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YouTube Will ‘Frustrate’ Some Users with Ads So They Pay for Music
- andrew-lucker 9y agoHas anyone else encountered the 25 minute ads? Mine was a full episode of some home-improvement show sponsored by Lowes.
- mitchty 9y agoI got one ad that was 10 minutes and couldn't be skipped. I said, yeah screw that noise, copy/paste youtube-dl url
- nkkollaw 9y agoWhy don't you install an adblocker, which will block the ads for you?
- beedogs 9y agoSome people are labouring under the misapprehension that adblockers are immoral.
- nkkollaw 9y agoI think a 25' ad for a 5' video is a lot more immoral...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mitchty 9y agoI have one, not everything gets blocked.
- nkkollaw 9y agoAh, ok. Try AdGuard, it works great for YT ads.
- akerro 9y agoMake sure you have these rules enabled https://i.imgur.com/S9pCwIc.png https://i.imgur.com/S9pCwIc.png This blocks all twitter/facebook/google/botnet widgets, other tracking elements, all ads, even those on youtube. Highly increases your privacy and browsing experience. I use these rules for so long I even forgot youtube has ads.
- mitchty 9y agoSometimes I just pull up the youtube app on my iPad no ad blockers work on there. And if I'm making food, I honestly don't worry as much about the ad. But a 10 minute ad for a 2 minute video? Even then i'll download the video just to spite the entire ad platform, thats insane.
- ptspts 9y agoI use the latest uBlock Origin with the latest stable Google Chrome on Linux. I have the block lists above (https://i.imgur.com/S9pCwIc.png https://i.imgur.com/S9pCwIc.png) enabled, and I'm still getting lots of ads on YouTube. Ads started appearing in 2018, it was fine before. Any advice how I can get rid of ads on YouTube?
- jesseb 9y agoI've encountered one 25 minute ad on YouTube, I don't recall what it was for though. I laughed and reloaded the page, and off to the races. I've also encountered a number that range in the 5-10 minute range. I don't use YouTube very often, so I'm not sure how regularly these occur.
- DanBC 9y agoI've had a few. It's annoying. I don't use a blocker. I don't skip the ads. Yet youtube shows me some really tedious 25 minute ad (for obscure builing material; for some online god knows what; for some money scam). I thought it must be some experiment to see how bad ads could get before people like me hit reload or start blocking, because it makes no sense otherwise.
- culot 9y agoPretty sure 90 minutes the longest I've seen. Having to wade through at least 5 seconds of ads per video has made me reluctant to use Youtube anymore.
- golem14 9y agoIf true, would it be different than the NPR pledge drives, really ?
- extradesgo 9y agoYeah, it's a lot different. NPR used to be publicly funded, much like the BBC in the UK. The idea was to offer objective journalism for the strength of democracy. It has helped a lot in the UK may have helped prevent the current disaster we now experience in the US. When that public funding started being removed, NPR had to start acting more like a private company, satisfying target demographics and seeking seeking donor support. So, NPR pledge drives are in large part them trying to maintain an objective perspective. A feeble attempt, sure, but they are trying. Youtube is merely maximizing profit.
- AndrewUnmuted 9y agoI'm no fan of YouTube, but to be fair to them, it's probably not so much about maximizing profit as it is an effort to avoid the wrath of the RIAA.
- jadedhacker 9y agoNot to be pedantic, but even if that's true, the RIAA is advocating for the profit seeking motives of the labels it represents.
- quadrangle 9y agoYeah, uh Brexit is held up as the second-most-terrible thing driven by the same provincialism as Trump-election. BBC is indeed great, and the NPR comparison to YouTube is nonsense. But UK didn't quite avoid disasters (caused largely by Facebook, just as here).
- phinnaeus 9y agoI think the 'P' in NPR is the biggest difference.
- abawany 9y agoCan confirm. Was running a playlist on a Windows machine with Edge as a cheap substitute for burn-in/stability testing. No dice: it would stop after every song with a ad dialog that required clicking (for YT Red, or for Chrome). Horrible experience generally - it wasn't clear if this torture was reserved for Edge users or I was special that day. I switched to Vevo and it provided the necessary hardware testing that I was seeking.
- nkkollaw 9y agoWhy not Spotify?
- abawany 9y agoI should have considered it but I am not someone who streams live content so just a static playlist of music videos was all I was looking for.
- nkkollaw 9y agoSpotify is not live content. You have albums or playlists like YT, but it's made for that and the experience is much better. Also, you avoid doenloading video content when all you need is audio.
- abawany 9y agoActually, I was looking for video content. The idea was to take this machine and stress its bits for a bit to see if it was stable.
- redcap 9y agoI listen to Youtube fairly extensively while working, but don't get any ads because I have an ad blocker. I don't even get "you have an ad-blocker installed" warnings...
- draw_down 9y agoUh huh.
- nkkollaw 9y agoThe other day I forgot to re-enable my ad blocker after testing a site, and I'm amazed that anyone can even use YouTube without blocking the ads (let alone enjoy it). I literally have no idea why anyone would go through that to watch a 5-minute video.
- kristofferR 9y agoI hope this only happens for people in countries where paying for Youtube Red is actually allowed. It's fine on my computer thanks to adblocking, but using Youtube on iOS devices and Chromecast is so damn annoying. It's absurd that they ban me from paying to skip the ads.
- herpderperator 9y agoI have been paying for YouTube Red since 2015. I really like the YouTube Music app and how I can save songs for offline use, and how it's kept up-to-date with songs I like on YouTube (as well as recommended suggestions) whenever my phone goes on WiFi, so my playlist never gets old. You also get other perks like keeping a YouTube video playing in the background on your phone. I prefer using YouTube for music as opposed to other services because I listen to a lot of underground/developing artists who aren't as easily signed up to go on the larger platforms like Spotify. For that reason I also like Soundcloud, but I feel I find more relevance on YouTube. Since I pay for YouTube Red, I don't get ads. I think the cost justifies it. So, if you have so much of a problem with ads, you should really consider just paying for it. It's a great service. Shouldn't you be paying for services you appreciate?
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoThere's a huge difference between a product that's being funded by ads, and you can pay to switch the funding source, and a product that they're actively making the ad-funded experience worse specifically to push you to subscribe. One is just trying to keep a business afloat, the other is a company intentionally trying to irritate you.
- imode 9y agoor, or, hear me out... I could use adblock, a free and crowd-sourced adblocker, to... block the ads. YouTube already makes copious amounts of money outside of advertising and Red exclusivity. don't force that kind of an annoyance on people if you expect them to A) use your service or B) not subvert the crap you put in front of them. there is no argument for ads anymore.
- guelo 9y agoYoutube could make their ads unblockable by putting them in the content's video stream or just serving them from the same domain. I feel like they don't do that just as a way to be nice to adblockers, but I don't know why.
- 9y ago
- craftyguy 9y agohooktube.com (provides youtube content without the youtube crap)
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoThis seems like one of those things corporations obviously do, but you'd be hard pressed to believe someone would be dumb enough to openly state they do. Now when you wonder if YouTube is actively trying to irritate you, you can know that yes, that's exactly what they're trying to do. The YouTube team's behavior is getting a lot more annoying of late. The other thing I can't get rid of is the popup suggesting I get YouTube Red every like 48-72 hours of my life.
- FridgeSeal 9y agoThere's an associated set of ads on the Play Music app as well. Every couple of days there'll be an interstital/overlay/message about the paid subscription option, it's incredibly annoying because it doesn't let you dismiss it forever. I've previously paid for Spotify and for Google Play Music, I've gone back to buying my music (hooray Bandcamp) and don't stream any on my phone but get subjected to all the ads anyway.
- azakai 9y agoMaybe I'm one of those users? I've been getting two ads before almost every YouTube video for weeks now. Even more annoyingly, the first ad still says, falsely, "your video will start in .. seconds" or "you can skip in .. seconds".
- aq3cn 9y agoI came across iYTBP - injected YouTube Background Playback. It allows one to 1. view 2k 60 fps videos in app 2. background playback 3. download for forever 4. dark mode 5. no advertisement ever 6. VP9 codec 7. loop playback 8. pip mode and much more without rooting your phone. https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-iytbp-injected-youtube-background-t3560900 https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-iytb... This app is also available by Youtube Vanced name in XDA app store for free. Alternatively, just make the public playlist of videos you like to watch and use youtube-dl cmd tool to download all those videos inside Android using Termux app. I prefer this method over the earlier one.
- Analemma_ 9y agoSooner or later, Google is going to come after this guy. The ProTube app on iOS did most of this stuff, and they made him shut it down.
- dingo_bat 9y agoDon't think the same thing will work on android.
- huntie 9y agoNewPipe also supports most, if not all, of these features, and it's open source. https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe
- arca_vorago 9y agoNewspipe is my yt client of choice on android. Otherwise mps-youtube.
- tyingq 9y agoThis isn't new, is it?
- juststeve 9y agofree is dying
- paul7986 9y agoYouTube Red is solid as everyone uses Youtube to listen to music. THus it knows and creates the best mix playlist especially if you listen to many, many genres of music. Apple Music like Siri is stupid .. the playlist it creates aren't based on all genres I listen to but only one. Also Red integrates well with Google Home as you can tell home to wake you up to whatever song and play whatever song. No commercials is a bonus to all previous mentioned.
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 9y agoYouTube Red is not available in all countries Apple Music is.
- izacus 9y agoAnd Apple Music is not available on all devices YouTube Red is.
- callahanrts 9y agoIt's totally reasonable to push people towards their music service and there's nothing inherently wrong about doing it this way. However, it feels a little strange to see a company weaponizing advertisements in their marketing strategy.
- austincheney 9y agoI use YouTube for background music while I program, but fortunately my wide variety of instrumental music choices are not inundated with ads. To me this indicates they are putting their muscle behind a certain flavor of content representative of specific demographics inclined to spend money. If YouTube tried to muscle me in this way I would just use Amazon Music instead. I detest ads enough that I would alter my preferences, behavior, and content choices to remain ad free. To those of you who are subscribing to YouTube or watching copious amounts of ads thank you for indirectly funding my entertainment.
- Chirael 9y agoYou may find this interesting, if you haven't heard of it before: http://musicforprogramming.net/ http://musicforprogramming.net/
- chx 9y agoYou know what frustrates me? I can't get YouTube Red because I am in Canada. And then the coalation called Fairplay Canada have the audacity to ask the government to censor the internet in order to stop piracy. No way in hell. We will stop this.
- Azeralthefallen 9y agoI would love to be able to pay and just block ads on YouTube forever. Unfortunately a lot of the music i like listening to, just isn't available anywhere aside from YouTube. Even more frustrating is lately i am getting pop ups every 2-3 songs asking if i am still watching. The solution to prevent this is to get YouTube red. Unfortunately it isn't available where i live.
- aerotwelve 9y agoThis is why I still maintain a digital music library -- backed by a physical media collection that sits in my real live analog house -- that I sync to an SD card in my phone. In 2018, Bandcamp seems to have solved the digital music sales problem that the iTunes music store never could (DRM-free album downloads in lossless formats for less than the retail price of the CD or LP). Everything that isn't there can usually be found on Amazon music in a lossy format for a decent price w/ no DRM (sometimes free if you have Prime). If I have to rent music, I'm doing it from Spotify. Another half-baked Google service that they'll give up on in six months plus an obnoxious marketing campaign fronted by an old Warner executive? They might want to consider paying people to use it.
- setquk 9y agoAfter several months of Apple Music and disappearing tracks this is what I’m doing now. I’m not renting anything any more.
- manmal 9y agoMay I ask, why not both? I‘m pretty sure you will not buy 20mio songs, rather a couple thousand. With Match you get your own collection online and available everywhere, and augment it with the Music subscription. I’ve done it like this but only rarely need the Match fallback now, because most of my library is available on Music or Spotify.
- setquk 9y agoTwo reasons: cost and that I like things in one place and format.
- kahnpro 9y agoUgh this was also what got me to stop my Apple Music and then Spotify subscriptions. Songs or entire albums can disappear simply because the licencing changed.
- poelzi 9y agoI only buy music on bandcamp these days. Usually 200-300 Euros a month, because I know the artists get most of the share. I really really really must be needy for some song that I go to beatport or some other service. I find it unbearable to pay extra for flac - seriously, bandwidth and storage is so cheap these days, 1.5 Euro extra for flac - absurd. Secondly, I'm a DJ and even if I would not be able to hear the difference, there are people with certain hear impairments in which the psychoanalytic model does not fit. It's my job to bring the best possible sound quality. But I hardly buy physical media anymore, it's just using up space of something I don't use and with the saved buck I just buy more music :) My backup is done through git annex and my library is duplicated over many PCs and harddrives - it works quite well and I'm able to carry only a part of the library but still see everything. A simple "git annex get ..." will get the requested files. My girlfriend has my library as well and when I add new files, a quick "git annex sync [...]" will update her copy as well.
- beedogs 9y agoI must be running just the right combination of adblockers because I swear I've never once seen an advertisement on Youtube.
- aiCeivi9 9y agoIt is harder to avoid with smart TVs and other hardware with YT apps.
- zrobotics 9y agoIsn't that the reason to avoid hardware you have no control over, though? AFAIK, this isn't a problem if you're using a HTPC, or not using the app on mobile. This isn't any different than complaining that you can't leave the walled garden in iOS, it is the product working as intended. Which does have some benefits (i.e. better security for iOS vs. android sideloaded apps), but drawbacks as well.
- british_india 9y agoJust as I developed a habit of listening to YouTube videos, I can unlearn that habit. I will never pay. I will find new sources of music, including my existing music collection. This will merely Drive me to other ways of getting music to listen to. I find myself offended by any corporation to attempt to manipulate me. I will not choose them explicitly because of their attempts to manipulate me. If they attempt to frustrate me, they will lose me for life. In short, you are valuable YouTube – but not that valuable.
- ggg9990 9y agoAnd Google probably knows every last thing about you so they can gauge your willingness to pay (based on say your willingness to pay for other Google services, the number of impulse purchases you make on Amazon, etc).
- blackrock 9y agoI get around the ads by muting the sound. It neuters the ad and I just look away for 30 seconds or however long the ad is. Consider it a temporary state of zen.
- znpy 9y agoYouTube/Google probably have so-detailed user profile (or maybe I should say "dossier") that they probably know with a very high accuracy who is likely to pay and who isn't.
- Daycrawler 9y agoIs a business model built on people's ignorance of ad-blockers really reliable?
- sf2001 9y agoCouldn't one have said the same about those annoying self-plugging Spotify ads on Spotify advertising Spotify premium? I haven't heard them lately, but they were like 30 seconds of a recorded cricket chirping. It seems like a common tactic. Youtube wants to lock in MRR.
- cornholio 9y ago> Cohen, who joined YouTube in 2016 after about 30 years in the record business, including stints as a road manager for Run-DMC and a senior executive at Warner Music Group. I'm not sure he understands yet the culture of the organization he's in, and the way most internet companies work. The fact that Youtube is king of the hill does not mean he's sitting on a monopoly he can milk for revenue. On the Internet, if you crap on your users you become history in 6 months time.
- glogla 9y agoNot if you're the actual monopoly because of network effects. See youtube, facebook, google, microsoft.
- pjmlp 9y agoHi 5, Altavista, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, .... Wang, DEC, Olivetti, Commodore, Atari, Compaq, ....
- cornholio 9y agoGoogle search is a monopoly only in a regulatory/market leadership sense; they have what's called the incumbent's advantage, they were the first to provide a satisfactory solution and people don't have significant reason to switch to copy cats. Similar for Gmail. When we are moving to platforms like Android or Windows, yes, that's a strong technical monopoly entrenched by network effects, but it's no longer an internet product. Facebook is somewhat of a mixed bag, as they are recently finding out they have widely overestimated their "crap on the users" margin.
- onion2k 9y agoNot if you're the actual monopoly because of network effects. I'd have thought network effects are exactly why companies on the internet can't mess around with their users. If a few people start using another site and share it with their friends, the rest could all follow very quickly.
- yoz-y 9y ago
- aunty_helen 9y agoI use youtube for music in the car on the way to work and during work hours (which I have an adblocker for). Two experiences I'd like to relate, In the car, music being interrupted more often with annoying ads. Even more so in the last 3 months. Some ads even asking me to take a survey in the youtube app. This annoys me and makes me hate using youtube. Often will make me switch to using bandcamp (which I purchase music on that I really like) or soundcloud. Experience 2, when youtube brought out a new algo to pick the next song to play. After stringing together ~10 bangers in a row, some that I haven't heard recently / before, I actually looked into youtube red. Can't remember why I didn't start a subscription. I'm not opposed to paying for a service, I've had Spotify, Apple and Tidal before. I know the Spotify annoying ads worked well for them. I'm not sure how well it will work for youtube.
- toolslive 9y agoThis feels like 'racketeering' no ?
- raverbashing 9y ago> will “frustrate and seduce” users of YouTube’s free service Oh look at Google once again thinking of alienating their users once more
- Endy 9y agoOh that's amusing to me, since I use uBlock and Disconnect and download things with youtube-dl. I wonder how they'd work on 'frustrating' me. All I'd do is add a userscript into Greasemonkey or uBlock to get past their nonsense and be on my way again.
- reacweb 9y agoI am all the more disposed to tolerate a little more advertising on the youtube site since youtube kindly tolerates download with youtube-dl --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 --output "%(title)s.%(ext)s" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxx
- gkya 9y agoyou can also youtube-dl -o- URL | mpv -