4 ms·

Worse is when ad technology is prioritized and is set up more stably/reliably than the content itself. It’s one thing to sit through an ad before successfully

Worse is when ad technology is prioritized and is set up more stably/reliably than the content itself. It’s one thing to sit through an ad before successfully watching something but quite another to put up with that and then see some obscure error code instead of the content you “paid” for with your ad eyeballs. I’ve had things fail 2 or 3 times, each time replaying the same ENTIRE ad without a hitch but then failing to deliver. This is why people cry no tears when ad companies complain. If you want to stick crap in my way, the experience had better be flawless.

notatoad 10y ago
This is one thing that youtube does really well though - on some other sketchy video player you never know whether the video will play even if the ad will (the worst is when don't let you know you're geo-blocked until after playing their ad) but on youtube the video always plays just as well as the ads for me.
- stingraycharles 10y ago
  That's because Youtube natively integrates the pre-roll into its video player, while it's far easier for ad servers to just wrap the entire video player itself and (temporarily) replace it with their ad content. Not saying it's right, but it's just the status quo of the moment.
  - waqf 10y ago
    The status quando, perhaps — or the Zeitstand.
    - fjdlwlv 10y ago
      What does that mean?
- dandelany 10y ago
  True, but Youtube suffers from its own class of usability issues around ads/video. Eg. the other day I was watching a YT video and noticed that the top-voted comment was a particularly weird/creepy comment - so I absent-mindedly clicked the "thumbs down" next to it. Suddenly I was whisked away to a login page with no warning, interrupting the video. I immediately clicked "back" - and was forced to re-watch the entire ad before resuming my video. Stuff like this infuriates users - I'm trying to actively engage, and being punished for it?!
- Buttons840 10y ago
  I've experienced the advertisement playing flawlessly followed by severe buffering for the real video.
  - notatoad 10y ago
    It happens, but I've also experienced the stream playing flawlessly for the first 30s and then severe buffering for the remainder of the video, or the ad buffering and the video not. Network conditions change and buffering happens, but i haven't seen a consistent trend where the content is worse than the ad, like i have on so many other video players.
    - cjhanks 10y ago
      I am on a network with absolutely terrible latency. 500ms at its best and almost 7 sec at its worst. You tube videos will actually load and buffer... his "unskippable ad", will not. Sometimes I have to wait 5 minutes to get through a 30 second commercial.
- iagreeentirely 10y ago
  That depends on the platform. The youtube app on xbox is prone to screwing up after a mid-video ad. Not only will it fail to restart the video, it will make that specific video unplayable until youtube is killed and restarted.
LeifCarrotson 10y ago
My experience even on YouTube has been that ads buffer completely at full resolution, playing flawlessly, while videos are buffered minimally (pausing at the start and leaving to grab a sandwich does not result in the whole video loading) and often drop to lower resolution based on bandwidth.
jrnichols 10y ago
This is why I can't/won't watch most videos on news sites. Not only is the "article" just a transcript of the video, but I frequently encounter what you're describing.

notatoad 10y ago

This is one thing that youtube does really well though - on some other sketchy video player you never know whether the video will play even if the ad will (the worst is when don't let you know you're geo-blocked until after playing their ad) but on youtube the video always plays just as well as the ads for me.

stingraycharles 10y ago
That's because Youtube natively integrates the pre-roll into its video player, while it's far easier for ad servers to just wrap the entire video player itself and (temporarily) replace it with their ad content. Not saying it's right, but it's just the status quo of the moment.
- waqf 10y ago
  The status quando, perhaps — or the Zeitstand.
  - fjdlwlv 10y ago
    What does that mean?
dandelany 10y ago
True, but Youtube suffers from its own class of usability issues around ads/video. Eg. the other day I was watching a YT video and noticed that the top-voted comment was a particularly weird/creepy comment - so I absent-mindedly clicked the "thumbs down" next to it. Suddenly I was whisked away to a login page with no warning, interrupting the video. I immediately clicked "back" - and was forced to re-watch the entire ad before resuming my video. Stuff like this infuriates users - I'm trying to actively engage, and being punished for it?!
Buttons840 10y ago
I've experienced the advertisement playing flawlessly followed by severe buffering for the real video.
- notatoad 10y ago
  It happens, but I've also experienced the stream playing flawlessly for the first 30s and then severe buffering for the remainder of the video, or the ad buffering and the video not. Network conditions change and buffering happens, but i haven't seen a consistent trend where the content is worse than the ad, like i have on so many other video players.
  - cjhanks 10y ago
    I am on a network with absolutely terrible latency. 500ms at its best and almost 7 sec at its worst. You tube videos will actually load and buffer... his "unskippable ad", will not. Sometimes I have to wait 5 minutes to get through a 30 second commercial.
iagreeentirely 10y ago
That depends on the platform. The youtube app on xbox is prone to screwing up after a mid-video ad. Not only will it fail to restart the video, it will make that specific video unplayable until youtube is killed and restarted.

LeifCarrotson 10y ago

My experience even on YouTube has been that ads buffer completely at full resolution, playing flawlessly, while videos are buffered minimally (pausing at the start and leaving to grab a sandwich does not result in the whole video loading) and often drop to lower resolution based on bandwidth.

jrnichols 10y ago

This is why I can't/won't watch most videos on news sites. Not only is the "article" just a transcript of the video, but I frequently encounter what you're describing.