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SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

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Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#111

Post by Dylan16807 »

BonoboIO wrote: post #73
flutas wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard agree. I used to watch LMG all the time, then it felt like the content turned to infomercials. Then that whole drama thing went on and the fact that (in a leaked video) they had a manager say "you gonna get up on that table and dance for me" at the end of a HR meeting with zero reactions aside from laughing led me to fully block all of their channels. To me it's clear they have an internal culture problem that c…

I find the LTT stupid ideas like watercooling his server room funny but without Sponsorblock it’s a pain. Also their merch … this is so overpriced. A screwdriver for 70 dollar, when nearly the same product costs 20. But there are enough people that buy that stuff.

As far as I'm aware it's a similar price to screwdrivers of similar quality. Much cheaper options exist but I wouldn't call them "nearly the same".

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#112

Post by mschuster91 »

dnissley wrote: post #95
chankstein38 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wondered why YouTube themselves didn't start restricting sponsored segments. I don't necessarily agree with the idea (not a big fan of how restrictive youtube already is) but I always thought it was odd they were ok with their premium offering being devalued by sponsored segments.

They could stop sponsored segments, but they couldn't stop creators and users from going to other platforms where they allow sponsored segments. They have far less control than e.g. Apple with the app store (where they literally can stop other app stores from ever coming into being, barring regulation that changes that).

> but they couldn't stop creators and users from going to other platforms where they allow sponsored segments

It's not like there are many viable competitors, at least for long form videos.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#114

Post by hnarn »

heraldgeezer wrote: post #113

Firefox + ublock origin + this + enhancer for youtube = Youtube bliss :) I dont auto skip sponsors as some are actually useful but clicking the button works

Using yt-dlp to download video files is great too because it has support for sponsorblock[1] which will then automatically remove the segments you choose from the file.

[1]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#sponsorb...

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#115

Post by heraldgeezer »

noone_youknow wrote: post #16

As a YouTuber, I’m conflicted about this. My main channel (non-tech) is small, but is monetised, and YouTube see fit to throw me a _very_ variable amount of money every month. CPMs are down right now so revenue has tanked along with it, it’ll pick back up at some point, but the variability is itself the pain point. My videos are relatively expensive and time consuming to make, but people seem to find them useful, and…

>I do worry that if this takes off

It won't. Honestly, most people use the official apps on their phones/TVs. Desktops and laptops are in a minority now, sadlyu, but good for stuff like this. Some know about ublock origin, but that's still a small % compared to the population.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#116

Post by kelnos »

noone_youknow wrote: post #16

As a YouTuber, I’m conflicted about this. My main channel (non-tech) is small, but is monetised, and YouTube see fit to throw me a _very_ variable amount of money every month. CPMs are down right now so revenue has tanked along with it, it’ll pick back up at some point, but the variability is itself the pain point. My videos are relatively expensive and time consuming to make, but people seem to find them useful, and…

I absolutely hate advertising in all forms, and will aggressively block ads whenever I can.

I pay for YouTube Premium, though I have no idea how much (if any) of that goes toward creators. If a YouTube channel I enjoy has a Patreon, I'll subscribe.

Advertising is psychological manipulation. I get that there aren't many ways for independent creators to get paid for their work, only a selection of sub-optimal choices, but ads are gross.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#117

Post by kelnos »

chankstein38 wrote: post #75
noone_youknow wrote: post #16

As a YouTuber, I’m conflicted about this. My main channel (non-tech) is small, but is monetised, and YouTube see fit to throw me a _very_ variable amount of money every month. CPMs are down right now so revenue has tanked along with it, it’ll pick back up at some point, but the variability is itself the pain point. My videos are relatively expensive and time consuming to make, but people seem to find them useful, and…

The thing that sucks is I pay for YouTube Premium to remove ads then youtubers always have sponsored segments. It makes my $20/mo useless because I'm spending time watching ads still. I don't have a solution I'm just stating my perspective on it. That said, SponsorBlock has been around for years. I've been using it for as long as I can remember. Basically any decent-sized channel's videos already have the sponsored s…

> I'm not sure why someone just posted it but we're well beyond SponsorBlock "taking off".

Are we, though? Regular ad blockers are still only used by a minority of web browser users. I would be surprised if SponsorBlock has larger market share than that.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#118

Post by kawsper »

chankstein38 wrote: post #88
Reubachi wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same feeling here. It's gotten twice as expensive, which is insane by itself. But worse is the jarring rotation of sponsored advertisers. it's reminiscent of NASCAR. Or, like being a kid forced to watch advertising during TV breaks, wondering why the TV screen istrying to sell me cigarettes. It's maybe a bit social-media-toxic to say that some youtubers are my "favorite people" in that i look forward to their takes o…

I always wondered why YouTube themselves didn't start restricting sponsored segments. I don't necessarily agree with the idea (not a big fan of how restrictive youtube already is) but I always thought it was odd they were ok with their premium offering being devalued by sponsored segments.

Someone spotted a "SKIP"-button for sponsored segments and posted about it on the LTT-subreddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/1ekajmt/is_y...

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#119

Post by eropple »

lrvick wrote: post #38
noone_youknow wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, I totally get that. I’m no fan of being advertised to myself and as a premium subscriber I do find sponsor segments - especially poorly-places ones - just as annoying as everyone else when watching YouTube - which is why I said I was conflicted in my earlier comment. However as I mentioned in another reply in this thread, removing routes to monetisation and devaluing content in general (by making it be effectiv…

Making YouTube non-viable is the entire point. Google should not be the gatekeeper for the world's content, or get to decide who wins and loses in a rat race trying to keep up with algorithms built to keep users addicted to low quality advertizer friendly content. The end game of ad blocking tech is to make ads a non viable source of revenue so creators will move on to ethical platforms like LBRY or peertube where cr…

These are platforms with worse availability and worse affordances, ranging to nonfunctional once you're on a mobile device. Adblocking technology isn't going to make them better. Making them better is going to make them better, but the unit economics remain not in their favor.

A more likely future is less video rather than people move to PeerTube and shake an upturned hat for donations. Which doesn't bother me much, but is likely to invoke the FAFO gator on a lot of folks.

Re: SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

#120

Post by kelnos »

labcomputer wrote: post #89
ndriscoll wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? As a HN-er/content creator, I don't see why it would be taken for granted that people need to be paid for their hobbies. In fact many people post online for enjoyment.

I’m sort of amazed this has to be explicitly stated: Because most YouTube creators (even the hobbyists) are at least partially motivated by money, and if you take away all the money they will likely make less content or stop altogether. I understand that it’s fun to get things for free, but that’s usually not sustainable.

I think that's fine, though. Maybe we should have different platforms. Maybe we have a platform just for people who post stuff out of love for their craft, and don't expect any sort of compensation. And then we have a platform for people who want to monetize, and the platform itself has a subscription fee that gets distributed to creators based on views, or... something. Anything, really.

Maybe this could all be YouTube, but creators decide on a per-video basis whether they're uploading publicly or only to paid viewers. I dunno, there are so many other models.

The current situation with YouTubers asking people to subscribe to their Patreon or whatever is so weird, since often they have to distribute patron perks outside of YouTube, or via unlisted links, or whatever. I assume Google hasn't built in paid subscriptions option for fear of anti-trust regulation, but an integrated solution like that would likely be better for both creators and viewers.

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