You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
And yet…
Well, deleted posts are not visible to other users...
uBlock origin working since yesterday for me, think there's a cat & mouse going on with Google.
Is that because I pay for YouTube Music
No, I have a YouTube Music sub and get ads on YouTube.
Bugger. Can't watch youtube. Decisions decisions.
Im getting warnings but that is all- the warnings can be dismissed. I am as ever logged out of google and youtube
I could choose between enabling adverts, or paying the monthly fee, but to help me decide they let me watch 3 videos for free... One of them I did a page refresh without watching. So didn't even manage to find anything interesting to watch!
I thought it was illegal to mention ad-blockers on STW?
Or is that only in the context of browsing the STW website?
Im getting "Your watch history is off" and a link to update it. Naturally trying to keep it off just reverts you back to the "your watch history is off" so they most likely will only go back to full browse the vids/channels if you switch it on.
.
Typing in a subject will bring up relevant vids or if you have a link that works fine. Thank goodness for all those bookmarked YT vids.
.
I've got an adblocker running on youtube and what that appears to do is it allows the sound,but not the pictures of the ads in most of the cases. Or alternatively you can just wait about 15 seconds and the vid you want will come up, so you dont have to watch any ads
.
Big business ruins youtube. No surprises really.
Still having no problems with Brave Browser.
I've been using Fadblock (recommended on here), works great. Fast forwards through the ads in a few frames, so I can watch as normal.
I wouldn't mind a few ads but it's now 6 or 7 ad breaks in a ten minute video...
I've got a YouTube sub and it comes with YouTube Music. So it's circa £6 each for music and video. Of which I'd be paying £10 at least for a music sub from a competitor. So seems a reasonable deal to me.
I have Spotify family for 14 quid, if YouTube weren't so obnoxious then I'd consider subbing but I won't now out of principle.
Had a couple of cases in Brave again this week, where it complained about the blocker.
Opening the vid in incognito worked fine, but just need to remember to disable the autoplay next vid.
Using Firefox+Ublock (logged in) also worked fine, and then later both evenings Brave worked again. Presumably just takes both devs a while to push out the latest filter updates.
Smarttube on the Firestick has been working fine all the time.
I do wonder how much Goggle/Youtube's greed is going to cost small businesses, because in the last month or so, record numbers of users are actually finding out about such tools, and are suprised at how much better things look.
I really cannot believe that people are accepting of 3 pre-roll ads, an ad at 1min where the vid had barely even been introduced! then another at 2 min in and then another, and I had to say enough is enough at 8min when I had another mid-roll. imagine if ITV had that much ad spamming! They'd have no viewers at all if that were the case. (Since Milka chocolate spammed me with 4 ads between clicking play and 8 mins in to a 20min vid, I shall personally be boycotting Milka)
I'm pretty sure if youtube premium was £2.50, a very large amount of people would sub without even blinking
I guess users are worth £12/mo to them in data / ad targeting though
"I really cannot believe that people are accepting of 3 pre-roll ads, an ad at 1min where the vid had barely even been introduced!"
Exactly. Which is why I watch Youtube on my 15" laptop screen not my 55" TV screen. Because I can't get an adblcker for my TV.
If I had to watch the adverts there is nothing that could persuade my to watch Youtube.
What percentage of time would you say is ok for ads in any given video on YT. ie. How much of a 20 min video should be ads?
less than a minute
I remain convinced that making ads more and more intrusive at some point becomes counterproductive
I would much prefer a system of micropayments but no one seems to have made this happen yet
I ask because the average ads per hour in US broadcast tv is 15 minutes per hour. Or 25% that would equate to 5 minutes on a 20 minute video.
I’m not advocating that. It’s a shocking stat but it’s something we’ve become accustomed to with broadcast ad supported tv.
I like the YouTube app on my TV, but the recent change in Ad delivery on there is making me consider whether I can be bothered with it any more.
As I mostly just watch "filler" vids, I don't really have any desire to pay a big monthly sub - it's not like it's giving me Hollywood blockbusters or HBO boxsets.
What percentage of time would you say is ok for ads in any given video on YT. ie. How much of a 20 min video should be ads?
The issue I have with YouTube ads is there's no logic to it. It'll pop one out when the presenter is mid-sentence. If it was a natural break I wouldn't care so much.
I have never, ever seen an advert on YT's desktop website. I was quite shocked when I started using it on mobile / console.
I guess evryone's advert tolerance is different. There is very little I watch on ITV or other advert channels because adverts irritate me.
Youtube? Has to be paid for somehow. A 30s advert before a video starts I could live with. Maybe a minute for bigger videos.
Youtube adverts are more intrusive than TV adverts. TV? Adbreak - get the kettle on or check out Singletrack for two minutes. Youtube, you can't predict when they will appear.
But micropayments would be better. I subscribe here. Donateto a few sites. Subscribe to a couple of papers/magazines. Amazon Prime.
Youtube? If adverts became unavoidable I'd just stop using it.
What percentage of time would you say is ok for ads in any given video on YT. ie. How much of a 20 min video should be ads?
None.
Mostly because I don't think the business model of encouraging people down more and more extreme rabbit holes is healthy for individuals or for society.
Personally I think creators should pay youtube for hosting and streaming their videos. How content creators get paid for what they produce is up to them. A lot of creators are pausing their own videos to do lengthy adverts themselves these days. Others have Patreons. Some are getting some payment from Brave users.
Like I said, I think the period of giving away our data in return for free shit is over. Hopefully it will result in more quality content.
I ask because the average ads per hour in US broadcast tv is 15 minutes per hour. Or 25% that would equate to 5 minutes on a 20 minute video.
I’m not advocating that. It’s a shocking stat but it’s something we’ve become accustomed to with broadcast ad supported tv.
One good thing about UK TV, is there are legal limits on advertising time, and they're not that high for national channels.
I do wonder at what point the likes of OFCOM will start looking at advertising times on online platforms?
I’m pretty sure if youtube premium was £2.50, a very large amount of people would sub without even blinking
I guess users are worth £12/mo to them in data / ad targeting though
You can get it for slightly cheaper than that but you need a virtual card and a VPN for the initial Turkish purchase.
It's what I'll be doing when I finally have to pay.
25% is certainly a shocking stat, and may well be something that the US market has been accustomed too.
For me, 0 ads would be acceptable, but can go with say 1 min per 20 min if bills need to be paid, so long as I can do the equivalent of TV, where I'd start watching later than the advertised time once I hear the opening credits, and leave the room for a slash at the 15/30min ad break. Being 2 mins in and 3 ad slots done, and the vid barely even getting to actual content, and I've forgotten why I'd even hit play in the first place.
And for ads by the actual content creator (sponsored stuff), those are acceptable so long as it is clear they are sponsored and not too excessive and actually relevant (ie not NordVPN, Surfshark, which are blatantly not entirely factual, or the near whole takeover of a vid to shill Chinese e-bikes with fat tyres, clearly the wrong size / one size fits all with the saddle right down).
It would be interesting to see the stats of the losses incurred by innocent small businesses as a side effect of Youtube's actions. I know they are just trying to make their system actually financially viable too. I think I saw that it's some paltry amount like 11% of Google's revenue that comes from the massive spamming of youtube and with 45% commission rates too. They are only as viable as they are because they are a practical monopoly and other business areas within Alphabet/Google compensate.
When I finally have to pay, I'll simply do the same that I did with Twitter.
There is a security warning for fadblock, for the users of that.
One good thing about UK TV, is there are legal limits on advertising time, and they’re not that high for national channels.
12 minutes per hour limit for straight commercial advertising, which, point of note - does not include (for instance) ads for other tv programmes on that channel (promotional material). That said, it must *average* at 8 minutes of commerical ads per broadcast hour - broadcast hours are easily bumped by having a few hours of a test card.
So you can quite easily find 20 minutes per hour, of advert/trailer content on some of the crappier channels.
It’s not just the frequency of adverts, it’s the content of them - 90% are scams linked to things like FX trading or crypto, or those stupid Chinese video cameras and special tools to escape from a sinking car. I really don’t get how YouTube seems to avoid getting dinged for things the ASA would fine ITV for.
Will be interesting to see if youtube is still around in 10 years, whether it 'myspaces' itself to irrelevance, or if google just pull it (they're very good at pulling products)
Just a heads-up that YouTube have decided to go to war on Adblockers again, pretty much every blocker is now having issues. I disabled mine after trying a few different ones and it looks like they've upped that ad count too, I was 10 minutes into catching up with a livestream and by then I had well over 8 minutes of unskippable ads! Tried a short video of 8 minutes and it took over 20 to watch it through, although I had completely lost interest in what it was about by then as the constant ad breaks made it completely unwatchable.
Be interesting to see the response from all sides on this new attack. How will the blockers respond? Are the advertisers going to see backlash from people about the frequency of the ads? Will YouTube change the Premium offering? It's already had a price chop from £18.99 down to £12.99.
They are also stopping you having a cheap YouTube premium sub for other countries. I have just had the email about my argentinian sub which is a family plan at around £3 a month but this stops from next month.
If you don't want ads on YouTube you can direct a VPN at Albania as they don't have ads.
Was unable to watch yesterday evening due using an adblocker, today no such problem, weird.
Well oddly the I got the "this won't work 'cos you're using an adblocker" message this morning, but it seems to be working okay now - no message and no ads.
Maybe they have reverted the change?
IMO they want me to pay to be a commodity more than a customer.
And you’ve only just realised this? [img] 
[/img]
definitely up to shenanigans again.
last few days I've had an increase in banners inserted in to the recommended vids feed, so was half expecting such a Christmas present.
yesterday had the "adblockers are against Youtube policy" thing, but worked fine if right-clicking and opening in incognito window, so I assume is related to being logged in. That was in Brave, with its blocker rather than ublock origin.
gave it a couple of hours, then made sure everything was updated in the browse, refreshed the Youtube page, and it all worked again.
Still have firefox/librewolf +ublock origin as a backup, and Freetube and Smarttube
Freetube is now allowing 4k streams on desktop and available for just about every platform though still officially in Beta. Mac users will need to allow it through the privacy & security portion of the settings app after every update.
Chrome disabled my Adblock Plus, just took a couple of clicks to re-enable it. I guess it'll be dropped eventually and I'll have to go to the less capable Adblock Lite. Or move away from Chrome.
You'll have to move away from Chrome/Chromium etc. (eg to Brave or Firefox) if you want to use such tools in future.
Chrome disabled my Adblock Plus
To be fair, that's the best thing to do with it. It uses more resources than Chrome and that's over half my system.
Spose you all could stopping watching it ?
Spose you all could stopping watching it ?
If Brave ever stops working then that's my plan.
I somehow doubt Google are going to win this particular game of whack-a-mole though.
“Albania” vpn
yep totally works for me.
Adblock pro on Safari and youtube have been skirmishing for a year or so now.
Currently it's working fine while logged out, which means I have to remember what channels I watch, but it's worth it.
Other times private browsing was another option.
Some of the people I watch are also on curiosity stream? Anyone tried it out... Wondering if it's a way to cut out the long YouTube Ads and at the same time lose all the clickbait shorts/dashcam/auditor time wasting crap
Some of the people I watch are also on curiosity stream? Anyone tried it out… Wondering if it’s a way to cut out the long YouTube Ads and at the same time lose all the clickbait shorts/dashcam/auditor time wasting crap
It's a good point.
Today, I look for a video and it's on Instagram/Tiktok/Vimeo/Twitter/Facebook et al, I think "eh, can I find it on YouTube?" Doubly so if it's something I want to share with folk who eschew those platforms.
But platforms can die regardless of their ubiquity. Who foresaw the death of LiveJournal? Or Myspace, Geocities, ICQ UINs, AOL IM, Y!, MSN chatrooms, Google+, Friends Reunited... Hell, look at the mass exodus from Twitter post-Muskrat, the only reason it's still going is that the alternatives aren't quite as good, yet.
There is a legal scam currently with leasehold new build houses. They offer out ground rent for like £1/year for ten years then ram it up to £100s or £1,000s. I had a buyer pull out for exactly this reason despite being in a 100+ year old property. If YouTube thinks it can pull the same stunt, drag everyone in and then start being assholes around payment/advertising, the writing's on the wall. All it takes is a startup with their head screwed on, ByteDance must be champing at the bit and yay all our media hosted in China what could possibly go wrong.
Watching YouTube on Firefox with adblock plus. Started getting ads. Added Ghostery now working on.
I subscribe to Netflix. A couple of newspapers. Donate to a cycling website. BBC licence fee etc. Im not subscribing to everything.
On my Smart TV I don't use YouTube because I couldn't block ads. A 1 minute ad at the start of a 15m or longer video, fine, but I was getting ads in the middle of linger music tracks. Not acceptable.
I very rarely watch anything on IGV for the same reason.
I don't object to adverts per se. I strongly object to them when they appear mid-sentence during a video I'm watching.
I don’t object to adverts per se. I strongly object to them when they appear mid-sentence during a video I’m watching.
Yes it can get silly if, for example using the Yotube app on a smart TV - I just don't bother watching youtube any more unless I'm on the PC with a secure browser which i can watch on my monitor or stream it to my telly.
I feel like mostly i want to watch a specific video right now, and im prepared for that, so rubbish ads just disconcert me and my interest or train of thought just gets lost. Like im wantin a particular song, or trying to find a segment that shows how to get the bolts out of a machine
do. They provide no value to me whatsoever, other than negative experience. At best they’re merely tiresome. They’re nearly always too loud. Always distracting in the way they demand attention…
How are you going to pay for these services without?
a lot of companies cant come up with the things they promise, the 3 sim cards i have dont work at my house, nor the data at work, so im paying(since i forgot to cancel) for spotify but cant listen to anything,and half thepodcasts want extrato listen to some of their stuff.
IF i could afford all the premium plans, which i cant, maybe i could access all i want, when i need it, but for me the things like fixing cars videos make things possible beneficially or financially viable, but if i have to watch ads all day i will lose focus and not get things done so will never be able to progress to a better lifestyle
so piracy makes sense
currently im waiting for a connection, for a code to activate my new sim. its taken 2+ hours so far
How are you going to pay for these services without?
Personally, I'm not.
Giving them money is just going to encourage them to continue to enshitificate and to further tune their algorithm to turn more incels into violent misogynists. By watching their videos with Brave I'm using their services but providing them with no revenue so hopefully it will hasten their demise.
I get to be part of the resistance while drinking beer and watching Earthed 3 and Line of Sight (which I also have on DVD, I just can't be bothered getting out of my chair).
Vive la Revolucion!
I do. They provide no value to me whatsoever, other than negative experience. At best they’re merely tiresome. They’re nearly always too loud. Always distracting in the way they demand attention…
Sounds like a role in customer services.
The justification for why I’m entitlement to get something for nothing and level of effort to make it so is comedy gold. Merry Christmas.
Most of the YT videos I watch (with an ad blocker) seem to be sponsored and they plug something mid video which you can just skip over using the chapters which they have added.
Giving them money is just going to encourage them to continue to enshitificate and to further tune their algorithm to turn more incels into violent misogynists. By watching their videos with Brave I’m using their services but providing them with no revenue so hopefully it will hasten their demise.
I think if your objective is to bring down YouTube (Google/Alphabet) you would be better not using YouTube at all rather than finding ways to use it that bypass their revenue streams. The business valuation is based on the number of users / traffic rather than literally the ad revenue. Yes you cost them money everytime you use their service, but it adds to their story why they are THE platform for you video content…
I don’t object to adverts per se.
I wish YouTube would just place them better, I wouldn't mind 10 or even 15secs if they just sorted out a decent point to put them in, and if you're not going to do that, then I'm not going to put up with random shit you throw in like they don't GAS, and I'll use an adblocker.
Hopefully some of you are subscribing to the creators* Patreon because if the ads aren't shown and clicked on a certain amount, they don't get paid.
Most of them seem to give you an ad/sponsor free version of the videos plus a chat room, early access to vids etc for $3 a month or so.
*I'm not talking about your Mr Beasts who are earning the big bunse, but Universe Today and things like that where they put out a load of good quality videos and articles and employ a small handful of people.
The justification for why I’m entitlement to get something for nothing and level of effort to make it so is comedy gold. Merry Christmas.
I get what you mean, however, I've uploaded over 200 videos and some have as much as 3000+ views and 75+ likes!
I wish YouTube would just place them better, I wouldn’t mind 10 or even 15secs if they just sorted out a decent point to put them in, and if you’re not going to do that, then I’m not going to put up with random shit you throw in like they don’t GAS, and I’ll use an adblocker.
Exactly my sentiments, yes.
I'm of the mind that if a company is going to make it more awkward for me to consume media that in many cases I've actually paid money for then I have little moral compunction over seeking alternative routes. Like, the unskippable cutscene at the start of DVDs, "you wouldn't steal a car..." well probably not, but if I'd torrented the movie instead then I wouldn't have to listen to your condescending bollocks every single time I load a disc.
Serving a 10 second ad before a YT video, I could care more. Doing it when a presenter is mid-sentence can get in the sea and I'm turning the screw on my security settings.
Ditto the "happy with some adverts but not an overload" sentiments.
I watch quite a few aviation channels, am a paid up member and also offer my time for free to help moderate the chat during live streams. So I'm happy that I'm supporting the channels I follow financially plus making it safe and accessible.
But not happy to get bombarded with adverts during shows which may last a few hours.
Incidentally,
A little fact I learned the other day from the Lateral podcast (spoilers ahead if you listen to it and are behind). The music on the "you wouldn't steal..." DVD intro was used without permission, the composer had to sue them for royalties.
I think if your objective is to bring down YouTube (Google/Alphabet) you would be better not using YouTube at all rather than finding ways to use it that bypass their revenue streams. The business valuation is based on the number of users / traffic rather than literally the ad revenue. Yes you cost them money everytime you use their service, but it adds to their story why they are THE platform for you video content…
You're right. I'll stop using YT and switch to one of it's competitors.
Oh wait, they ran at a loss for years in order to acquire market dominance and kill off any competition so now they are (almost) the only show in town.
Perhaps if they hadn't run at a loss and instead focused on building a sustainable business model that wasn't completely and utterly morally bankrupt they wouldn't find themselves fighting a losing battle against adblockers today.
Perhaps if they hadn’t run at a loss and instead focused on building a sustainable business model that wasn’t completely and utterly morally bankrupt they wouldn’t find themselves fighting a losing battle against adblockers today.
No need to feel bad for them, they appear to be doing just fine:
https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/youtube-q3-2024-advertising-revenue-growth-1236193926/
You’re right. I’ll stop using YT and switch to one of it’s competitors.
Oh wait, they ran at a loss for years in order to acquire market dominance and kill off any competition so now they are (almost) the only show in town.
Perhaps if they hadn’t run at a loss and instead focused on building a sustainable business model that wasn’t completely and utterly morally bankrupt they wouldn’t find themselves fighting a losing battle against adblockers today.
the world functioned perfectly well before YouTube, my parents manage to continue to survive in it with almost no reason to use it. If you are watching YouTube it’s because it provides you content you want. I doubt they see it as a losing battle - I’d be amazed if they couldn’t make the technical barriers to blocking much harder, actually they are quietly content for people like you to continue making them the defacto monopoly rather than encourage competition.
Serving a 10 second ad before a YT video, I could care more. Doing it when a presenter is mid-sentence can get in the sea and I’m turning the screw on my security settings.
what happens when you have an adblocker working? Does the video play uninterrupted or do still get disrupted but without the ad playing? what if you are casting?
I am surprised they haven’t given creators the ability to mark parts of their video which can be broken for ads. An ad when the viewer is annoyed must be less effective?
Hopefully some of you are subscribing to the creators* Patreon because if the ads aren’t shown and clicked on a certain amount, they don’t get paid.
Currently a Patreon supporter of Smith and Sniff, HubNut, Autoshenanigans and Plainly Difficult. I also buy merch from Smith and Sniff, HubNut, Up N' Down, AutoAlex, TDC and Colin Furze (I'm a sucker for a branded mug...). Out of that lot I think I contribute my share. Actually I know it does as I was talking to two Youtubers at a car show, Rustival, and bought them both a drink from the catering van. Talking to them later and the subject of YT income came up (was a group of us chatting) and one said that I'd contributed the same to them by buying them a £4 coffee as ten people watching all of their videos from the last year. Admittedly they only get roughly 15k views per video, you need to regularly get 100k+ twice a week to start earning enough to go full-time, but it still shows that direct support is valuable.
I am surprised they haven’t given creators the ability to mark parts of their video which can be broken for ads. An ad when the viewer is annoyed must be less effective?
They do and it worked pretty well up until a few years ago when YouTube decided to up the frequency of the ads. If the creator doesn't put enough breaks in or they're too far apart then YouTube just overrides them and inserts them where they see fit. The creators are annoyed about it as much as we are, they know that they have to balance the need for income against a good user experience but YouTube holds all the cards and doesn't seemingly care if they take the piss and annoy users.
what happens when you have an adblocker working? Does the video play uninterrupted or do still get disrupted but without the ad playing? what if you are casting?
I've never seen a YouTube ad on the desktop aside from embedded sponsored content. Videos just play.
I haven't casted in years. YT on the TV uses the native app, I was shocked how intrusive the adverts were.
the world functioned perfectly well before YouTube, my parents manage to continue to survive in it with almost no reason to use it. If you are watching YouTube it’s because it provides you content you want.
Yep, I used to consume the DH World Cup by buying a copy of Dirt and read the multi-page reports. They would go into a lot of detail about all the background and gossip as well as in depth analysis. At the end of the year I would by the Earthed DVD to see what it actually looked like.
Those days are gone and they aren't coming back. Partly it's the internet in general. Partly it's because of YT.
I doubt they see it as a losing battle – I’d be amazed if they couldn’t make the technical barriers to blocking much harder, actually they are quietly content for people like you to continue making them the defacto monopoly rather than encourage competition.
Personally, I don't think they are smart enough to create the 4D chess 'illusion of rebellion' you're describing to keep awkward ****s like me hooked. I think if they could have actually banned adblockers they would have done it by now. However, I do think they are smart enough to corner the market by making a loss for years before enshitifying their product for all it's worth.
But who knows, perhaps they have trapped me in the matrix. If so I guess I'll just have to continue to watch Mud Cows without adverts and imagine I'm resisting a very evil conglomerate. Everyone's happy.
Except people who have to deal with the ads, of course.