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Welcome to the ad-free internet

economist.com

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Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#131

Post by amelius »

figassis wrote: post #108
zerbinxx wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution, at least for me, is finding things/places, both on and off the computer, where you can avoid having your attention stolen and just focus on something you like. I think the ad-saturated parts of the world are one of those things that you don’t really need, you just get trapped by them if you open yourself up to being swayed by them. Nobody is in my kitchen trying to sell me shit when I’m cooking, nobody…

Eventually those places will be premium real estate for ads. Some one will find a way to bring ads to our kitchen or to mount fiji. Maybe they will fly planes overhead, or do crop circles, put put them in hiking trails.

If advertisers could turn the Moon into a giant Pepsi logo, they would definitely do it.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#132

Post by amadeuspagel »

Keegs wrote: post #6

This is nothing new but the article hits hard. I don’t want to live in a world where everyone is after my attention but a good chunk of the economy seems to depend on it. There has to be a better future than this?

You are, with or without ads. The web is a struggle for attention. No website can survive that doesn't addict you to check it again and again.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#133

Post by amadeuspagel »

asoneth wrote: post #106
zerbinxx wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution, at least for me, is finding things/places, both on and off the computer, where you can avoid having your attention stolen and just focus on something you like. I think the ad-saturated parts of the world are one of those things that you don’t really need, you just get trapped by them if you open yourself up to being swayed by them. Nobody is in my kitchen trying to sell me shit when I’m cooking, nobody…

The challenge highlighted in the article is that adds are increasing in areas that are harder to avoid such as billboards, hotel rooms, airline seats, ride-hailing apps.

Billboards? Is that a new thing? Airline seats? First-time ryanair flyer? If you're determined to never see an ad in your entire life, that was never possible, but if you just want to spend a lot of time without seeing ads this is just as easy as ever.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#134

Post by andirk »

Hamuko wrote: post #97
andirk wrote: post #94

The repeating issue in these comments: very small fiat transactions are difficult. Crypto solves this. The barrier to entry is cumbersome because of KYC, but after that the whole ecosystem is ready to go. People talking 25 cents for an article. The ad revenue from viewing a single page with a few well sold ad impressions at $40 CPM is like 4 cents, and more often more like < 1 cent. I keep hoping to see Basic Attenti…

Every time I've paid with crypto, the fees I've paid to Coinbase and the network have been massive.

Coinbase is famously expensive at ~5-10%. I use them but not for transferring much. Bitpay and Cash App are some 1-3%. When I could use Bitcoin with Overstock.com it was also minimal. But whenever bitcoin is trading heavily, it's not worth the cost. Hey why not put some ads on the transaction.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#135

Post by amelius »

saghm wrote: post #79
solardev wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google actually tried this... at least twice, I think? In 2011, they partnered with some publishers to offer "One Pass", a pass-through billing system that also had an option for pay-per-article: https://www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com/news/google-... Then, separately in 2012 they tried to launch "Google Wallet for content", offering publishers a way to sell individual articles for less than a dollar: https:/…

I suspect that when presented with the actual "cost" of reading an article up front, most people realize that they just don't actually care that much about reading it. When the cost is indirect (via ads) and deferred (in terms of the effects on the entire system, leading to what we have today), it's a lot easier to ignore.

This could be the end of addictive content. Would you watch an endless stream of useless content if you had to pay for it?

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#136

Post by zigman1 »

avgcorrection wrote: post #116

There’s this local newspaper. While I’m on a logged in account (EDIT: paid) the ads seem to take up at least 25% screen real estate at all times. The best ones are the ones that graciously show up while scrolling, dynamically—it’s like wathing TV (again)! My favorite place though is the gym. Which costs a lot when you just go there to use frickin’ weights and cardio equipment. LCD screens with ads running (for local…

I'd even argue that internet, while it was seen as a counter-balance to the ad infected tv and radio space, has become WORST than watching a TV.

If I want to show something on YT to my friend, and I don't know exactly which video is correct, well lots of luck to me to find it in first few tries, as EACH video I click on will first show me a two unskippable ads, no matter how short the video is

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#137

Post by zigman1 »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #48

Doesn't this end up spiralling, though? As we've seen with Netflix, nothing stops the service from adding ads to a subscription feed. Sooner or later the pressure to grow revenues is going to force Meta to do ads on their subscription accounts (especially since they can charge a premium on those ads). Then they introduce "premium" subscription accounts with no ads, then those get ads, then there's the "excelsior" sub…

Naive question, but when you sign up to pay for a service you are promised various functions or improvements, one of them is no-ads experience. If company then starts showing ads, isn't that breaking at least some consumer-protection laws?

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#138

Post by avgcorrection »

zigman1 wrote: post #136
avgcorrection wrote: post #116

There’s this local newspaper. While I’m on a logged in account (EDIT: paid) the ads seem to take up at least 25% screen real estate at all times. The best ones are the ones that graciously show up while scrolling, dynamically—it’s like wathing TV (again)! My favorite place though is the gym. Which costs a lot when you just go there to use frickin’ weights and cardio equipment. LCD screens with ads running (for local…

I'd even argue that internet, while it was seen as a counter-balance to the ad infected tv and radio space, has become WORST than watching a TV. If I want to show something on YT to my friend, and I don't know exactly which video is correct, well lots of luck to me to find it in first few tries, as EACH video I click on will first show me a two unskippable ads, no matter how short the video is

Exactly right. Good luck using a for-reference video where you have to seek around a lot to exactly the parts you need. Have fun watching the same two unskippable ads every time.

Meanwhile (on TV) my parents just record the shows they want and wind through the ad breaks that come up on a set schedule.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#139

Post by isoprophlex »

zetsurin wrote: post #33
alex_young wrote: post #21

Ad free internet costs ~$40 one time fee. Raspberry Pi + pihole dns.

I also run this, and it's pretty worth it, but 40$ discounts the time, and makes it sound like the perfect solution. While it is good, it isn't perfect.

2$/month for NextDNS for dns adblocking as a service. Works outside of your home, too.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#140

Post by jamiedumont »

sakras wrote: post #13

I resonate hard with this, and I'm glad it's being flagged as a trend. I didn't quite realize how soul-crushing ads were until I got rid of them. Now I'm on YouTube Premium and Twitch Turbo and look forward to getting rid of more ads.

Over the past 2 months I've switched from a YouTube Premium subscriber, to a regular logged-in YouTube user and finally to a no-account user. The increase in ads, particular transitioning to no-account; is staggering.

YouTube adverts have always been prominent and irritating but without an account they are downright aggressive. I think an 18 minute video I watched last night had a pair of adverts served every ~2 minutes.

I stopped Premium and deleted my account to disincentivise watching YouTube as it became a huge time sink and procrastination tool for me. My solution will either work because the ads make the entire experience unpleasant enough to not bother with YouTube at all, or I'll be driven back to Premium just to save some time.

Of course this is exactly the situation that YouTube wanted to engineer, and have succeeded in doing so, but it just seems such an awful way to incentivise subscriptions.

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