YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#121

Post by Gigachad » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 4:56 AM UTC

eimrine wrote: post #19

galkk wrote: post #4

YouTube premium family is best value for money for all streaming services. Just don’t waste time on adblocking, as it works reliably only on desktop. I used ublock and it was more or less cuccessfully fighting ads on desktop, but they still were present on phone (new pipe just sucks, and I moved to iPhone anyways), iPad, Xbox and tv. Premium removed all of them. Also gave downloads for offline viewing. I still use sp…

> Also gave downloads for offline viewing. I used to have those "downloads" on Youtube. There are not a real downloads because I do not have an access to the file. Also the feature tends to be misworking - from time to time one of "downloads" just stucks with eating 100% of 1 CPU core and the recipe is to remove all the "downloads". This was one of the stupidiest features I ever had, because if I need a video for off…

The downloads feature works pretty good when you are going to be on a plane or train without an internet connection. Predownload a bunch of educational content and then you'll have it for your trip.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#122

Post by impissedoff1 » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 4:56 AM UTC

Gigachad wrote: post #117

Animats wrote: post #102

" YouTube users will have only two options: to disable their ad blocker and allow ads or subscribe to YouTube Premium to get rid of all advertisements." Or Vimeo, or Facebook, or TikTok, or ...

None of those platforms are a realistic alternative to youtube.

Vimeo, odysee, bitchute, lbry , theta, livepeer, etc etc...

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#123

Post by Gigachad » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 4:57 AM UTC

Workaccount2 wrote: post #81

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #60

This is a rather disturbing move to me, as I am a YouTube addict and adblocker user. I use NextDNS, a DNS-based service that's like your own PiHole in the cloud. It is sometimes tricky for me to disable adblocking! There are a couple of approaches. Resetting my DNS servers to defaults is disruptive and error-prone; it's a non-starter. I find it peculiar that there is no knob on NextDNS that says "disable blocking fea…

Have you considered just paying for something that you use a lot?

I was kind of against it since it seemed like a waste to pay for spotify and youtube music, but its honestly worth it just for ad free youtube alone. Only video streaming service I pay for.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#124

Post by Forbo » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 4:57 AM UTC

xlbuttplug2 wrote: post #116

goda90 wrote: post #109

YouTube needs a history-less mode. I want to watch random videos without them impacting my recommendations. I have Premium, but I'll use ad blocker in a private browsing session specifically for this.

At least on the android app, there is an incognito mode. But you do lose your ad-free experience last I checked.

This was exactly the reason I cancelled my subscription. I'm paying for no ads, so don't shove them down my throat when I want to watch something without it fucking up the algorithm. Just because I want to watch a video my friend swnt to me of Alex Jones say some disgusting heinous shit one time doesn't mean I want to have it fed to me like I'm being prepared to be made into foie gras.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#125

Post by impissedoff1 » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 4:59 AM UTC

atonse wrote: post #59

Please do it, YouTube. I need something to break my YouTube addiction and this’ll do it. I’ll just buy a no-ads kindle and read like an old man.

Stop supporting drm, get the better kobo

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#126

Post by dan1234 » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 5:02 AM UTC

acomjean wrote: post #99

I mean they want you to subscribe to YouTube premium. At least they’re being honest about this and give you the option. I have a few issues with google but this isn’t one (After being forced to spend many hours upgrading to google analytics rev 4….) It’s expensive, but I’ve done it, but it also includes YouTube music which I like.

I actually switched away from Apple Music when I subscribed to YouTube premium, so it’s only really cost me £2 extra per month.

YouTube music is definitely not as good as Apple Music (or Spotify) but it’s acceptable for the combined cost.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#127

Post by tdeck » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 5:05 AM UTC

RandomBK wrote: post #105

I feel this was the inevitable outcome of the increased availability/popularity/awareness of ad blockers - a tragedy of the commons scenario that's set us on an escalating feedback loop that won't end well for anyone involved. EDIT: I do wonder if the price point of youtube premium is too high to capture an audience that simply doesn't want ads but doesn't care about any other features. $6/mo feels higher than the ty…

YouTube brought this on themselves by ratcheting up the ads like crazy. Back in the day I preferred YT because they were one of the only video sites that didn't have preroll ads. YouTube used to basically have adsense ads and little banners below the video for years. Unobtrusive and I didn't mind them at all.

Then they added postroll ads. Then preroll ads. Then midroll ads. With these ads I find YouTube unusable for any period of time.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#128

Post by Vecr » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 5:06 AM UTC

rektide wrote: post #114

Animats wrote: post #102

" YouTube users will have only two options: to disable their ad blocker and allow ads or subscribe to YouTube Premium to get rid of all advertisements." Or Vimeo, or Facebook, or TikTok, or ...

Or tivo/dvr'ing our own computers. It's just a big stupid farce when technology is used to bluntly cudgel users. Even if the user intents arent what corporations want.

You mean, setting up a computer with image recognition to listen to RSS feeds (multiple of https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=WHATEVER), go to the videos in the feeds when new ones show up, and record only non-ad sections to a capture card? You would then be able to watch the videos ad-free from a USB stick or SSD at a later time.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#129

Post by pravus » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 5:12 AM UTC

RandomBK wrote: post #105

I feel this was the inevitable outcome of the increased availability/popularity/awareness of ad blockers - a tragedy of the commons scenario that's set us on an escalating feedback loop that won't end well for anyone involved. EDIT: I do wonder if the price point of youtube premium is too high to capture an audience that simply doesn't want ads but doesn't care about any other features. $6/mo feels higher than the ty…

> I do wonder if the price point of youtube premium is too high to capture an audience that simply doesn't want ads

It's this plus the fact that I get virtually no value-add with YouTube. I have to fight with its algorithmic recommendations more than I would ever want to if I were paying any money for the service. I also don't want YouTube Music and would like it completely removed from my YouTube experience altogether. My music listening is done through a separate universe using my own collection.

I would happily pay money for a service that could provide the videos I watch regularly with a reasonable recommendation system that worked for me. And it needs to be priced for basically what it is: network egress.

Re: YouTube is testing a more aggressive approach against ad blockers

#130

Post by midoridensha » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 5:12 AM UTC

garciasn wrote: post #83

From the article: >“YouTube’s ad-supported model supports a diverse ecosystem of creators, and provides billions of people globally access to content for free with ads,” the company’s statement says. Let's at least be 100% honest with everyone and stop with the disingenuous garbage: 1. Ad-blocker usage is roughly 25-30% of US users. 2. The average YouTube content creator makes less than 0.02 per ad view and thus why…

>3. Google made nearly $70 billion in Q1; they're not hurting at all, especially their executives.

This is disgusting. Google's executives do an incredible amount of valuable work, easily thousands of times more than other employees, and deserve rich compensation packages. People need to be willing to pay a lot for Premium, or watch more ads, so that these executives can afford bigger yachts.

Why do you hate rich people so much?

/s