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Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

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Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#41

Post by zerocrates »

blindseer wrote: post #16

The ads are genuinely one of my most frustrating experiences when using the Chromecast with Google TV. And seeing this kind of pattern makes it more likely that I’ll never sign up for premium YouTube (whatever it is called) and just use YouTube less. Also, I swear they do this - If you click on the try YouTube premium for 14 days, once the 14 days end you are bombarded with extra ads. And ads that are usually not ski…

What's the frustration specifically? My experience on Chromecast is that they actually seem to show fewer ads there than on a browser.

Edit: or is maybe the issue here the mere presence of ads versus them being blocked in a browser?

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#42

Post by rcMgD2BwE72F »

Darmody wrote: post #13
mantas wrote: post #4

Reality: ad blocking without feeling guilty.

And they don't even care. I don't know the percentage of people using ad blockers but I'm sure it is very, very low. In fact, most users watch YouTube from the app, so no ad blocking. I just hope they don't make any significant change to their API so I can still use Vanced to listen to music when I'm outside.

>In fact, most users watch YouTube from the app, so no ad blocking.

If many people used ublock on the Web, many would iuse NewPipe to enjoy the same ad free experience on mobile (Android). I don't understand why so we few people care about their attention? Is this just ignorance? Or do they willingly want their desires to be manipulated in order for creators to be paid by platforms? Me I'm just happy to tip the channels I follow and be a proud pirate.

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#43

Post by ghoomketu »

People complain a lot about Youtube ads and how awful they are but as a thought experiment I once tried to imagine the amount of storage and bandwidth Youtube must need everyday to operate.

So after some basic research it looks like they need to add almost 1 petabytes of storage and I couldn't find much info on the bandwidth and servers it uses.

As much as I don't like Google for their shady business practices, I couldn't help but marvel at this feat of engineering. It's mind blowing tbh.

I mean I can still access my video with 10 views I uploaded 8 years ago.. can't do that on my HDD and they have it in 5 formats.

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#44

Post by rocqua »

kmmlng wrote: post #34
noobermin wrote: post #6

Recently, I've been with people who unlike me don't have youtube premium and I loathe the ads. I'm so happy I pay for premium so I don't have to experience this. I want to say "subscription is the right answer" but it clearly isn't enough for some people (netflix).

The YouTube subscription just seems excessively expensive. I find it hard to fathom they would generate anywhere near as much revenue from me watching their ads compared to the subscription cost.

I found a youtube premium-lite option.

It removes adds, but does not allow background play and a few other perks. But it only costs 6 euros.

I found it a better deal than premium so I downgraded.

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#45

Post by phh »

blindseer wrote: post #16

The ads are genuinely one of my most frustrating experiences when using the Chromecast with Google TV. And seeing this kind of pattern makes it more likely that I’ll never sign up for premium YouTube (whatever it is called) and just use YouTube less. Also, I swear they do this - If you click on the try YouTube premium for 14 days, once the 14 days end you are bombarded with extra ads. And ads that are usually not ski…

FYI, several alternative youtube frontend apps are available for "Chromecast with Google TV" (which is just an Android TV device), for instance the opensource Newpipe. (Though this is piracy, and you shouldn't do piracy, because piracy hurts Google and content creators - who will gladly take donations -)

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#46

Post by martius »

ghaewrhaerga wrote: post #40
noobermin wrote: post #6

Recently, I've been with people who unlike me don't have youtube premium and I loathe the ads. I'm so happy I pay for premium so I don't have to experience this. I want to say "subscription is the right answer" but it clearly isn't enough for some people (netflix).

Why do you just not use ublock origin?

Because it only works on a browser, people also experience youtube on other devices (smart TV, chromecast, App on a non-rooted phone).

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#47

Post by rcMgD2BwE72F »

RicoElectrico wrote: post #12

This is why I use uBlock Origin. I don't feel guilty if I have to put up with such asshole design. I would much rather have (even non-hideable) text ads in the bottom. Something similar to what they used a long time ago. Likewise with many Polish entertainment/content aggregator/news websites - there are goddamn ads in the BACKGROUND of the page! Ugh! Just look at this beauty: https://www.wykop.pl/cdn/c0834752/436c59…

Do you pay creators in some ways?

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#48

Post by paulpauper »

use a vpn and new chrome session in some low income country. this will remove most of the ads

but now what many content creators are doing nowadays is making the ads part pf the video itself, so you cannot skip it or block it. The product placement may transition seemingly in such a way as you may be listening to a video about the history of some math concept and suddenly the narrator will start talking about VPNs, and when that happens I just hit the back button. At this point the problem has gotten bad enough that I stopped watching any channels where this may happen, which is many of them now.

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#49

Post by yrral »

nemacol wrote: post #36
noobermin wrote: post #6

Recently, I've been with people who unlike me don't have youtube premium and I loathe the ads. I'm so happy I pay for premium so I don't have to experience this. I want to say "subscription is the right answer" but it clearly isn't enough for some people (netflix).

The main reason I don't want to pay is it cannot remove the ads the content creators put in themselves. I could see paying if it was a totally clean experience but to pay and get rid of part/half of the ads I would see does not seem worth it to me.

You can use sponsorblock to automatically skip a variety of creator-inserted ads and interaction reminders ("please subscribe/like" etc).

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-y...

Re: Dark pattern: how YouTube makes sure you don’t always “skip ad”

#50

Post by rocqua »

csunbird wrote: post #19
josefresco wrote: post #7

When I found out my kids spend more time on YouTube than any other video platform I paid for YouTube Premium. They're a little older now and are shifting back to other platforms but I don't think we'll cancel our subscription anytime soon given how many complaints I see about their ad delivery.

I used to pay for the Youtube Premium as well, because the app is literally unusable on an Apple TV and iOS devices without it, the ads are just too much. Unfortunately, the premium subscription does not work for the in video ads and promotions (shills) which seems to be everywhere now, so I cancelled my subscription, as I can not get the ad-free experience anymore, dropped the idea of using Youtube on devices where…

Does Ublock also block the in-content ads?
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