YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#181

Post by Geojim » Fri, Nov 03, 2023, 11:53 PM UTC

Youtube should be paying us for watching ads

Take a 1M view clip on youtube, say 4 ads, $0.15/view; Revenue 600k, Creator: 3k

That's a money fire hydrant only a monopoly can have. Advertisers are desperate to reach consumers, and right now they have to go through Youtube. What Youtube is actually selling is our attention without paying us our cut.

That's why we end up with this false dilemma between being force fed ads, or paying a hefty subscription. Tbh google don't want you to buy a subscription, they make more off the ads. No wonder we're all pissed.

The vintage Google thing about this is right in the middle of anti-trust hearings they start this fight with ad blockers/consumers - are we really that dumb?

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#182

Post by beej71 » Sat, Nov 04, 2023, 12:53 AM UTC

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #155

beej71 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> YouTube is imo one of the best sites on the internet. This is true. > I am 100% happy to pay for YouTube. Just remember that you're giving money to the company that backs things like FLoC, Manifest v3, and WEI (recently in the news), things that threaten interoperability on the Internet. It's not friendly. If you pay them, do it with your eyes open.

They also built an incredible browser full of amazing capabilities that I do love. And have an enormous commitment to standards and standards processes, that they have supported & helped tirelessly. https://www.chromium.org/blink/launching-features/

They did, this is true. And so does Mozilla, for that matter.

But what's also true is that the market leader is incentivized to break interoperability and lock out other vendors. That was Microsoft; now it's Google. Or, put another way, I don't hear the EFF complaining about Edge at the moment.

I'm happy that Google is at least trying to standards-track these bad ideas and not just unilaterally putting them in Chrome. But I wouldn't bet a dime that they aren't going to do exactly that in the future. 70% of the market is a lot of weight.

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#183

Post by GoofballJones » Sat, Nov 04, 2023, 1:08 AM UTC

qntmfred wrote: post #36

I've been a paying YouTube user since 2016 when it was YouTube Red. YouTube is imo one of the best sites on the internet. Both in terms of content that I personally enjoy and improves my life, as well as its role on the internet overall, where they provide a FREE service that allows EVERYONE to upload as much video as they want, and see what kind of response it gets from a global audience, and even to get paid for th…

I have subscribed to it for a long time too. I mean, I watch YouTube more than any other streaming service like Hulu or Netflix or whatever. I've guarded my viewing habits jealously so it doesn't feed me any of the toxic BS that can invade the platform. My feed is mostly food and guitar related...with some interesting science bits thrown in. I too am happy to pay for a service I use so much.

And it's also so I don't hear any ads. I have trouble falling asleep, and I use it to watch/listen to relaxing videos that calm me down and let me fall asleep. Sure, if I watched everything on a computer, I could just use an ad-blocker. But I rarely watch it on my computer. I watch it on my tablet, and mostly on my streaming box attached to my big TV in the living room. Can't put an ad-blocker on there easily...especially since YouTube can change the way they stream to suddenly nullify how the ad-blockers work. So then you have to somehow update the ad-blocker and tweak it and by that time, you're spending more time than you want to just to watch the fricken video. Yeah, I know...they make watching the ad supported YouTube as obnoxious as hell to push you to just subscribe. But the content I watch, in my opinion, is worth it for me.

Yeah, I know. I'll get the "but your contributing to a corporation that does blah blah blah". Okay, but that's a slippery slop. The only way to NOT contribute to myriad of "evil corporations" is to buy and own nothing. Just live in an empty room with a mattress and a single light-bulb hanging from the ceiling. But wait! Is that light-bulb powered by a fossil-fuel electric plant??? I'm a monster!

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#184

Post by jauntywundrkind » Sat, Nov 04, 2023, 4:26 AM UTC

spystath wrote: post #161

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also built an incredible browser full of amazing capabilities that I do love. And have an enormous commitment to standards and standards processes, that they have supported & helped tirelessly. https://www.chromium.org/blink/launching-features/

I think that's a relatively simplistic way of viewing this. Although I don't disagree with the core argument, Google will always implement and ship "standards" that fit their business model or their vision of the web. A Chrome API becomes a defacto standard regardless of the state of consensus between engine vendors. Chrome can bulldoze through the standards process because of the massive amount of Chrome installatio…

If there were peers out there beyond Mozilla, Apple, and Edge, I'd agree more. Safari has long been the web's boat anchor that keeps it from going anywhere. Mozilla has lots of good moments, but they also have been snotty meanspirited aggressive press hounds talking mad shit about sensor support, web USB, web midi, and other really amazing capabilities.

Google has no peers who are pro web. So them not having full consensus on what they do try bothers me not the slightest.

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#185

Post by water-data-dude » Sat, Nov 04, 2023, 5:30 AM UTC

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #17

a1o wrote: post #4

I avoid anything with Ads and will simply avoid YouTube, as I already have been avoiding it for a long time for simply not having useful content.

To suggest YouTube doesn't have "useful" content seems objectively false. I think it should be considered the 8th wonder of the world. Need to see how to install a car seat? Need to fix a burner on your stove? Need to learn Hindi? Need to hear a live version of a Tom Waits song he only played once? Need to learn more about Philippine-American War? Need to learn what the difference between effect and affect is? My wif…

I’ve not used it much in the last few years since I think Google is the antichrist, but when I have gone on Youtube I’ve had trouble finding what I was looking for. In my recent experiences the relevant content has been drowned out by the loud, click-optimized spam where - if the information I’m looking for is present at all - it’s buried in a bunch of fluff

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#186

Post by joshspankit » Sat, Nov 04, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

qntmfred wrote: post #36

I've been a paying YouTube user since 2016 when it was YouTube Red. YouTube is imo one of the best sites on the internet. Both in terms of content that I personally enjoy and improves my life, as well as its role on the internet overall, where they provide a FREE service that allows EVERYONE to upload as much video as they want, and see what kind of response it gets from a global audience, and even to get paid for th…

How do you feel about YouTube’s gradual shift in focus from promoting evergreen content to “grab your attention for the next X seconds” content?

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#187

Post by qntmfred » Sat, Nov 04, 2023, 3:15 PM UTC

joshspankit wrote: post #186

qntmfred wrote: post #36

I've been a paying YouTube user since 2016 when it was YouTube Red. YouTube is imo one of the best sites on the internet. Both in terms of content that I personally enjoy and improves my life, as well as its role on the internet overall, where they provide a FREE service that allows EVERYONE to upload as much video as they want, and see what kind of response it gets from a global audience, and even to get paid for th…

How do you feel about YouTube’s gradual shift in focus from promoting evergreen content to “grab your attention for the next X seconds” content?

I'm not sure I agree that that is an accurate premise, but even if it is, I'd probably feel about it the same way that I feel about grocery stores putting tabloid magazines and candy near the cash registers.

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#188

Post by DougN7 » Sat, Nov 04, 2023, 5:55 PM UTC

spystath wrote: post #161

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also built an incredible browser full of amazing capabilities that I do love. And have an enormous commitment to standards and standards processes, that they have supported & helped tirelessly. https://www.chromium.org/blink/launching-features/

I think that's a relatively simplistic way of viewing this. Although I don't disagree with the core argument, Google will always implement and ship "standards" that fit their business model or their vision of the web. A Chrome API becomes a defacto standard regardless of the state of consensus between engine vendors. Chrome can bulldoze through the standards process because of the massive amount of Chrome installatio…

Interesting. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’ve shown Chrome is the new IE of the web. How the world turns…

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#189

Post by pd33 » Sat, Nov 04, 2023, 9:31 PM UTC

boomboomsubban wrote: post #55

My opinion of the for profit ad blockers is so low that I assume this article is sponsored content from at least one of them. I'd guess Adlock refused to pay, as bizarrely they're the only one who don't get their product linked to despite claiming to have solved the problem. I always find it strange to hear so many people still use non uBlock Origin ad blockers. I feel like any discussion I've seen about ad blockers…

This wasn't sponsored content. Not sure why you assume that. A link to AdLock was accidentally not included. It's in there now

Re: YouTube's Ad Blocker Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls

#190

Post by boomboomsubban » Sun, Nov 05, 2023, 3:39 AM UTC

pd33 wrote: post #189

boomboomsubban wrote: post #55

My opinion of the for profit ad blockers is so low that I assume this article is sponsored content from at least one of them. I'd guess Adlock refused to pay, as bizarrely they're the only one who don't get their product linked to despite claiming to have solved the problem. I always find it strange to hear so many people still use non uBlock Origin ad blockers. I feel like any discussion I've seen about ad blockers…

This wasn't sponsored content. Not sure why you assume that. A link to AdLock was accidentally not included. It's in there now

Things like the complete lack of a mention of uBlock Origin, despite it having a rather drama filled few weeks. Or that a similar article was posted elsewhere claiming that though uninstalls were way up, it was mostly people moving to ad blockers that work. Your article feels like pandering for what I view as rather scummy companies.