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Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#101

Post by janlukacs »

bad_user wrote: post #74
alanctgardner2 wrote: post #8

I don't know why it did't happen sooner. I started pre-roll seeing ads on mobile as well, which I don't remember until recently. I don't get why it's disgusting. This is how video creators and Google are supposed to get paid. It's annoying to me that people want free content, and they keep pushing companies to "get traction first, then monetize". This is what has to happen, or else Google has to keep subsidizing prog…

To me they are annoying because they disallow you to skip them for the first few seconds. Their targeting also doesn't do a very good job. But let me tell you the real problem with YouTube ads. Recently in my country there has been a public outcry against a mining project, which is dangerous not only because of ecological reasons, but also because it needs special laws that trump our constitutional rights and the who…

Rosia Montana Gold Corporation? :) nasol.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#102

Post by fhd2 »

spyder wrote: post #88
fhd2 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work on Adblock Plus and would like to clarify some things: 1. Adblock Plus is fully open source, has always been, will always be. Everything else we do is open source too, including our infrastructure and backend systems. ( https://hg.adblockplus.org/ ) 2. Adblock Edge is an unmaintained (edit: Not true, there've been some changes lately) fork of an old Adblock Plus version, with the Acceptable Ads feature removed…

I don't think it's fair to say that Adblock Edge is unmaintained when it has more recent updates than Adblock Plus: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/... https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/...

Oh wow, you're right, there've been some changes lately. Edited that above. Last time I checked it seemed pretty dead.

I don't mind forks at all, that's why ABP is open source. Just thought it's a pity it was unmaintained, but it really looks like they're putting some effort into it now.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#103

Post by iamshs »

fhd2 wrote: post #76
cupcake-unicorn wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give AdblockEdge a try. It's a true open source clean fork of AdblockPlus, and it doesn't have the "acceptable ads" whitelisted, which are only whitelisted in some cases because Google/etc. paid them off.

I work on Adblock Plus and would like to clarify some things: 1. Adblock Plus is fully open source, has always been, will always be. Everything else we do is open source too, including our infrastructure and backend systems. ( https://hg.adblockplus.org/ ) 2. Adblock Edge is an unmaintained (edit: Not true, there've been some changes lately) fork of an old Adblock Plus version, with the Acceptable Ads feature removed…

Acceptable ads should be opt-in feature and not opt-out. You are just building an ecosystem where you hold ad networks hostage. And you are being paid by Google.

1) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5995140

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#104

Post by stumacd »

davedx wrote: post #96
jjwiseman wrote: post #92

I worked on the YouTube ads team (Adsense for interactive media, or AFIM) for a while. The people on that team saw themselves as helping to create the replacement for TV, and part of that job was to create a model that paid the expense of hosting and distributing video, with all the associated infrastructure, as well as allowed for content-creators to make money--basically to make it a viable business. Ads are the pr…

Interesting info. > they have detailed data on exactly how many ads you can show people before they stop watching videos Anecdote: YouTube caused me to install AdBlock. I'm not anti-advertising, but the amount of ads shown on YouTube videos reached a tipping point for me sometime earlier this year. I'm not ad-intolerant, but it seemed to be showing me more ads per minute than on regular TV shows. Of course that's jus…

I'd like to think I'm in the same boat here. I understand that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But the unskippable 30 second ad for a short video was the end of the line.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#105

Post by Amadou »

davedx wrote: post #96
jjwiseman wrote: post #92

I worked on the YouTube ads team (Adsense for interactive media, or AFIM) for a while. The people on that team saw themselves as helping to create the replacement for TV, and part of that job was to create a model that paid the expense of hosting and distributing video, with all the associated infrastructure, as well as allowed for content-creators to make money--basically to make it a viable business. Ads are the pr…

Interesting info. > they have detailed data on exactly how many ads you can show people before they stop watching videos Anecdote: YouTube caused me to install AdBlock. I'm not anti-advertising, but the amount of ads shown on YouTube videos reached a tipping point for me sometime earlier this year. I'm not ad-intolerant, but it seemed to be showing me more ads per minute than on regular TV shows. Of course that's jus…

I read that line as "they have detailed data on how to maximize total ad views where losing some % of viewers is made up for by the increased number of ads watched by the remaining viewers."

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#106

Post by Amadou »

kitsune_ wrote: post #77

The problem I have is the really shitty targeting. With as much as Google must know about me, their ads usually are about stuff I have absolutely no interest in. I am from smaller country, so I get that the pool of advertisers must be smaller too. I bought a new bike this year and religiously researched this topic and consumed a ton of cycling videos. What ads do I see? Cars. I don't have a driver's license. Facebook…

The problem I have is the really shitty targeting.

I strongly believe, to the point of it being an article of faith, that effective relevant ad targeting will never happen, that it is an AI problem that can't be solved without enormous improvements in AI technology.

I suspect that what will happen is that industry will give up on trying to do relevance and focus on manipulation -- the big brother version of nubile women in commercials for beer. They'll stop trying to show you stuff that you want to buy, but they will have ~10 different ads for some product X and they will pick the specific ad most likely to convince you to buy product X based on the profile they have of you.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#108

Post by xerophtye »

bryan_rasmussen wrote: post #51
GauntletWizard wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The content creator might get paid when you click, or might get paid per impression. The the creator is absolutely not paid is when you click Skip. Click skip when you don't like the ad; It drives up the price for a successful watch, because ads that get skipped don't get played. There's an ecosystem, it can be played, but it has the proper knobs and controls to combat the playing.

This is true, but really if you are running a playlist of music you are using it like a radio - I tend to get an ad per every video which is quite a bit more than other radio solutions, it breaks up the flow and so forth.

are the ads same? If so, either the system should be smart enough to not show me ad if i skipped it a few times. Or perhaps provide a "dont show me this ad" checkbox

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#109

Post by xerophtye »

bad_user wrote: post #74
alanctgardner2 wrote: post #8

I don't know why it did't happen sooner. I started pre-roll seeing ads on mobile as well, which I don't remember until recently. I don't get why it's disgusting. This is how video creators and Google are supposed to get paid. It's annoying to me that people want free content, and they keep pushing companies to "get traction first, then monetize". This is what has to happen, or else Google has to keep subsidizing prog…

To me they are annoying because they disallow you to skip them for the first few seconds. Their targeting also doesn't do a very good job. But let me tell you the real problem with YouTube ads. Recently in my country there has been a public outcry against a mining project, which is dangerous not only because of ecological reasons, but also because it needs special laws that trump our constitutional rights and the who…

I guess "report" is too strong an option, but you tehy should provide you the ability to ive feedback. Even FB lets u tell them that this ad is against my beliefs and i dont want to see it.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or has YouTube gone fanatical on ads?

#110

Post by nullymcnull »

yeukhon wrote: post #85
nullymcnull wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misunderstand. AdBlock doesn't force this whitelisting, it merely defaults to using it.

Did you just say they default to use the whitelist ad program?

Yes, I believe if you just blindly click through the initial install for the extension, the limited whitelisting (for 'unobtrusive ads') will be in effect. That's the whole idea, isn't it - to whitelist for the majority of users who don't read the fine print or tweak things, while still allowing anyone who cares to shut it off.
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