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YouTube currently testing 5 to 10 unskippable ads before video starts

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Re: YouTube currently testing 5 to 10 unskippable ads before video starts

#261

Post by marssaxman »

endisneigh wrote: post #118

I don’t like ads, especially not irrelevant and excessive ones (I pay for YouTube premium), but the amount of people bragging about getting around ads is just sad. I assume most of us here have jobs. Are we ok with working for free? Many people on YouTube do it full time, with ad revenue and exposure being their primary source of income. Somehow some people have it in their heads that if the job is entertainment then…

> Many people on YouTube do it full time, with ad revenue and exposure being their primary source of income.

As the old saying goes, "your failed business model is not my problem".

Many, many people would like to make a living as performers, or creators generally, but very few succeed. If we want a world with more full-time artists, rather than forcing unwanted ads down our own throats to subsidize youtube video-makers, we'd be better off creating a basic income system.

Re: YouTube currently testing 5 to 10 unskippable ads before video starts

#262

Post by tomjen3 »

endisneigh wrote: post #181
tomjen3 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was at the busstop this morning. There was an ad. I turned my back to it and looked at my phone. Please tell me that I am a horrible human for defrauding the advertisers. If I could get AR glasses which automatically removes any ad before I see it, I be a bad person too?

No, that would be fine - it’s not really the analogous situation. If the bus were “free” and you paid by spending 30 seconds watching an ad, disabling the device showing you the ad would be bad, not paying attention would be fine.

Of course disabling the device would be bad, as it is somebody else property.

However the bus service is, at least in part, subsidised by ads. So, while not free, exactly, it is cheaper.

Re: YouTube currently testing 5 to 10 unskippable ads before video starts

#265

Post by JohnFen »

endisneigh wrote: post #230
JohnFen wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my argument is specifically that if you're watching a video and circumvent the ad through technology, that is, since it is That's your assertion, but what is your reasoning? This is an honest question, because it's not at all clear to me why it should be considered theft. > your analogy, is also piracy, since by your stance here removing restrictions that might requirement payment is OK even though that too is pira…

> That's your assertion, but what is your reasoning? This is an honest question, because it's not at all clear to me why it should be considered theft. it's theft to me because you're taking things - the product of effort, labor, electricity, etc - without any payment when requested, in this case, ads. same reason I think sneaking into a theater or amusement park without paying is also theft. > I disagree that it's f…

Thank you for at least explaining your position. We certainly disagree, and that's fair. But it helps to at least understand each other.

> obviously you can believe whatever you want, but there's really nothing different about avoiding ads and cracking software, aka piracy. and if you're OK with that, fundamentally there's really nothing special about digital goods, including money whose existence for many exists primarily virtually.

But this makes it clear that I've failed to make myself understood at all. Oh well, such is life.

Re: YouTube currently testing 5 to 10 unskippable ads before video starts

#268

Post by endisneigh »

marssaxman wrote: post #260
endisneigh wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again your analogy is flawed. YouTube displays ads and you circumvent them in some way and take the product, in this case a video. Similarly you go to Walmart, the equivalent of YouTube.com, find a product, analogous to finding a video, and take it without paying? Analogous to watching the advertisement. Your analogy makes more sense for Google search in that you can search and see results and simply choose to not cl…

Your analogy fails because digital goods are non-rivalrous. Were I to shoplift a video from Walmart, they would no longer possess the video; my gain would be their loss. Obviously this is not true in the digital domain, so moral reasoning about physical stores is unhelpful. What I receive, when I visit YouTube, is a list of links: invitations to stream certain videos. Google hopes that I will choose to accept all of…

Again this argument that digital goods are worthless. Google doesn’t hope anything - Google places ads, and people use technology means to get through.

Re: YouTube currently testing 5 to 10 unskippable ads before video starts

#269

Post by zeruch »

hooby wrote: post #63

Imho, the big question here is, if there's actually a trend. Was it easier, 10 years ago, to make money from a website, with just one single (non-animated) banner on top, than it is today with a website that's plastered with animated banners, link ads, and other stuff? Was it easier, 10 years ago, to make money from a video platform, with just one single skip-able ad at the start of each video - than it is today with…

"Are we witnessing the slow death of (online) advertising? "

Hope springs eternal, but we could also be witnessing the Bladerunner/Transmetropolitanization of advertising.

Re: YouTube currently testing 5 to 10 unskippable ads before video starts

#270

Post by modshatereality »

Two things: I don't watch streams NOR do I play videos higher than 720p. Will the number of ads I see be an accurate reflection of my overall load on their system or will everyone be subjected to this 5->10 commercial barbarism? If this means I don't get ambushed by 5 ads at peak moments mid-stream (requiring me to waste time watching ad AND rewinding...), the ad count is fair reflection of user load, and the money goes to real producers instead of enriching executive quality-of-life or funding some new dystopian censorship corps, then OK.
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