YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#741

Post by YurgenJurgensen » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:19 AM UTC

oefrha wrote: post #375

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…

It’s a recurring pattern on the Internet: people unashamedly claiming they’re getting X for free, and will gladly pay if Y condition is met. Then Y condition is met, and people (possibly the same, possibly different) unashamedly come up with new excuses of why they’re still getting it for free and won’t pay. Never believe “I’ll pay if …” if you’re running a business.

Or this could be evidence that YouTube is coming up with new ways to be bad faster than they're fixing their problems. Shorts, removal of the Dislike button, repeatedly and retroactively changing the rules on 'advertiser friendliness' without warning, degrading their own search feature in favour of algorithmic content, spurious bans, a guilty-until-proven-innocent copyright strike system that's easily and openly exploited by bad actors and the inability of even million-subscriber channels to reach a human in support should any of those problems suddenly destroy their livelihood. Fixing any one of those things won't make YouTube good, nor does it inspire confidence that by the time any of them are fixed they won't have some up with some new form of awfulness.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#742

Post by jacquesm » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:19 AM UTC

lofaszvanitt wrote: post #672

knorker wrote: post #658

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least for YT there's a solution: YT Premium. Sure, as other comments have said, it doesn't scale to all websites, but youtube isn't just any website.

I'm not paying for anything until they remove the "this is the bubble we have prepared for you" recommendation algorithm. Plus I gladly watch ads, but not the same ads (do the companies pay triple if I watch the same ad from them I wonder) ever again.

Check out the 'Unhook' browser extension.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#743

Post by somethingreen » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:24 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #392

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…

> Peer to Peer for streaming doesn't seem a reasonable alternative at any scale, since most people own phones and then laptops, and much fewer desktops. Peer to peer streaming of the PeerTube type seems to work reasonably well. Unlike Mastodon, etc., you don't have to sign up to receive content. You just click on a URL and it works. What it doesn't offer is discovery. Nobody will find your stuff on PeerTube. They mig…

From user side Youtube discovery is almost completely broken anyway. I ended up removing both home feed and recommended videos block via extension because they didn't contribute anything besides frustration and page load time for a couple years now.

I learn about creators elsewhere and then look up and subscribe to their channel on YT. This flow will work just fine with p2p as long as creators have a video list and an rss feed anywhere on the internet and a single functioning search engine continues to exist.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#744

Post by xnzakg » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:27 AM UTC

herbst wrote: post #666

lofaszvanitt wrote: post #654

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with YT is: - I start the video, an ad is shown within 30 secs. - I fast forward a few minutes, the SAME ad is shown again. - I jump to anywhere on the timeline, the SAME ad is shown again. At least show me something that is relevant, like facebook does. The ads there reflect what I usually look for. On YT, none of the ads are relevant to me, ever. It's just ridiculous.

At least for YT there's a solution: YT Vanced Or other YouTube clients with ads disabled :) There is even a SmartTV YouTube App that works like a charm. It even skips as blocks in the video itself. Only casting then uses the original app with ads. Edit:// as long as I would need 2 premium accounts for all my active devices I don't accept that as a real solution

The smart TV YouTube all you're mentioning also allows you to link up your phone's YouTube app with a code in the settings, and then cast without ads

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#745

Post by anticensor » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:29 AM UTC

orbital223 wrote: post #285

deltree7 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN/Reddit : For years, "I'm happy to pay for services that has no/few ads". Companies: Here's a ad-free version. Subscribe HN/Reddit: Why are you asking me to subscribe? I hate this

The rule of thumb according to youtubers is that 1000 video views is worth about $1 of ad share. Youtube's ad share is about 50%, so 1000 video views should be worth about $2 of ad money for Youtube. Youtube Premium costs $12 a month which is equivalent to 6000 video views per month or ~200 video views per day. If I'm on a very youtuby mood I'll maybe watch 10 videos in a day. So, best case scenario, paying for premi…

HN/Reddit: "I would love to just give you the money directly instead of watching ads in exchange for advertissers giving you money."

Companies: "Sure, here's the ad-free version. You have to pay 20 times as much as the advertissers do though."

anticensor: "OK, then; what if I pay the same amount as for the ad-free one, and you show me twice as many ads as before?"

Companies: "OK, deal."

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#746

Post by rzzzt » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:30 AM UTC

MandieD wrote: post #690

rixrax wrote: post #678

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Ads crank up the volume to 11. We were watching Eurovision singing contest the other day from YT and my gawd was that annoying. Adds in the middle of every song, volume being cranked up for the adds, and as a icing on the cake, probably due to bug somewhere, the playback went to pause after each ad (iPhone airplaying to AppleTV).

That’s what TV (first, broadcast, and then, cable) was like in the 80s and 90s, and was a small part of why we jumped at internet video. For TV, there were devices that promised to automatically lower the volume when commercials came on - I don’t remember how they were supposed to work.

It's a tiny algorithm listening to output volume and reacting to drastic changes via the VolUp/Dn buttons on your remote (figuratively): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression

"Night mode", if it is present, should also do this to a lesser extent. I am grateful for this feature in movies where light chit-chat is interrupted by window-shattering explosion sounds.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#747

Post by ravenstine » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:32 AM UTC

webmobdev wrote: post #427

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…

No, it's because we users no longer trust BigTech like Google to not be greedy and know that it is all about bait and switch . They made "free" the norm on the internet as it increased the barriers for their competitors. Then started to show ads as nothing can be free for ever. And we users accepted that as a reasonable compromise with the belief that the ads will be limited. What happened? Bait and switch - from one…

This is exactly why I won't pay The Google a single nickel ever again. It would not surprise me in the least that, after all of this, they begin showing ads for Premium users and justifying it as being fewer ads than for free users. And I can't wait for their sycophants to come to their defense, shaming me for wanting "everything for free."

It's not about paid or free. It's about not trusting The Google, who I believe to be a bastard of a corporation. I pay for plenty of content creators on other platforms. But ads from The Google are the only way for anyone to make money? I don't buy it.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#748

Post by mda » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:38 AM UTC

kerkeslager wrote: post #435

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've said it before and I've said it again: ad-based content and pay content are incompatible business models. YouTube Premium fails because the content isn't worth paying for. The content is not worth paying for because it's been designed from the ground up to sell ads . When a website designed to sell ads fails to sell content, that's not evidence that selling content doesn't work, it's evidence that selling conten…

"YouTube Premium fails because the content isn't worth paying for."

Are you serious?

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#749

Post by olvy0 » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

WheatMillington wrote: post #479

kerkeslager wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've said it before and I've said it again: ad-based content and pay content are incompatible business models. YouTube Premium fails because the content isn't worth paying for. The content is not worth paying for because it's been designed from the ground up to sell ads . When a website designed to sell ads fails to sell content, that's not evidence that selling content doesn't work, it's evidence that selling conten…

>YouTube Premium fails because the content isn't worth paying for. I beg to differ. As a hobbyist type, and also someone interested in semi trashy niche content (true crime), having access to a virtually unlimited catalogue of fresh content, a lot of it exceptionally good quality, makes it absolutely worth the money. If I could have any one subscription, it would be YouTube 10 times out of 10. And as someone who abho…

Yeah, I'm the same. I spend hours on youtube, in fact we don't have any streaming or cables subscription and I don't miss it. The content is fantastic IMHO. I would pay for this one service. I'm actually seriously contemplating subscribing to it now, after all those many years of consuming it for free.

Re: YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

#750

Post by worrycue » Thu, May 11, 2023, 10:40 AM UTC

martin_a wrote: post #733

jamiequint wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be true on random-site-X on the internet, but is not true on sites like YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, Facebook, etc that run their own first-party ad platforms.

YouTubes "first-party ad platform" is delivering some of the worst ads on the whole internet. It's not only the big-boobed characters promoting mobile games, there are (video) ads for pyramid and other "get rich quick" schemes, conspiracy theories (government will force everyone to become transgender!) and whatnot. They don't give just the tiniest bit of a shit for all of this, as long as they are earning money with…

I have heard of their “system”, they auction ad space out in real time with a bunch a descriptors for the ad buyers who then bid for the space. Google really doesn’t give a crap who wins it or if it matches your interests/needs. Advertisers are free to advertise to anyone as long as they win the bid.