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What value did you exactly get from paying for Premium then? Generic ad blockers already block advertisements effectively.

thieu96 5y ago
Not the OP but I watch on a smart TV or on my phone a lot, also while commuting. There are also some songs that I can only find on Youtube so I use the music feature quite a lot. so a premium sub was the easiest way for me to not need to deal with those god-awful ads, yeah I know there are hacks like wifi-level adblockers but it's no end-all-be-all. I know people want to fight against Youtube premium but it's a pointless fight, all that's gonna happen is the less techy-savvy will get bombarded with ads, the more the tech-savvy folk resist, I'm accepting the reality that this free service now needs either a paid plan or to serve more ads, I'm not resisting it, it's just the way it is.
- dartharva 5y ago
  I think this outdated distinction of "tech-savvy" consumers needs to die. Something as simple as using ad blockers is not really a "tech-savvy" thing to do, but a practice that's almost essential for pretty much everyone nowadays. I am an Indian college student and even the least tech-interested people I know (barring the elderly) regularly use ad blockers and Vanced for Youtube on Android.
  - thieu96 5y ago
    If that's really so, then India is leaps and bounds ahead in their "tech-savviness" on all age groups, compared to the rest of the world. I needed to install that stuff for my parents, same with the friends of my parents. How would they know about it otherwise? Also, how do the common folks block ads on their smart tv, a very common means to watch Youtube? I only know because I'm a programmer, but most people won't know about a wifi-level adblocker. I appreciate you have these ideals but have you wondered what will happen if every Youtube user in the world starts using AdBlock? In the process leading up to it, people lagging behind will get increasingly worse ads, and when that singularity hits people will need to disable AdBlock to access Youtube, and a mass amount of people will just opt-in to Youtube Premium anyway, or deal with the ads again. There is no alternative to Youtube. I'm not going to fight against this type of stuff, I think it makes sense that this app which has been free for over a decade, now has an option to subscribe and get an ad-free experience, it makes total sense, we've just been spoiled.
hbn 5y ago
Basically what the other reply said, but yeah, adblockers only work when you're watching in the browser. Which is admittedly where I watch most of the time, but for the occasional times I'm watching on another device, I can't stand sitting through ads. And while I'm sure there's workarounds, I don't want to deal with workarounds. I want to fire up a video anywhere, and as long as I'm signed in, I won't see ads. There was also a time (I think when it was called YouTube Red) that it was just a package deal with Google Play Music and that was basically what I was paying for, and the ad-free YouTube was just a bonus. Though once they killed off GPM it was one of the last straws for me in the Google ecosystem so I bought an iPhone, switched to Apple Music and now I'm just continuing to pay for ad-free YouTube.

thieu96 5y ago

Not the OP but I watch on a smart TV or on my phone a lot, also while commuting. There are also some songs that I can only find on Youtube so I use the music feature quite a lot. so a premium sub was the easiest way for me to not need to deal with those god-awful ads, yeah I know there are hacks like wifi-level adblockers but it's no end-all-be-all. I know people want to fight against Youtube premium but it's a pointless fight, all that's gonna happen is the less techy-savvy will get bombarded with ads, the more the tech-savvy folk resist, I'm accepting the reality that this free service now needs either a paid plan or to serve more ads, I'm not resisting it, it's just the way it is.

dartharva 5y ago
I think this outdated distinction of "tech-savvy" consumers needs to die. Something as simple as using ad blockers is not really a "tech-savvy" thing to do, but a practice that's almost essential for pretty much everyone nowadays. I am an Indian college student and even the least tech-interested people I know (barring the elderly) regularly use ad blockers and Vanced for Youtube on Android.
- thieu96 5y ago
  If that's really so, then India is leaps and bounds ahead in their "tech-savviness" on all age groups, compared to the rest of the world. I needed to install that stuff for my parents, same with the friends of my parents. How would they know about it otherwise? Also, how do the common folks block ads on their smart tv, a very common means to watch Youtube? I only know because I'm a programmer, but most people won't know about a wifi-level adblocker. I appreciate you have these ideals but have you wondered what will happen if every Youtube user in the world starts using AdBlock? In the process leading up to it, people lagging behind will get increasingly worse ads, and when that singularity hits people will need to disable AdBlock to access Youtube, and a mass amount of people will just opt-in to Youtube Premium anyway, or deal with the ads again. There is no alternative to Youtube. I'm not going to fight against this type of stuff, I think it makes sense that this app which has been free for over a decade, now has an option to subscribe and get an ad-free experience, it makes total sense, we've just been spoiled.

hbn 5y ago

Basically what the other reply said, but yeah, adblockers only work when you're watching in the browser. Which is admittedly where I watch most of the time, but for the occasional times I'm watching on another device, I can't stand sitting through ads. And while I'm sure there's workarounds, I don't want to deal with workarounds. I want to fire up a video anywhere, and as long as I'm signed in, I won't see ads. There was also a time (I think when it was called YouTube Red) that it was just a package deal with Google Play Music and that was basically what I was paying for, and the ad-free YouTube was just a bonus. Though once they killed off GPM it was one of the last straws for me in the Google ecosystem so I bought an iPhone, switched to Apple Music and now I'm just continuing to pay for ad-free YouTube.