YouTube experimenting with server-side ad injection • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube experimenting with server-side ad injection

#91

Post by OOPMan » Thu, Jun 13, 2024, 3:31 PM UTC

randerson wrote: post #44

After they disabled the site for ad blockers I begrudgingly shelled out for YouTube Premium. I've now come around to being OK with paying for the convenience. Much of the content I watch wouldn't exist without the revenue they get from ads or subscriptions. I'm sure some people will find creative ways to pirate content, but Premium is cheaper than Netflix and I watch more content on YouTube than Netflix so it seems r…

Ad-blockers still work fine on the site tho, you're paying Google money for no good reason.

Money of which only a small part goes to the creators.

If you actually want to support the creators, do it via a more direct method than paying Google to send a few pennies their way.

Re: YouTube experimenting with server-side ad injection

#92

Post by jprete » Thu, Jun 13, 2024, 6:36 PM UTC

danaris wrote: post #89

jprete wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I turned off personalization a while ago. I get ads for Mint Mobile, a local spa, an Internet fast fashion men's T-shirt company, dog food, and similar anodyne topics. It feels a little like watching 90s daytime TV.

So...was that before or after turning off personalization?

After. I think I'm getting generic location-targeted ads.

Re: YouTube experimenting with server-side ad injection

#93

Post by fifteen1506 » Thu, Jun 13, 2024, 7:03 PM UTC

joquarky wrote: post #87

NelsonMinar wrote: post #48

Server-side ad injection is the endgame for the ongoing war between ad blockers and content sites.

It won't be the endgame if you accept that AI agents can mitigate this. The agent will download a copy, detect the ads, and clip them out.

I'm told in Portugal one of the big three TV ("cable") providers already does this on recordings.

So it can insert its own targeted ads, I believe.

Re: YouTube experimenting with server-side ad injection

#94

Post by alephxyz » Fri, Jun 14, 2024, 7:27 PM UTC

OOPMan wrote: post #90

atrettel wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I already largely watch YouTube through RSS feeds to find the videos and yt-dlp to download them locally. Ads injected straight into the stream will be annoying, but still just as easy to skip as the sponsored content sections of videos. That said, the ads on YouTube have gotten more and more scammy and suspicious over the years, so I don't particularly appreciate being incorporated into the video feed itself. But it…

There is some talk that YT are making it such that trying to seek will not skip the ad.

If you have the entire video file downloaded locally they can't stop you from seeking.

Re: YouTube experimenting with server-side ad injection

#95

Post by kbf » Sat, Jun 15, 2024, 8:09 AM UTC

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #88

If it's accpetable to embed ads into the video file then as a video producer why not just negotiate with advertisers directly and cut out the Google middleman. Negotiate a deal with an advertiser and then have the advertiser send some ad video that the video producer can edit into her videos with ffmpeg. This allows the video producer to choose the advertiser(s) she wants.

This already happened after the “adpocalypse”. A lot of channels turned off ads on their videos and started doing direct sponsorships instead. After a while, YouTube decided they would just show ads on every video, even if the uploader had disabled them.