YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#481

Post by Renaud » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:35 AM UTC

atleastoptimal wrote: post #439

The big issue is, I know ads pay for Youtube, but maybe 1 times out of 100 do I see an ad that promotes positive feelings about the product being advertised. the other 99 times I am less inclined to purchase the product out of annoyance by the ad. Shouldn't the billions of dollars of recommendation research at this point reached a peak where ads are ideally appealing to the viewers they're served to? Wouldn't that ma…

It's like Google, with all its tracking might, is unable to actually show relevant ads.

That, or it's broken on purpose.

The proof of this may be that ads on YT are actually completely unrelated to the content I subscribe to and watch on YT. Even if Google has zero web tracking information on me, they know what are my interests through what I watch on their own platform.

Yet, I have never seen an ad for something related to the topics I follow.

This makes me think that Google is not interested in being too good at targetting ads, they wouldn't have much to sell otherwise.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#482

Post by j16sdiz » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:36 AM UTC

axelthegerman wrote: post #475

eqvinox wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do feel bad for the creators, but I would rather donate to their Patreons than buy YT premium. I ended up subscribing to both Nebula and Dropout.tv, especially after noticing that a good portion of my favourite YT channels are in fact on Nebula. Sadly, this is primarly larger ones, and I do feel bad about smaller creators being kinda stuck on YT… especially when it's the odd one-time well-made video that really d…

Totally agree this is the real problem. Where do creators go if not YouTube!? Ideally they could self host videos which could be expensive AND not bring any revenue, neither do they are they discoverable - this is where the internet is broken these days. And maybe this is where micro transactions would have a proper use case, i.e. if you had a browser extension where you add $5 and then you can dish out 1ct or 10ct f…

Nebula was created by a few creator, trying to solve this problem.

I have no idea how well it worked out - I am still contented with the ad-filled YouTube

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#483

Post by Gud » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:36 AM UTC

pasttense01 wrote: post #470

boredpeter wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of the concept of predatory pricing which is when a business lowers their prices to below cost in order to drive out all its competitors and create a monopoly. https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui... I do wonder if it could be argued (maybe even in the current monopoly case against google) whether youtube engaged in predatory or below-cost pricing in order to drive out all of i…

Youtube got to its current position not by lowering prices but instead by Google making sure that Youtube videos are returned at the top of Google search results. Competing video websites don't have this advantage.

YouTube had already beat its competitors before it was sold to Google.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#484

Post by jasonboyd » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:36 AM UTC

paulryanrogers wrote: post #303

jasonboyd wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I allowed ads for a long time, believing a site should be able to earn revenue for the content they provide. I started blocking ads when ad networks failed to properly vet their ads and allowed malicious ads to be distributed.

Do you allow ads on sites with more responsible ads?

Honest answer, I have no interest in doing that research. I wouldn't know how to make that determination with any degree of confidence. Even if I could, I feel like it would require that I constantly monitor how a site delivers its ads.

Fortunately, I am at a point in my life that if I really like something, and they offer an ad-free subscription, I can support them that way.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#485

Post by PrivateButts » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:38 AM UTC

I wouldn't mind subscribing to YouTube Premium. I use YouTube a crap ton, and every time I hear a creator weigh in on the matter, they claim that subscribers that use YTP earn them way more than 100s of ad views. This could potentially solve my problem with patron, where I just don't have the monthly budget to support everyone directly. A fixed donation that's divided up between everyone I watched that month sounds like a good alternative to those who don't make the cut for my patron budget.

However, I hate how they price YTP. Why is everyone so allergic to options/add-ons with subscriptions? Ideally, I just want to pay for two seat license to YTP+Music, so my wife and I can consolidate our Spotify duo plan with YTP. Failing that, I would love to pay for just YTP without Youtube music and keep Spotify. Under the current model I would have to either pay for two separate full price subscriptions for $28, or for less money, get the family plan and have 3 extra licenses I don't need. I could sublet them to friends or other family, but I don't want to mix our accounts together, and I shouldn't have to be a mini-landlord because Google won't do $14/m + $2.5/m per seat.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#486

Post by Gazoche » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:41 AM UTC

I'd feel more guilty adblocking Youtube if I was certain a fair share the advertising money was going to the creators producing the content. But from their own testimonies, Youtube keeps demonetizing videos for absurd reasons, or allows bad actors to file false copyright claims and outright steal their revenue.

It's gotten to the point where I've seen a couple creators give up on the Youtube monetization and go "I don't care, use Adblock, I make my money on sponsorships anyway". There's also been a rise in popularity of creator-owned platforms like Floatplane and Nebula.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#487

Post by high_5 » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:43 AM UTC

crop_rotation wrote: post #9

Apart from the Youtube stuff, the post also highlights something else, entitlement towards free services like uBlock origin. > It’s one thing to play cat and mouse with YouTube. It’s quite another to deal with a wave of angry users. > And then one of the moderators actually deleted their Reddit account. “The ID in the post wasn’t updated because my mother was hospitalized,” they said. It’s sad to see them leave becau…

> I have seen this becoming more and more common on open source projects and totally free services, where people act as if they are entitled to something as if it is their god given right. The people doing public services like uBlock origin can only take so much from the mob.

Only donators should be allowed to review the service and complain then.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#488

Post by okdood64 » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:48 AM UTC

perryizgr8 wrote: post #444

plutoh28 wrote: post #290

Ads are the unfortunate trade off we make to keep things free. I hate ads. I hate the idea of ads. Tailored propaganda to manipulate you into purchasing product just sounds awful… especially when it’s targeted at children (a demographic where advertising is especially effective). I think YouTube’s current system is a fair deal. You either watch the content and pay by watching ads, or you pay by purchasing YouTube pre…

> You either watch the content and pay by watching ads, or you pay by purchasing YouTube premium and still get shown ads. Fixed that for you.

I've had Premium for years. Never have seen a single ad.

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#489

Post by PrivateButts » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:50 AM UTC

SlackingOff123 wrote: post #74

I've been wondering, how much does the average YouTube viewer generate in revenue by watching ads? $0.1 a month? $0.25? $0.5 if avid viewer? Given that I'm not an avid viewer and I do not care at all for YouTube Music, I just find the monthly cost of YouTube Premium too high. I don't know what the right price should be, but by comparing with other digital subscriptions I have, I think I would be OK with paying someth…

Others in the thread have pointed this out, but they did have a lite plan that wasn't rolled out broadly for some insane reason. They axed it this month:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/25/23889917/youtube-premium-...

Re: YouTube's Anti-Adblock and uBlock Origin

#490

Post by raincole » Mon, Oct 30, 2023, 5:51 AM UTC

darklycan51 wrote: post #455

eqvinox wrote: post #427

This is of course bringing up the discussion on the "morality" of Adblocking. I'd like to point out something that I don't think is getting enough attention. There was a point in the past where video platforms were competing, and by no means was it clear that YouTube would end up dominating this area to the point of being close to a monopoly. When YouTube won that race, they won it with a given set of parameters, inc…

The real reason why anyone could never compete with Youtube was (lack of) monetization

There is a very interesting example, but unknown to western readers. It's called Bilibili.

It's the largest video platform in China[0]. However, it keeps losing money since forever, including in last year, and is expected to keep losing more in 2023.

[0]: Youtube is blocked in China and you need a VPN to access it there.