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I can't believe they made $15bn off of YouTube ads. Who are they reaching with that crap? They didn't specify how much they off of YouTube Premium, but at $120

I can't believe they made $15bn off of YouTube ads. Who are they reaching with that crap? They didn't specify how much they off of YouTube Premium, but at $120/year they'd need 125 million subscribers to match ads revenue.

ls612 7y ago
Does that $15bn number include all the money google takes in from YouTube ads or just the money they keep after they pay the channels who have monetized their videos?
- H8crilA 7y ago
  It's revenue, so before paying off content creators.
  - ksec 7y ago
    Did they mention how much they were paying to content creators? ( Sorry dont have the time to read through it right now )
    - PunchTornado 7y ago
      $1
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
topicseed 7y ago
YouTube's non-ads revenue (RED) is in "Google other". So YouTube Ads yielded $15,149,000,000 in revenue in Fiscal Year 2019.
creato 7y ago
Are youtube ads that much worse than cable TV? I pay for youtube premium and don't watch cable TV anymore so I honestly can't say myself, but from what I remember of each, they both seemed about on the same level of garbage-ness.
- ckastner 7y ago
  About three months ago, I visited a friend and we looked up a 15-minute cooking recipe. We were shown three ads in the process. I subscribed to Premium quite early. They were showing me an IKEA bed ad multiple times a day, over a number of days. 3-4 different ads, but always the same product. The end result being that I will sleep on the ground before I ever purchase a Nordli bed.
  - saiya-jin 7y ago
    This surprises me - from desktop with ublock origin and ghostery, I never, ever see any youtube ads. Just a regular free gmail account. When I see what crap is shown at friends places when they use TV to browse youtube, I want to run away (I am physically allergic to ads it seems). Is this due to some demographic algorithm or something else?
    - skinnymuch 7y ago
      What do you mean? You have ad blockers on. So you don’t see ads. That’s your base. When you do see ads. It’s extremely annoying because it’s way above your base. OTOH, friend watching YouTube on tv is used to seeing ads. That’s their base. So it’s not as bad. If all ad blockers stopped working right now forever. You would likely adapt and be more or less fine with (albeit more annoyed) in due time. Not like your friends relish the ads either.
  - iamleppert 7y ago
    The very fact you remembered the bed at all is a huge win for that ad campaign and would be seen as a success, not a failure. And the fact that ad caused you to purchase something (doesn't matter if it wasn't the bed itself) is a huge win for Google's Youtube advertising strategy. The net result is still causing you to part with money.
    - ckastner 7y ago
      Ad remember: see the sibling comment. And yes, Google getting me to subscribe to YouTube Premium is obviously a win for Google. However, if the most attractive thing about your Product A is that it's "not Product B", that doesn't really build the kind of long-term relationship with your customer that you'd like. The end result being me currently evaluating whether I need the YouTube Apps at all.
ReptileMan 7y ago
>I can't believe they made $15bn off of YouTube ads. Who are they reaching with that crap? Everyone?
- akhilcacharya 7y ago
  Everyone on their phone, that is, because unless you use PiHole I don't know if it's possible to block it on mobile.
  - martindevans 7y ago
    Firefox on Android with uBlock seems to do the job for me. I just had to disable the YouTube app so that videos play in the browser.
  - lostsock 7y ago
    Or, you know, pay for YouTube Red
    - skinnymuch 7y ago
      This is HN. Blocking ads scot-free is the moral thing to do for a a fairly large amt of commenters.
trhway 7y ago
>I can't believe they made $15bn off of YouTube ads. Who are they reaching with that crap? searching on some SSO topic i had opened a tab with Okta too, and that opened floodgates - for the month after that i had to listen for those 5 seconds of Okta ads before each and every song on Youtube. I dare you to imagine how much it cost Okta (and thus produced profit for GOOG) given that we're talking about Identity Management in enterprise software and potential cost of the leads there.
broknbottle 7y ago
You've clearly never attempted to lookup how to do something on YouTube that is related to your car. I literally can't take hearing another O, O, O Reilly auto parts ad

ls612 7y ago

Does that $15bn number include all the money google takes in from YouTube ads or just the money they keep after they pay the channels who have monetized their videos?

H8crilA 7y ago
It's revenue, so before paying off content creators.
- ksec 7y ago
  Did they mention how much they were paying to content creators? ( Sorry dont have the time to read through it right now )
  - PunchTornado 7y ago
    $1
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

topicseed 7y ago

YouTube's non-ads revenue (RED) is in "Google other". So YouTube Ads yielded $15,149,000,000 in revenue in Fiscal Year 2019.

creato 7y ago

Are youtube ads that much worse than cable TV? I pay for youtube premium and don't watch cable TV anymore so I honestly can't say myself, but from what I remember of each, they both seemed about on the same level of garbage-ness.

ckastner 7y ago
About three months ago, I visited a friend and we looked up a 15-minute cooking recipe. We were shown three ads in the process. I subscribed to Premium quite early. They were showing me an IKEA bed ad multiple times a day, over a number of days. 3-4 different ads, but always the same product. The end result being that I will sleep on the ground before I ever purchase a Nordli bed.
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  This surprises me - from desktop with ublock origin and ghostery, I never, ever see any youtube ads. Just a regular free gmail account. When I see what crap is shown at friends places when they use TV to browse youtube, I want to run away (I am physically allergic to ads it seems). Is this due to some demographic algorithm or something else?
  - skinnymuch 7y ago
    What do you mean? You have ad blockers on. So you don’t see ads. That’s your base. When you do see ads. It’s extremely annoying because it’s way above your base. OTOH, friend watching YouTube on tv is used to seeing ads. That’s their base. So it’s not as bad. If all ad blockers stopped working right now forever. You would likely adapt and be more or less fine with (albeit more annoyed) in due time. Not like your friends relish the ads either.
- iamleppert 7y ago
  The very fact you remembered the bed at all is a huge win for that ad campaign and would be seen as a success, not a failure. And the fact that ad caused you to purchase something (doesn't matter if it wasn't the bed itself) is a huge win for Google's Youtube advertising strategy. The net result is still causing you to part with money.
  - ckastner 7y ago
    Ad remember: see the sibling comment. And yes, Google getting me to subscribe to YouTube Premium is obviously a win for Google. However, if the most attractive thing about your Product A is that it's "not Product B", that doesn't really build the kind of long-term relationship with your customer that you'd like. The end result being me currently evaluating whether I need the YouTube Apps at all.

ReptileMan 7y ago

>I can't believe they made $15bn off of YouTube ads. Who are they reaching with that crap? Everyone?

akhilcacharya 7y ago
Everyone on their phone, that is, because unless you use PiHole I don't know if it's possible to block it on mobile.
- martindevans 7y ago
  Firefox on Android with uBlock seems to do the job for me. I just had to disable the YouTube app so that videos play in the browser.
- lostsock 7y ago
  Or, you know, pay for YouTube Red
  - skinnymuch 7y ago
    This is HN. Blocking ads scot-free is the moral thing to do for a a fairly large amt of commenters.

trhway 7y ago

>I can't believe they made $15bn off of YouTube ads. Who are they reaching with that crap? searching on some SSO topic i had opened a tab with Okta too, and that opened floodgates - for the month after that i had to listen for those 5 seconds of Okta ads before each and every song on Youtube. I dare you to imagine how much it cost Okta (and thus produced profit for GOOG) given that we're talking about Identity Management in enterprise software and potential cost of the leads there.

broknbottle 7y ago

You've clearly never attempted to lookup how to do something on YouTube that is related to your car. I literally can't take hearing another O, O, O Reilly auto parts ad