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Frustrated YouTube viewers seek explanation for hour-long unskippable ads (Update: Statement) (www.androidauthority.com)

submitted 6 months ago by moe90@feddit.nl to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 260 points 6 months ago

While the company stops short of directly saying as much, it sure feels like the preposterously long ads we’re seeing here are an example of one tool in Google’s arsenal for effectively disabling YouTube playback for violators of the site’s ToS.

That makes no sense at all. It isn't like skipping ads results in a black screen for the length of the ad.

People with adblockers aren't going to see hour long ads or black screens when they don't see ads in the first place.

[-] teft@lemmy.world 147 points 6 months ago

It's hilarious that they think it would matter to anyone with an ad blocker. I haven't seen an ad for years on youtube. Hell I haven't even seen promotions in videos for a few months now that I found a sponsor segment blocker.

[-] Chev@lemmy.world 19 points 6 months ago

Both are available on pc and mobile. Love it.

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[-] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 21 points 6 months ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

[removed by mod]

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 40 points 6 months ago

All that does is make YouTube money while costing money to the advertisers.

[-] tburkhol@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago

How long do you think those advertisers will stay when it turns out they've paid $1M in advertising with no change in sales?

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 22 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I hear what you are saying but the truth is that they will stay, just so they aren't missing, regardless of ROI. Case in point is Xitter. The numbers clearly state that the level of engagement and sales conversion from Xitter ads is pitiful, especially when compared to Bluesky, yet advertisers still hang in there...just in case.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 14 points 6 months ago

That's because at a certain point ads become less about direct sales, and more about brand recognition. This is why Coke has a massive advertising budget. You know what Coke is. You're either going to buy a Coke or you're not. But by advertising as heavily as they do, they're reminding you that they exist.

That's why their heaviest advertising season is Christmas. Some of the advertisements don't even show their product. Some do, but some just show Santa flying his sleigh with cheery christmas music. Then their Coke logo gets spelled out in the stars as he passes by.

It's just so you assosiate their brand with good emotions. But it requires an almost constant barrage of ads, and it's direct sales are impossible to measure.

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[-] x00z@lemmy.world 37 points 6 months ago

I think Google doesn't care about that at all.

They most likely pay peanuts compared to you for "bandwidth" (which for them is more of an electricity cost and trough-output allocation than a specific numeric value like consumers and smaller companies have). You also cache the video on your own device making the multiple tab thing useless if you don't know what you're doing. And Google can also just block you when they attack their servers, move traffic around, and so much more advanced stuff that protects their infrastructure.

tl;dr: Trying to boycott Google by trying to waste their resources is useless.

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[-] brsrklf@jlai.lu 131 points 6 months ago

The YouTube owner explains that normal non-skippable in-stream ads are limited to just 15 seconds in length.

This is bullshit. I don't use an ad-blocker and often get a full minute of ad. And an extra minute if I happen to pause the stream for like 30 seconds and come back to it.

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 175 points 6 months ago

This is bullshit. I don't use an ad-blocker

You should be kinder to yourself.

[-] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 84 points 6 months ago

I consider the internet unusable without an ad blocker, ESPECIALLY youtube. I can't imagine life without it. It would be like camping without a tent, I guess I could get by but it can really suck depending on where you go.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 16 points 6 months ago

Hey! Whoa! That's not fair at all!

You can TOTALLY go camping without a tent. Just as long as you don't camp in a mosquitto heavy area.

Just sleep outside.

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[-] bizarroland@fedia.io 38 points 6 months ago

Using the internet without an ad blocker is like fucking every sex worker in Vegas without a condom.

Practice safe internet.

This message has not been sponsored by Firefox or uBlock Origin or Privacy Badger or Decentral Eyes, but if they want to throw some money my way I would accept.

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[-] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 38 points 6 months ago

Not using a real ad blocker (read: PiHole or UBlockOrigin, fuck AdBlockPlus) is a serious security threat this day in age. Do yourself a favor and get that set up ASAP.

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months ago

You're pretty much asking for it by not using an ad blocker. Want it to stop? Boycott the ads.

[-] Jarix@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago

What?! You are forced to watch an ad if you pause it for too long?!

Jfc i hate this gods damned timeline

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[-] FlavoredButtHair@lemmy.world 71 points 6 months ago

I either watch YouTube without ads or don't watch at all. We need a new platform for videos.

[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 34 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Tell you the truth, once upon a time I really didn't mind the ads. In fact I was quite happy to support the creators that I like with watching the ads that appeared on their videos. But then YouTube started getting smarmy by blocking my suggestions because I didn't use history on my account. And then there's the problem of the ads getting longer. At which point I got fed up and downloaded the adblock software to stop seeing this garbage. And then this little war broke out over ads on the platform.

Quite frankly, so long as the people who make the software to block ads continue to do that kind of work I will continue to download their software and make Google spend boatloads of their own money to try to block the blockers. Because the blockers aren't going anywhere. Not to mention that the blockers were not quite as popular before Google started this little campaign. And now they have made people so hyper aware of the fact that they can actually go out and find some way to skip these stupid ads that they've basically dug their own grave. Broadcast TV spent decades on this failed quest.

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[-] Elrecoal19_0@lemmy.world 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Peertube looks good... but has nearly no content or content creators, which is the reason Google nearly has monopoly with Youtube

[-] moseschrute@lemmy.world 20 points 6 months ago

Not a fediverse thing, but I pay $5 a month for nebula. I think it’s worth it to support creators. And I believe the whole “if you’re not paying for something you’re the product”. Though you can still be the product even if you do pay.

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[-] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 47 points 6 months ago

One solution to that problem is to close YouTube on your device and do something else with your time.

[-] shifty@leminal.space 44 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Some Alternatives:

Firefox + Ublock Origin
Grayjay App
Grayjay Desktop
FreeTube
NewPipe

[-] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 22 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Youtube ReVanced is flawless. It's easy to patch

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[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 16 points 6 months ago

Firefox + Ublock Origin

This right here. No longer using chromium-based browsers is a really good start.

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[-] CrowAirbrush@lemmy.world 44 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Youtube is like that bully that asks for your lunch money and when you say no, they slam you into a locker.

When you say no again, they start hitting you until you finally give that lunch money.

Once you do, they will show you the others are being abused harder when they demand more money from you.

I would love to contribute to the end of youtube.

To me, the value of youtube and it's music is far below the €18 it costs to get me and my wife ad free. My internet costs roughly that and offers a lot of possibilites, so why should i pay double for a service that supplies about 1 millionth of what the internet itself has to offer, especially considering my wage has barely changed while i watch my rent and groceries triple in cost.

Y'all need to realize there is an end to my money, you can't keep taking.

[-] nepenthes@lemmy.world 18 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I'm laughing at ~~their~~ YouTube's response. Obviously someone used a thesaurus to write it and didn't know that "incalcitrant" is not even the word, no major dictionaries list it. It's like using irregardless instead of regardless The word ~~they~~ YouTube wanted is recalcitrant.

And it's very telling that ~~they~~ YouTube used that word because it shows they think they are King.

Recalicitrant:

Stubbornly resistant to authority or control.

Unwilling to obey orders or to do what should be done.

Resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant.

Edit: I'm laughing at YouTube's response. I thought that was clear by context.. I guess people who didn't read the article didn't get that? Maybe it was paywalled to them?

Words matter, and by using the one they did, YouTube is basically saying that they demand people obey them.

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[-] superkret@feddit.org 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Youtube is like that bully

Except no one is forcing you to face that bully.
You can simply stay away.

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[-] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 41 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Explanation: they weren't using an (functional) ad blocker for some reason.

[-] uriel238 35 points 6 months ago

Well, you see, there's this thing called capitalism...

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[-] endofline@lemmy.ca 33 points 6 months ago

They force paying customers ( yt music premium & yt premium ) to disable ad blockers, too. Why? If I accordingly to the contract shouldn't get any ads why they would need to punish for blocking ads which shouldn't exist :-)?

[-] Soapbox1858@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago

I pay for YT premium and use unlock origin + privacy badger and don't see any ads on YT.

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[-] mrslt@lemmy.world 32 points 6 months ago

uBlock Origin works wonders. I haven't seen a YouTube ad since I installed it.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 31 points 6 months ago

We’ve launched a global effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience.

By drastically increasing the rates every 6 months. Raising it past the prices of actual production streaming services. And paying the people making the content less and less money, until they have to put their own ads and their own content.

[-] Nelots@lemm.ee 29 points 6 months ago

I haven't read the article, but surely this is an accident? I have almost no faith left in our capitalistic society, but surely even Youtube understands that nobody is going to watch an hour long ad, right?

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[-] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 27 points 6 months ago

just make it a subscription service already and see how many people remain...

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago

They did. The subscription service still shows ads.

[-] Hominine@lemmy.world 14 points 6 months ago

This is not true.

[-] kava@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago

Do you mean the promoted content done by the youtubers themselves? Because there are no YouTube ads when you use Premum.

And Premium recently came out with a feature that makes it really easy to skip the promotional content.

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[-] FundMECFSResearch 24 points 6 months ago

Can someone donate a large sum to peertube please

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[-] MehBlah@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago

There's a chance ad blockers are eating up the 'Skip' button while also failing to block the ad.

A CHANCE?

[-] NudeNewt@lemm.ee 17 points 6 months ago

Only trash adblockers like Adblock Plus and Adguard have that "chance". uBlock Origin the goat fr frf

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[-] kittenzrulz123 17 points 6 months ago

Youtube when I use Ublock Origin on my Thinkpad and ReVanced on my Pixel:

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[-] TheObviousSolution@kbin.melroy.org 11 points 6 months ago

I didn't have a problem with using YouTube Premium, but Google is doing a lot of shitty practices. The latest is purging Google Maps reviews in collusion with local authorities for private interests. Maybe don't be part of a shitty monopoly while trying to push this sort of bullshit onto us?

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[-] disconnectikacio@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago

No problem with ads with https://smarttubeapp.github.io/ Or youtube revanced :)

[-] cy_narrator@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 6 months ago

Hour long unskippable ads? You have to show me that video where this happens

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this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2025

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