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Well the ad quality is garbage, IME. > This is a cardinal sin of EDM SKIP AD FROM MASTERCLASS.COM > We live in strange times SKIP AD FROM MASTERCLASS.COM >

Well the ad quality is garbage, IME. > This is a cardinal sin of EDM SKIP AD FROM MASTERCLASS.COM > We live in strange times SKIP AD FROM MASTERCLASS.COM > Little Red Riding Hood… Let’s start the story a different way! SKIP AD FROM MASTERCLASS.COM These adverts never end. They are relentless. There must be something wrong with the platform.

djtriptych 7y ago
Masterclass has hacked the algorithm. Their ads are pretty great and I feel like I'm learning a little and often watch the entire thing, even if I have no interest in paying for the full course.
- acomjean 7y ago
  I've watched a few MasterClass ads whole way though. They have some funny bits and are well produced. My favorite was the DJ who has the mouse helmet(Deadmau5): noting from personal experience, if you are uncomfortable on stage it helps to wear a giant helmet. Here's a link if you want to watch a 2 minute ad (if youtube is to be believed 31 million people have watched it.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtj6dDARgfQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtj6dDARgfQ I've skipped a fair number too.. They are long. I have no idea how they get experts in certain fields to do these classes.
- scottLobster 7y ago
  Really? I haven't done a survey of Masterclass ads but I've had the opposite experience. Every one of them seems to be 90% highly-produced "inspirational" fluff with maybe one or two interesting one-liners that may or may not be bullshit. Haven't actually taken a course myself. I'll admit their ads got me to check out their site given the big names they've managed to attract, so they did their job, but it looks like their programs are yet another "we'll sell you lectures with zero practical exercises or applications for $X/month so you can sound smart at parties" service. I guess it might be useful for 17 year olds picking a college major or exposing people to brand new topics, or professionals already in the relevant field looking for tips, but that's about it. Watching Penn & Teller's Masterclass isn't going to teach you how to be a professional magician, Aaron Sorkin isn't going to teach you how to be a professional screenwriter, and Chris Hadfield isn't going to teach you how to be an astronaut or engineer. It's like paying $180 to read the back of the book of a profession.
  - djtriptych 7y ago
    Yeah this is fair. But there are so many topics I know almost nothing about that would be interesting to get an exponent to ELI5. Negotiation / Photography / Writing / Fashion. I know next to nothing about all these things. The ones I do know a little about, say chess, may not be as enriching but I don't mind watching Kasparov go over the basics... Really I haven't bought it and I'm not sure why. If I could pick an episode from the chess class it'd help me decide but doesn't seem like that's possible.
    - ratww 7y ago
      Oh, man... I've watched quite a few of those Masterclasses and all the ones I saw are pretty much badly conducted interviews and anecdotes, with zero structure or preparation. Even the editing leaves a lot to be desired. A professional journalist/interviewer would cut most of them to 1/3 of the length. Most of the content sits in this weird intersection of being completely useless to beginners and being too basic for intermediate/advanced practitioners. For $180 it's not even useful for parties, it's just a long interview for fans of the person.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - FireBeyond 7y ago
    Yeah, I watched Annie Liebowitz on "how to be a photographer". There was some discussion on moods and moments, which is fine. Ironically, what I learned was that most of the time, she works more as a creative director - she's at a laptop. Someone else is pressing the trigger, and then in post processing, someone else is doing that too, to her direction.
- Fellshard 7y ago
  That, and they're selling something that people are vastly more likely to check out at this moment in time, so all they really need to do is bid a bit higher than all the others who have tuned their bids down.
- gherkinnn 7y ago
  Yup. Masterclass and Grammarly ads get me every time. I have zero interest in becoming an author but I can't but help to watch them to the end. Except that one "Anita the boss across the room" ad. God, I hate it.
DanBC 7y ago
Recently I got flooded with ads from CEX (a shop the buys and sells second hand goods). I know CEX, I buy and sell to CEX, they don't need to advertise to me. But I was getting the same 5 ads over and over and over and over. I had to click the little (i), then "stop seeing this ad".
dleslie 7y ago
This is why I exclusively view Youtube with adblockers, and prefer to view it with NewPipe or VLC+ytdl. I'm not opposed to ads at the beginning and end, but numerous _jarring_ cuts in a ten minute video to play a couple of ads every two or three minutes? No thanks.
- maurys 7y ago
  There is the option to use YouTube Premium though. It's not too expensive (yet), and with the number of cooking and tech videos I'm consuming right now, it seems worth it.
  - dleslie 7y ago
    YouTube Premium doesn't offer any protection for anonymity and freedom from their suggestion algorithm. That makes it inferior to NewPipe and ytdl.
    - falcolas 7y ago
      It does, however, reward content creators for their efforts (at about 100x the value of an ad view). That makes it far superior to NewPipe and ytdl, to me.
      - catalogia 7y ago
        I'd sooner buy channel merch and let a tshirt company take a middleman cut than let google take that middleman cut. Patreon being the middleman is also preferable to further enriching google.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - blhack 7y ago
        That is really great to know and will likely result in me re activating my YouTube red (premium? Whatever it’s called now) account.
ISL 7y ago
Masterclass has a huge market right now. Lots of people with time on their hands who would like to do something productive with their time. Studying, in general, is a great use of this time.
cma 7y ago
You can pay for premium and get 0 ads.
- CamJN 7y ago
  No you can't, not until youtube forbids videos with burned in ads and sponsored shit and paid mentions and all that garbage.
  - autokad 7y ago
    I pay for youtube premium and its totally worth it, but I do hate those vids that put advertisements into them. At least some put it at the end which I am ok with
    - dr_zoidberg 7y ago
      I've seen a lot sponsored by Brilliant.something or so. Usually kurzgesagt, but on others too. I guess it must be a good ROI paying those high-profile channels for the ammount of subscriptions they must reel in.
    - smoovb 7y ago
      Agree, and I'm read to pay for Chrome Premium ( or as it is called now - Brave browser )
  - falcolas 7y ago
    That's not YouTube's job. Just as it's not a theater owner's job to forbid product placement in movies. Remember Pepsi in WWZ?
  - JoshTriplett 7y ago
    That's what the "unsubscribe" button is for. (And what future video adblockers will be capable of.)
    - shultays 7y ago
      There is already an extension thac blocks sponsored parts. I think it was called sponsor block. Works very well
ghaff 7y ago
The MASTERCLASS.COM ads crack me up quite a bit. If it were prominent people in their fields talking about how they work, their craft, etc. OK. Still unlikely to pay for it but OK. But instead I see ads that seem to be claiming they'll teach me ballet, screenwriting, and all sorts of other things that absolutely don't lend themselves to broadcast online instruction even if the person teaching is extremely talented and well-known.
- gumby 7y ago
  > ...ads that seem to be claiming they'll teach me ballet, screenwriting, and all sorts of other things that absolutely don't lend themselves to broadcast online instruction... Hey, if you want to get established one way is to conquer a niche others aren't going after, right? It's a kind of "look for your keys under the streetlight" theory for market selection....
gexla 7y ago
You ought to look at the in my spam box. Yet it keeps coming in, it's relentless. Even crazier, someone is actually paying out of pocket for the resources to send this stuff. Have you seen how horrible those Nigerian scam things are? WHY would they do such a thing!?? ROI maybe? They are bringing in a slice more money from the ads than they are spending? Not everyone works the same as you. As an HN reader, I bet you dig data like many of us do. And I bet a lot of people working with Google Ads can show you data which show a positive ROI.
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  The Nigerian prince scam emails are supposed to look horrible. It's a filter: if you're smart enough to notice the numerous grammar and spelling errors, you're smart enough to not be duped, and so they're not interested in you. They only want gullible people to reply.
adrianmonk 7y ago
I don't disagree, but that doesn't seem related to the recent dip that correlates with COVID-19.
andarleen 7y ago
Add ads to “gaia” - pseudo science video platform cashing in on people’s ignorance. Cant get rid of its ads.
- dr_zoidberg 7y ago
  Seen a few of those, but then Masterclass superseded them. That and Wix, trying to get me to make a web page super easily...
gherkinnn 7y ago
I've gotten equally annoyed and recently got a trial account with Nebula. (no affiliation whatsoever) It's nice as there are none of the YT ads, no comments, I can download things, and I get to support some Youtubers I actually enjoy watching.

djtriptych 7y ago

Masterclass has hacked the algorithm. Their ads are pretty great and I feel like I'm learning a little and often watch the entire thing, even if I have no interest in paying for the full course.

acomjean 7y ago
I've watched a few MasterClass ads whole way though. They have some funny bits and are well produced. My favorite was the DJ who has the mouse helmet(Deadmau5): noting from personal experience, if you are uncomfortable on stage it helps to wear a giant helmet. Here's a link if you want to watch a 2 minute ad (if youtube is to be believed 31 million people have watched it.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtj6dDARgfQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtj6dDARgfQ I've skipped a fair number too.. They are long. I have no idea how they get experts in certain fields to do these classes.
scottLobster 7y ago
Really? I haven't done a survey of Masterclass ads but I've had the opposite experience. Every one of them seems to be 90% highly-produced "inspirational" fluff with maybe one or two interesting one-liners that may or may not be bullshit. Haven't actually taken a course myself. I'll admit their ads got me to check out their site given the big names they've managed to attract, so they did their job, but it looks like their programs are yet another "we'll sell you lectures with zero practical exercises or applications for $X/month so you can sound smart at parties" service. I guess it might be useful for 17 year olds picking a college major or exposing people to brand new topics, or professionals already in the relevant field looking for tips, but that's about it. Watching Penn & Teller's Masterclass isn't going to teach you how to be a professional magician, Aaron Sorkin isn't going to teach you how to be a professional screenwriter, and Chris Hadfield isn't going to teach you how to be an astronaut or engineer. It's like paying $180 to read the back of the book of a profession.
- djtriptych 7y ago
  Yeah this is fair. But there are so many topics I know almost nothing about that would be interesting to get an exponent to ELI5. Negotiation / Photography / Writing / Fashion. I know next to nothing about all these things. The ones I do know a little about, say chess, may not be as enriching but I don't mind watching Kasparov go over the basics... Really I haven't bought it and I'm not sure why. If I could pick an episode from the chess class it'd help me decide but doesn't seem like that's possible.
  - ratww 7y ago
    Oh, man... I've watched quite a few of those Masterclasses and all the ones I saw are pretty much badly conducted interviews and anecdotes, with zero structure or preparation. Even the editing leaves a lot to be desired. A professional journalist/interviewer would cut most of them to 1/3 of the length. Most of the content sits in this weird intersection of being completely useless to beginners and being too basic for intermediate/advanced practitioners. For $180 it's not even useful for parties, it's just a long interview for fans of the person.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- FireBeyond 7y ago
  Yeah, I watched Annie Liebowitz on "how to be a photographer". There was some discussion on moods and moments, which is fine. Ironically, what I learned was that most of the time, she works more as a creative director - she's at a laptop. Someone else is pressing the trigger, and then in post processing, someone else is doing that too, to her direction.
Fellshard 7y ago
That, and they're selling something that people are vastly more likely to check out at this moment in time, so all they really need to do is bid a bit higher than all the others who have tuned their bids down.
gherkinnn 7y ago
Yup. Masterclass and Grammarly ads get me every time. I have zero interest in becoming an author but I can't but help to watch them to the end. Except that one "Anita the boss across the room" ad. God, I hate it.

DanBC 7y ago

Recently I got flooded with ads from CEX (a shop the buys and sells second hand goods). I know CEX, I buy and sell to CEX, they don't need to advertise to me. But I was getting the same 5 ads over and over and over and over. I had to click the little (i), then "stop seeing this ad".

dleslie 7y ago

This is why I exclusively view Youtube with adblockers, and prefer to view it with NewPipe or VLC+ytdl. I'm not opposed to ads at the beginning and end, but numerous _jarring_ cuts in a ten minute video to play a couple of ads every two or three minutes? No thanks.

maurys 7y ago
There is the option to use YouTube Premium though. It's not too expensive (yet), and with the number of cooking and tech videos I'm consuming right now, it seems worth it.
- dleslie 7y ago
  YouTube Premium doesn't offer any protection for anonymity and freedom from their suggestion algorithm. That makes it inferior to NewPipe and ytdl.
  - falcolas 7y ago
    It does, however, reward content creators for their efforts (at about 100x the value of an ad view). That makes it far superior to NewPipe and ytdl, to me.
    - catalogia 7y ago
      I'd sooner buy channel merch and let a tshirt company take a middleman cut than let google take that middleman cut. Patreon being the middleman is also preferable to further enriching google.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
    - blhack 7y ago
      That is really great to know and will likely result in me re activating my YouTube red (premium? Whatever it’s called now) account.

ISL 7y ago

Masterclass has a huge market right now. Lots of people with time on their hands who would like to do something productive with their time. Studying, in general, is a great use of this time.

cma 7y ago

You can pay for premium and get 0 ads.

CamJN 7y ago
No you can't, not until youtube forbids videos with burned in ads and sponsored shit and paid mentions and all that garbage.
- autokad 7y ago
  I pay for youtube premium and its totally worth it, but I do hate those vids that put advertisements into them. At least some put it at the end which I am ok with
  - dr_zoidberg 7y ago
    I've seen a lot sponsored by Brilliant.something or so. Usually kurzgesagt, but on others too. I guess it must be a good ROI paying those high-profile channels for the ammount of subscriptions they must reel in.
  - smoovb 7y ago
    Agree, and I'm read to pay for Chrome Premium ( or as it is called now - Brave browser )
- falcolas 7y ago
  That's not YouTube's job. Just as it's not a theater owner's job to forbid product placement in movies. Remember Pepsi in WWZ?
- JoshTriplett 7y ago
  That's what the "unsubscribe" button is for. (And what future video adblockers will be capable of.)
  - shultays 7y ago
    There is already an extension thac blocks sponsored parts. I think it was called sponsor block. Works very well

ghaff 7y ago

The MASTERCLASS.COM ads crack me up quite a bit. If it were prominent people in their fields talking about how they work, their craft, etc. OK. Still unlikely to pay for it but OK. But instead I see ads that seem to be claiming they'll teach me ballet, screenwriting, and all sorts of other things that absolutely don't lend themselves to broadcast online instruction even if the person teaching is extremely talented and well-known.

gumby 7y ago
> ...ads that seem to be claiming they'll teach me ballet, screenwriting, and all sorts of other things that absolutely don't lend themselves to broadcast online instruction... Hey, if you want to get established one way is to conquer a niche others aren't going after, right? It's a kind of "look for your keys under the streetlight" theory for market selection....

gexla 7y ago

You ought to look at the in my spam box. Yet it keeps coming in, it's relentless. Even crazier, someone is actually paying out of pocket for the resources to send this stuff. Have you seen how horrible those Nigerian scam things are? WHY would they do such a thing!?? ROI maybe? They are bringing in a slice more money from the ads than they are spending? Not everyone works the same as you. As an HN reader, I bet you dig data like many of us do. And I bet a lot of people working with Google Ads can show you data which show a positive ROI.

frosted-flakes 7y ago
The Nigerian prince scam emails are supposed to look horrible. It's a filter: if you're smart enough to notice the numerous grammar and spelling errors, you're smart enough to not be duped, and so they're not interested in you. They only want gullible people to reply.

adrianmonk 7y ago

I don't disagree, but that doesn't seem related to the recent dip that correlates with COVID-19.

andarleen 7y ago

Add ads to “gaia” - pseudo science video platform cashing in on people’s ignorance. Cant get rid of its ads.

dr_zoidberg 7y ago
Seen a few of those, but then Masterclass superseded them. That and Wix, trying to get me to make a web page super easily...

gherkinnn 7y ago

I've gotten equally annoyed and recently got a trial account with Nebula. (no affiliation whatsoever) It's nice as there are none of the YT ads, no comments, I can download things, and I get to support some Youtubers I actually enjoy watching.