adnauseam.io/

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#313
This is just so funny to me. Google has to have the absolute worst PR for any company I've ever seen to make this happen. Somehow, they've duped the general public (at least on HN) into believing they insert the ads into videos. All they need to do is run a marketing campaign about how as a content creator you get to decide when ads play, whether they're unskippable, and how many ads to place in your video. Blast that all over the internet so people realize that the ads in videos are not there because of YT (unless that channel has Leave angry comments on the videos you watch and tell the creators your pissed at them for how many ads they place. This is one area YT gives almost full autonomy to the creator. They can choose everything except which ads get played.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#314

You know, if YouTube wouldn't insist on absolutely annoying the living shit out of me with unskippable, bad, long, and frequent ads I wouldn't mind that much. But YouTube with ads is one of the worst things there are.

There are no ads if you pay

keep in mind that several videos do have sponsored segments so again you can't get away from that without sponsorblock

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#315

I block ads because they're psychological warfare that corporations wage against me. I don't care how unobtrusive the ads are. I don't care if the ads don't track me. I grew up changing the channel on TV when ads came on, and ripping adverts out of magazines before sitting down to read them. I vote for billboard bans whenever I can. I have zero tolerance for ads of any sort. Advertisers have no morals, they're comple…

[flagged]

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#316

This doesn't really affect me since I subscribe to premium, but something that a lot of ad-based services don't seem to grasp is why people block ads. It's because they've become increasingly obnoxious. Nobody blocked ads when they were a simple column of links in the gutter or maybe an animated GIF banner with 3 frames. No, adblockers became popular because ads kept getting more loud (both visually and audibly), in…

Some ads also contain(ed) crypto miners and malware in general, in addition to all of what you said. My feeling is that Google should be free to do what they feel they have to, and ad-blockers should feel free to engage in an arms race with them. The worst that happens is Google drives away a chunk of its user base, opening the door for competition.

Google controls the vast majority of the "user agents" on the internet, and I suspect Manifest v3 has some role to play in this.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#317

You know, if YouTube wouldn't insist on absolutely annoying the living shit out of me with unskippable, bad, long, and frequent ads I wouldn't mind that much. But YouTube with ads is one of the worst things there are.

There are no ads if you pay

That's not true at all. There are many advertisements/sponsorships within large YouTube creator channels now. It's regularly 1min or more in every 10min of video. I don't mind so much, because they are skippable and since it's the creators themselves rather than totally unrelated garbage.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#318
Honestly, seeing an old spice ad isn't going to make me buy old spice.

And seeing a 1 hour ad for some guy telling me to stop eating what I'm eating to have no-wipe bowel movements isn't going to make me buy the stuff.

There have been studies done about plumbers. The ones that pay money to get on top in the White Pages have worse reviews than the ones that work by word of mouth. I go by the same thing. If you feel that your product needs an ad, it's probably overpriced and / or doesn't do what it says it does.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#319
post #252

This doesn't really affect me since I subscribe to premium, but something that a lot of ad-based services don't seem to grasp is why people block ads. It's because they've become increasingly obnoxious. Nobody blocked ads when they were a simple column of links in the gutter or maybe an animated GIF banner with 3 frames. No, adblockers became popular because ads kept getting more loud (both visually and audibly), in…

Worst thing is even if you pay, they'll throw them at you. Looking at WSJ, FT, NYT,...

The Economist does this too. It's infuriating to see ads in the app when I pay for a yearly subscription.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#320

I block ads because they're psychological warfare that corporations wage against me. I don't care how unobtrusive the ads are. I don't care if the ads don't track me. I grew up changing the channel on TV when ads came on, and ripping adverts out of magazines before sitting down to read them. I vote for billboard bans whenever I can. I have zero tolerance for ads of any sort. Advertisers have no morals, they're comple…

I’m curious: what’s the alternative to ads then? How do you find new stuff that you might need?
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