6 ms·

One very effective method to avoid ads is to pay for the premium service. $10/month for far more content than any other streaming video service. Can not imagine

One very effective method to avoid ads is to pay for the premium service. $10/month for far more content than any other streaming video service. Can not imagine trying to watch YouTube with ads.

jsilence 5y ago
Another very effective way is to use an adblocker like uBlock origin.
- saas_sam 5y ago
  Personally I feel that the engineers at YouTube are doing a good job for me and I would like to reward them for that.
  - sofixa 5y ago
    Not to mention the people that worked to create the videos. Both them and the engineers deserve to eat.
    - Scoundreller 5y ago
      Well, not anymore for the small publishers. Now they’re subsidizing the big publishers.
    - mbirth 5y ago
      Unpopular opinion, but one might argue YouTube was a better place when people did videos out of passion and not to become an "influencer" and get money.
      - mardifoufs 5y ago
        That's still the case though. YT is probably the only platform where you can be successful doing very niche without having to sell out or churn out influencer tier content for outreach. The revenue stream is embedded, the audience is huge and channels can be pretty well siloed (as opposed to say, reddit where you can have a niche community either get easily overrun, crossposted etc). Actually the only time I've had "influencer/Drama" type of content was when I chose to watch it, otherwise YouTube is still pretty good at not pushing content you just don't watch at all to your recommendations (Even though the recommendation system is overall awful and I can't believe an army of engineers have actually been working on it for a decade, but I digress)
      - sofixa 5y ago
        Most people don't make (enough) money from YouTube though, and to get to the point where they could, they spend hundreds of hours of their time. I'd say that's passion and i see nothing wrong with getting rewarded for doing something you like and other people enjoy watching.
        mbirth 5y ago
        > and to get to the point where they could, they spend hundreds of hours of their time However, this often results in videos that are unnecessary bloated to fulfil the requirements to place more ads, deceptive/misleading titles, or 10-minute-videos about something that could be explained in 30 seconds.
    - jjav 5y ago
      I don't mind ads in content by creators who are getting revenue from it. It maintains many interesting channels. But ads on content where all the revenue goes to google without a penny being sent to the creator? That's not tolerable.
  - rasz 5y ago
    Do they now? Before Polymer (current YT framework) YT video page weighted somewhere around 50KB (10KB compressed) and was ordinary HTML + 1MB js player (400KB compressed). As soon as HTML part loaded the page was all there. Now its 600KB (100KB compressed) JSON + additional 8MB desktop_polymer.js (1MB compressed) that needs to be compiled/interpreted before anything starts showing on the page - its all dynamically generated Client side. 1MB js player is on top of that.
- josteink 5y ago
  > Another very effective way is to use an adblocker like uBlock origin. How does that work when you’re out on your iPhone and just want to check a video-link someone sent you? Oh wait. It doesn’t.
  - malka 5y ago
    In this case, I use the super power of self control, and I wait to be home to watch the video on a bigger and better screen, and without ads.
  - randomNumber7 5y ago
    Firefox is the only browser i know of where you can install adblocker on mobile. Don't know if you can install this on your iPhone but on android it works like a charm.
  - travoc 5y ago
    AdGuard on mobile Safari usually blocks YouTube ads for me.
  - matheusmoreira 5y ago
    Works great on Android with Firefox mobile.
  - j1elo 5y ago
    It can work but you need to do some preparation work. First, choose to go out with a more open platform (if only by a bit) that at least allows you the freedom to install apps which don't necessarily come with a corporate overseer's approval. Then, install the Youtube Vanced app.
  - NieDzejkob 5y ago
    Another solution that seems to be Android-only: YouTube Vanced. Includes AdBlock, SponsorBlock (if enabled in settings), and other Premium features like picture-in-picture and listening to music in the background.
- FalconSensei 5y ago
  which doesn't work on TV or mobile, of course
  - matheusmoreira 5y ago
    Firefox supports uBlock Origin on mobile.
    - FalconSensei 5y ago
      on Android
- panda-giddiness 5y ago
  Will uBlock origin etc block ads on YouTube? My understanding it that videos/ads are served from the same domain. (Update: a quick test suggests this method works.) That said, either youtube-dl or Invidious [1] will do the trick. The latter can be self-hosted and emulates a more familiar YouTube experience (minus the tracking/recommendations). --- [1] https://github.com/iv-org/invidious https://github.com/iv-org/invidious
  - ohazi 5y ago
    Yes, uBlock origin blocks preroll and midroll ads on YouTube.
  - chihuahua 5y ago
    uBlock Origin works amazingly well at blocking Youtube ads. I don't know how, but it does.
deadalus 5y ago
I am using "Youtube Vanced" to get rid of the ads and it works very well. I have created a separate account - just in case this account gets banned. NewPipe is another alternative and even supports downloading the video.
askafriend 5y ago
I love my YouTube Premium subscription
slenk 5y ago
$10/month for no ads for a platform that just works, always? Shut up and take my money
- rapind 5y ago
  Agreed. I just wish their entire account system wasn’t messed up. I can’t get YouTube premium family with my domain account (which I also setup emails for my kids on), so I need to use a second free gmail account for myself and my kids.
  - slenk 5y ago
    I didn't know that. I used to use Google for domain control until they went charged. Technically, I signed up for Google Play Music way back when it was initially launched, and have since been upgraded to YouTube Red/Premium and have kept it.
n4bz0r 5y ago
I've been using Brave on my phone/tablet for quite some time now. Unfortunately, in recent several weeks I started to see an occasional ad even in Brave. As for now, these ads are really rare, don't think I get more than a couple a week. But boy are they annoying. Even in such a mobile browser where all the videos are muted by default, these ads find a way to conveniently unmute themselves and delight your surroundings with loudest and cringiest lines/tunes. YouTube must be actively making changes to their ads in attempt to bypass ad blockers. However, I still think that Brave is a great option as (based on their forum) ad filters are constantly being worked upon. PS: I've also tried Firefox Mobile with uBlock Origin addon. As expected, ad blocking works just fine, but page loading times are way slower compared to Brave which is based on Chrome.
benhurmarcel 5y ago
It's $12/month. And €12/month (= $15) in Europe.
nomel 5y ago
Youtube Premium is $12/month now, in the US. $18/month for the family plan (up to 5 members).
matheusmoreira 5y ago
An even better method is to just install uBlock Origin. It will improve privacy too.

One very effective method to avoid ads is to pay for the premium service. $10/month for far more content than any other streaming video service. Can not imagine trying to watch YouTube with ads.

jsilence 5y ago

Another very effective way is to use an adblocker like uBlock origin.

saas_sam 5y ago
Personally I feel that the engineers at YouTube are doing a good job for me and I would like to reward them for that.
- sofixa 5y ago
  Not to mention the people that worked to create the videos. Both them and the engineers deserve to eat.
  - Scoundreller 5y ago
    Well, not anymore for the small publishers. Now they’re subsidizing the big publishers.
  - mbirth 5y ago
    Unpopular opinion, but one might argue YouTube was a better place when people did videos out of passion and not to become an "influencer" and get money.
    - mardifoufs 5y ago
      That's still the case though. YT is probably the only platform where you can be successful doing very niche without having to sell out or churn out influencer tier content for outreach. The revenue stream is embedded, the audience is huge and channels can be pretty well siloed (as opposed to say, reddit where you can have a niche community either get easily overrun, crossposted etc). Actually the only time I've had "influencer/Drama" type of content was when I chose to watch it, otherwise YouTube is still pretty good at not pushing content you just don't watch at all to your recommendations (Even though the recommendation system is overall awful and I can't believe an army of engineers have actually been working on it for a decade, but I digress)
    - sofixa 5y ago
      Most people don't make (enough) money from YouTube though, and to get to the point where they could, they spend hundreds of hours of their time. I'd say that's passion and i see nothing wrong with getting rewarded for doing something you like and other people enjoy watching.
      - mbirth 5y ago
        > and to get to the point where they could, they spend hundreds of hours of their time However, this often results in videos that are unnecessary bloated to fulfil the requirements to place more ads, deceptive/misleading titles, or 10-minute-videos about something that could be explained in 30 seconds.
  - jjav 5y ago
    I don't mind ads in content by creators who are getting revenue from it. It maintains many interesting channels. But ads on content where all the revenue goes to google without a penny being sent to the creator? That's not tolerable.
- rasz 5y ago
  Do they now? Before Polymer (current YT framework) YT video page weighted somewhere around 50KB (10KB compressed) and was ordinary HTML + 1MB js player (400KB compressed). As soon as HTML part loaded the page was all there. Now its 600KB (100KB compressed) JSON + additional 8MB desktop_polymer.js (1MB compressed) that needs to be compiled/interpreted before anything starts showing on the page - its all dynamically generated Client side. 1MB js player is on top of that.
josteink 5y ago
> Another very effective way is to use an adblocker like uBlock origin. How does that work when you’re out on your iPhone and just want to check a video-link someone sent you? Oh wait. It doesn’t.
- malka 5y ago
  In this case, I use the super power of self control, and I wait to be home to watch the video on a bigger and better screen, and without ads.
- randomNumber7 5y ago
  Firefox is the only browser i know of where you can install adblocker on mobile. Don't know if you can install this on your iPhone but on android it works like a charm.
- travoc 5y ago
  AdGuard on mobile Safari usually blocks YouTube ads for me.
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  Works great on Android with Firefox mobile.
- j1elo 5y ago
  It can work but you need to do some preparation work. First, choose to go out with a more open platform (if only by a bit) that at least allows you the freedom to install apps which don't necessarily come with a corporate overseer's approval. Then, install the Youtube Vanced app.
- NieDzejkob 5y ago
  Another solution that seems to be Android-only: YouTube Vanced. Includes AdBlock, SponsorBlock (if enabled in settings), and other Premium features like picture-in-picture and listening to music in the background.
FalconSensei 5y ago
which doesn't work on TV or mobile, of course
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  Firefox supports uBlock Origin on mobile.
  - FalconSensei 5y ago
    on Android
panda-giddiness 5y ago
Will uBlock origin etc block ads on YouTube? My understanding it that videos/ads are served from the same domain. (Update: a quick test suggests this method works.) That said, either youtube-dl or Invidious [1] will do the trick. The latter can be self-hosted and emulates a more familiar YouTube experience (minus the tracking/recommendations). --- [1] https://github.com/iv-org/invidious https://github.com/iv-org/invidious
- ohazi 5y ago
  Yes, uBlock origin blocks preroll and midroll ads on YouTube.
- chihuahua 5y ago
  uBlock Origin works amazingly well at blocking Youtube ads. I don't know how, but it does.

deadalus 5y ago

I am using "Youtube Vanced" to get rid of the ads and it works very well. I have created a separate account - just in case this account gets banned. NewPipe is another alternative and even supports downloading the video.

askafriend 5y ago

I love my YouTube Premium subscription

slenk 5y ago

$10/month for no ads for a platform that just works, always? Shut up and take my money

rapind 5y ago
Agreed. I just wish their entire account system wasn’t messed up. I can’t get YouTube premium family with my domain account (which I also setup emails for my kids on), so I need to use a second free gmail account for myself and my kids.
- slenk 5y ago
  I didn't know that. I used to use Google for domain control until they went charged. Technically, I signed up for Google Play Music way back when it was initially launched, and have since been upgraded to YouTube Red/Premium and have kept it.

n4bz0r 5y ago

I've been using Brave on my phone/tablet for quite some time now. Unfortunately, in recent several weeks I started to see an occasional ad even in Brave. As for now, these ads are really rare, don't think I get more than a couple a week. But boy are they annoying. Even in such a mobile browser where all the videos are muted by default, these ads find a way to conveniently unmute themselves and delight your surroundings with loudest and cringiest lines/tunes. YouTube must be actively making changes to their ads in attempt to bypass ad blockers. However, I still think that Brave is a great option as (based on their forum) ad filters are constantly being worked upon. PS: I've also tried Firefox Mobile with uBlock Origin addon. As expected, ad blocking works just fine, but page loading times are way slower compared to Brave which is based on Chrome.

benhurmarcel 5y ago

It's $12/month. And €12/month (= $15) in Europe.

nomel 5y ago

Youtube Premium is $12/month now, in the US. $18/month for the family plan (up to 5 members).

matheusmoreira 5y ago

An even better method is to just install uBlock Origin. It will improve privacy too.