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YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

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Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#111

Post by xkcd-sucks »

mschuster91 wrote: post #48
MBCook wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I keep seeing the discourse recently and it’s all framed as if only two options exist: People can use ad blockers, or Google can block them and annoy people. There is a very good third option for people: pay for the (expensive due to bandwidth) service you’re using and you see no ads. And Google won’t block it because it’s encouraged as the solution to this exact issue. The level of “I should get everything for…

> People can use ad blockers, or Google can block them and annoy people. Thing is, we're still getting ads because AG1, NordVPN, Guardio and similar services/products of questionable nature keep throwing tens of thousands of dollars at youtubers to insert 1-2 minutes of sponsor blocks. > There is a very good third option for people: pay for the (expensive due to bandwidth) service you’re using and you see no ads. So…

SponsorBlock: Browser extension to skip content-embedded ads from crowdsourced annotations https://sponsor.ajay.app

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#112

Post by matheusmoreira »

Waterluvian wrote: post #61
spaceribs wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well it's not their computer, and I'll run what I want on it (...so far)

I feel this is a perfectly valid response. Equally valid is Google then saying, "well then we don't want to send you bytes."

Let them stop sending us bytes then. Let them charge everyone for access.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#113

Post by PedroBatista »

JAlexoid wrote: post #27
PedroBatista wrote: post #14

It's amazing to me how Google is allowed to control every side of the market with no real repercussions. I don't want to be the cynic who says Google has been paying lots of money to "the right people" in order to keep the status quo, but.. Google has been paying lots of money.. That might be a moderate huge win for Firefox.. until someone at Google makes a phone call to Mozilla's offices. Worst case scenario it help…

Why are you consuming any YT videos, then? Why are so many people feel entitled to YT videos without ads?

> Why are you consuming any YT videos, then?

I don't know, people tend to be multidimensional and complex. I'll talk to my therapist.

> Why are so many people feel entitled to YT videos without ads?

I only can talk for myself, but I don't feel entitled. I apply the same level of morality when dealing with these juggernaut companies as they apply it when dealing with me, which is: None.

YouTube with ~20% market share is amazing, YouTube with ~90% market share is a cancer to society.

Either way I don't care about YouTube, Google or any of these people. I DO care they have an insurmountable amount of power over the Internet.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#114

Post by somethingreen »

ljm wrote: post #16
nwellinghoff wrote: post #10

I think it would be better if they made the video author choose the ad points in their video rather than having it happen automatically. Maybe it gets bypassed if you move forward in the video or whatever. But its the ad just fires off in the middle of sentence or something that is crazy annoying.

Do they not do that? I remember watching one or two videogamedunkey videos that included ads and he specifically scripted the video around when they would appear.

I believe both options are available. But inserting ads manually is more work on content creator's part, so they often use algo provided.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#115

Post by AltruisticGapHN »

tekla wrote: post #8

I'm happy to pay for services and a Ad free YT experience.

I agree in that YouTube is definitely worth a subscription.

It has often been deplored that you can't customize the home page enough - but to be fair seeing how they have to please literally the entire world at once - they are doing pretty good. I mean YouTube is really easy and enjoyable to use for me on AppleTV and desktop.

The main issue I have with YouTube is you can't rely on any videos to be there at any time in the future. Videos routinely get taken off and without a service like 'RecoverMy.Video' you wouldn't even know what videos got removed.

In terms of price - I am a bit miffed that my 7 € Premium Lite was forcibly ended by them. Now I see that they added a "student" option for the same price so I guess... sucks for me, but hooray for students.

I think paying 12 € for YouTube is still reasonable.

Come to think of it I haven't really watched streaming on YT yet - I am mostly using Twitch - but it would be cool if they added a free sub in the price - kinda like Amazon Prime - that you can hand over to a streamer on YT.

Now if they could have a gaming focused client kinda like Twitch and get some more traction, my YT sub would definitely feel more valuable. The Twitch client is such a piece of crap on AppleTV now, I have lost all enjoyment using it and I can't wait to move over to some other service.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#116

Post by e2le »

JAlexoid wrote: post #27
PedroBatista wrote: post #14

It's amazing to me how Google is allowed to control every side of the market with no real repercussions. I don't want to be the cynic who says Google has been paying lots of money to "the right people" in order to keep the status quo, but.. Google has been paying lots of money.. That might be a moderate huge win for Firefox.. until someone at Google makes a phone call to Mozilla's offices. Worst case scenario it help…

Why are you consuming any YT videos, then? Why are so many people feel entitled to YT videos without ads?

Too many advertisements are low quality garbage (fraud, scams, soft porn, malware, FOMO, etc.) designed to target susceptible individuals. For those of us with vulnerable family members, it's not worth the anxiety. I don't even trust myself to not fall victim.

Additionally, it's not the user's fault that advertisements have become a security threat, a significant visual nuisance, and now an environmental issue [1].

[1]: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/8/2/18

I'm sceptical that Google has any incentive to improve the situation.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#117

Post by bigger_inside »

timeagain wrote: post #30
Workaccount2 wrote: post #15

It strikes me as so odd that people readily pay for netflix, hulu, HBO etc, but when the idea of paying for youtube comes along, who directly profit shares with small creators you adore, people fall over backwards in disgust. I guess it has to do with initial value proposition. If you hand out lemonade for free, people are going to be pissed when you start charging a dollar, regardless of how good of a deal it is. Ev…

As it has been framed before, it’s like the lemonade stand put all the other stands out of business by handing out free lemonade.

The lemonade stand put all the other stands out of business ...

who all got lemonade delivered for free by a million lemonade aficionados who wanted to share their lemonade with the world, for which YouTube showed the lemonade drinkers ads while pickpocketing all the documents in their wallet and copying them, also throwing buckets of lemonade in the trash because it wasn't the officially approved taste of lemonade, some other lemonade claimed there was a hint of taste that "copied" theirs, or for no stated reason at all, just dumped it, sorry, "terms and conditions", which.. we'll never tell you.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#118

Post by JAlexoid »

yifanl wrote: post #82
JAlexoid wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube Premium is ad-free YouTube. That's literally "paying for YouTube". But it sure seems that you're trying to rationalize your unwillingness to pay for something and it does sound very entitled.

Am I paying for an ad-free Youtube or a Spotify competitor? I'm not at all confident the money I'd be paying is going to the creators of the videos, or even feature development of the main Youtube platform.

Creators get the income from views, with any copyrighted material licensing subtracted and a cut to YouTube.

But no one is forcing you to use YouTube, it's just way more accessible for any content creator that can't spend weeks in getting a commercial license for music and such.

But I have good news for you. Many creators have Patreons, that serves video.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#119

Post by iooi »

hau wrote: post #73
Workaccount2 wrote: post #15

It strikes me as so odd that people readily pay for netflix, hulu, HBO etc, but when the idea of paying for youtube comes along, who directly profit shares with small creators you adore, people fall over backwards in disgust. I guess it has to do with initial value proposition. If you hand out lemonade for free, people are going to be pissed when you start charging a dollar, regardless of how good of a deal it is. Ev…

I feel like you're right about initial value proposition, but it doesn't seem odd to me at all. There are other things about treating youtube as netflix/hbo/hulu: - I can't upload random video to the netflix, and I have a certain expectation regarding content there - 99% of videos on youtube are not something I would pay for or expected to be paid for uploading - I can pay for youtube subscription and would still get…

I love how there's a perfect counter to every single point you posted. It seems like some people just want to hate.

> - I can't upload random video to the netflix, and I have a certain expectation regarding content there

That's a bug, not a feature. You're basically restricted to the tastes of Netflix's buyers.

> - 99% of videos on youtube are not something I would pay for or expected to be paid for uploading

Then you're watching the wrong videos. Most of the videos that I and my friends watch are high quality, entertaining, and informative. Their creators usually have Patreons making five figures monthly.

> - I can pay for youtube subscription and would still get a lot of advertisement, because I dared to turn SponsorBlock off. Creators have a very good reason to use this type of ads, and youtube have all responsibility of not providing solutions for this.

You can easily skip these, not sure what the issue is here.

> - I can pay for HBO max and watch Sopranos. On youtube I can pay and content of interest could be deleted next second

Guessing you started streaming only recently, since Netflix/Hulu/HBO all change their inventory frequently due to licensing. It wasn't long ago that you could watch Sopranos on Amazon.

> - I have no idea if my favourite creator was demonetised for DMCA spam by youtube, but I certainly know they are not treated as equal partners in this business in many ways.

This isn't a problem with YouTube, it's a problem with the US legal system.

> - Ultimately I pay for content, and subscription guarantees some kind of investment from the platform in acquiring or producing it. Not true for youtube.

This is your best one, YouTube has created tons of wealth for creators and has cut out tons of the usual Hollywood intermediaries. Additionally, there has never been a greater investment made on storing and distributing video like the one Google made on YouTube.

Re: YouTube's 'War' on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

#120

Post by jncfhnb »

PedroBatista wrote: post #100
jncfhnb wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a call would be extremely dangerous as antitrust evidence imo. This seems very unlikely.

The "call" could be when their deal with Mozilla is up for renewal or just a chat during some private family together. Let's not forget most of these people know each other personally. In SF it's actually a much smaller World than it sometimes seems. Google has been fighting lawsuits like this for a reasonable long time, they are careful but also confident in their abilities to make them toothless and/or defeat them.…

Seems unlikely still imo
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