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YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

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Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#551

Post by xigoi »

HJain13 wrote: post #529
lisasays wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The content is not worth paying for because it's been designed from the ground up to sell ads. Some of it is, but the vast bulk of it clearly was not. You knew that of course. I'd strongly consider paying for YT if it were an independent company. But as a part of Google - fuck no.

> I'd strongly consider paying for YT if it were an independent company YT wouldn't be YT if it was an independent company. Lack of competition in the field is a proof

YouTube was bought by Google after it was already massively popular.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#552

Post by overengineer »

RadiozRadioz wrote: post #240
Nextgrid wrote: post #82

Invidious is a third-party frontend (you can self-host) that solves this problem: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious As a bonus, it is super fast because it doesn't have to justify the salaries of dozens (hundreds?) of frontend developers and can get away with server-side-rendered HTML and minimal amounts of Javascript.

Your bonus is my primary reason for using the service. Invidious, old.reddit.com, Gmail HTML Mode, are perfect examples of the great user experiences we've lost in the pursuit for New Shiny. Directly comparable with their "modern" counterparts. It would be nice if websites started to offer a cut-down version as an option, especially for users in 3rd world countries.

Is there a browser extension to switch to lightweight versions of web apps like these?

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#553

Post by lokar »

crop_rotation wrote: post #167
esprehn wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube has caching like that too, see: https://peering.google.com/#/ And https://peering.google.com/#/learn-more/faq And specifically the section on: "What content can Google serve from an edge node?"

This is not comparable to Netflix et al. YouTube catalog is effectively infinite, and people watch all kinds of random content. Storing 10k movies and 20k TV episodes is a cakewalk compared to this.

The cache hit rate is actually pretty high. Also, google already has setups at pops for other reasons and can cache fill at lower qos for free much of the time.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#554

Post by brewdad »

crop_rotation wrote: post #406
Nifty3929 wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This exactly, but even one step further - it’s time consuming and expensive to produce the videos themselves! Who’s going to create quality content if they can’t get paid for it?! This is the major value YouTube provides. They bridge the gap between consumers who don’t want to pay with producers that NEED to get paid. Want free peer to peer streaming? Hard to build a content ecosystem on that.

Yes correct, for most streamers that I watch, YouTube seems to be an important part of their income. PeerTube will not magically create incentives for people to create content.

20 years ago there was no such job as “YouTube Creator”. If 20 years or less from now there once again isn’t, oh well.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#557

Post by aquafox »

seventytwo wrote: post #531
Veserv wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it perfectly showcases that people do not want to pay 1000% more money for the privilege of paying a monthly subscription. Youtube Premium costs $12/month [1]. Ads average something like $2 per 1000 views to the creators (in some of the most common categories) [2]. Youtube takes a ~45% cut, so Youtube makes ~$4 per 1000 views from ads. So, to reach $12/month, you would need to average 3000 views per month. At a a…

But what’s my time worth, not sitting through ads each month? If I make $12/hr, and I have to watch 120 30sec ads in a month of watching YouTube, I’ve broken even. I think most of us make a bit more than 12/hr… so it quickly becomes worth it.

Only if the time you save not watching ad, you actually work. What if you would just watch more videos in the same time or go to 9gag?

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#558

Post by dijit »

crop_rotation wrote: post #126

YouTube premium perfectly showcases why ads dominate the internet, because even when there is a paid option for a service much cheaper than any alternative, people do not want to pay (And I am not talking about too broke to pay cases). Serving an infinite video catalog is very expensive in terms of all resources (And yes Netflix is not comparable, unlike YouTube, Netflix can highly leverage cache boxes at ISPs). Vime…

I pay for premium.

On one of my google accounts, and only if I am logged in.

For about 80% of my youtube watching experience this works.

But there are times I am logged in with my work account as (at the least) the primary account and I dont bother switching.

Or a random tutorial video I am looking at from a new laptop or untrusted device.

The pain of logging in outweighs looking at a couple of ads in the moment. So dont think that premium is a failed model based on usage. I certain I am not alone in engaging with youtube in a non-premium capacity despite having a subscription.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#559

Post by rjmill »

anothernewdude wrote: post #538
bagacrap wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't slippery slope a logical fallacy? Let's wait until Google does something actually insane before claiming that what they're doing is insane.

If you take the slippery slope fallacy too far, you'd never be able to notice trends at all. Google is like climate change - they keep pushing for more money, and ruining the experience for their users. There's no reason to expect this to stop. It's not a slippery slope.

Are you saying that the slippery slope is a slippery slope? If so, I am delighted.

(edited to clarify my delight. My intent isn't to fan the flames of fallacy finger pointing.)

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#560

Post by sphars »

overengineer wrote: post #552
RadiozRadioz wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your bonus is my primary reason for using the service. Invidious, old.reddit.com, Gmail HTML Mode, are perfect examples of the great user experiences we've lost in the pursuit for New Shiny. Directly comparable with their "modern" counterparts. It would be nice if websites started to offer a cut-down version as an option, especially for users in 3rd world countries.

Is there a browser extension to switch to lightweight versions of web apps like these?

Yep, check out LibRedirect: https://github.com/libredirect/browser_extension
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