5 ms·

Youtube, especially, turns into a whole different experience. Ad in front of every video makes it impossible to quickly browse and sort through videos. I might

by Geee 5y ago

Youtube, especially, turns into a whole different experience. Ad in front of every video makes it impossible to quickly browse and sort through videos. I might watch just a few seconds and then go to the next one. When ads are enabled, the experience is so painful that I'm not likely to use Youtube this way any more. I have to watch an ad before I've made the decision if I want to watch the video.

notapenny 5y ago
Youtube is the reason I installed an adblocker in the first place. I don't mind watching an ad, but at some point they went from an ad every other video, to unskippable ads in-front of every video (love a 1m ad on every 10s video when I'm just browsing clips) and mid-content ads that literally just cut in and disrupt what I'm watching.
- xemdetia 5y ago
  I think the other thing that pushed me to put it back on after experimenting with it off was the absolute dearth of inventory Youtube apparently thought was appropriate to show me. I watch a lot of content of various lengths in a lot of various fields but I would get the same one or two ads for days. Then I started getting the 10m+ ads that seem to be randomly OK for some reason? I don't think I could stomach another experiment.
  - stonecharioteer 5y ago
    Vanced even has SponsorBlock, which is insanely good
- lopis 5y ago
  During the holidays, YouTube was showing me 2 15-second ads every single video. I stopped using the app and stuck to the browser. Then I found out about vanced from HW. I'm sorry to my followed channels but it became unbearable.
- reaperducer 5y ago
  love a 1m ad on every 10s video Christmas 2020 I tried to watch midnight Mass from Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York on YouTube. (Not live; after.) SIX MINUTES of commercials at the start, and the rest of the program had TWENTY-SIX commercial breaks. I haven't watched YouTube since.
  - sixothree 5y ago
    What is happening is they are pushing you to Youtube Premium.
    - HWR_14 5y ago
      Sounds like they pushed him away from YouTube. And they pushed others into adblockers
souldeux 5y ago
I've been using and loving this: https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext
- aembleton 5y ago
  That looks really interesting. Thanks
WA 5y ago
Well, you can buy YouTube premium and have no ads.
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  Or you can install an adblocker instead which also blocks much of the surveillance. There's also sponsor block which blocks ads that even paying customers are forced to see. Don't support these advertisers in any way. Especially Google.
  - rsanek 5y ago
    I hope folks that take this stance support creators in another fashion, like through Patreon. Otherwise the content that is consumed by those ad blocking won't get produced, simply because the creator can't make a living off of it. That makes me uncomfortable as I believe most of us on HN like at least some YouTube content and would like to see more of it.
    - matheusmoreira 5y ago
      I'm more than happy to pay for content. I support creators even though I know it's a crappy deal since all I get for my money is a worthless license which puts me at their mercy since I own nothing. I will absolutely not tolerate ads of any kind and if their business model is ads I would rather see them go bankrupt than put up with it.
- deergomoo 5y ago
  I happily pay for YouTube Premium because I watch tons of niche stuff that creators are able to make a living off. YouTube has a lot of problems, and the ads for non-Premium users are probably going too far, but I find a lot of value in consuming and supporting a wealth of high quality content on obscure topics.
  - account42 5y ago
    I do support some creators (as directly as possible) but honestly I prefer content where money was never an incentive. Ultimately it's up to creators to find ways of funding their passions and just because ads are the easiest way to do that right now does not mean that we have to support that. I also don't think I'd get bored if all ad-supported content just vanished and even if I did it would be worth it to force creators to find less manipulative funding sources. Or we could do away with all of that and make sure everyone has enough to live no matter what they do - but people would rather pay megacorporations than pay higher taxes that can be redistributed to creators.
brimble 5y ago
One of the little absurdities of our modern world is having to watch an ad before you are allowed to watch an ad that you requested (movie trailers, superbowl ads that people sometimes share, that kind of thing)
Kye 5y ago
It sounds like this has only gotten worse since I asked HN about it almost two years ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23769291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23769291
dredmorbius 5y ago
Browsing in incognito mode and behind an ad-blocking DNS server, YouTube runs pre-roll ads perhaps on 1 in 4 videos. I've found that refreshing the page seems to always remove the ads. Though I'm increasingly taking to searching through Invidious. (YouTube is somewhat more convenient thanks to the !yt DDG bang search.) I also often play audio through mpv.

by Geee 5y ago

notapenny 5y ago

Youtube is the reason I installed an adblocker in the first place. I don't mind watching an ad, but at some point they went from an ad every other video, to unskippable ads in-front of every video (love a 1m ad on every 10s video when I'm just browsing clips) and mid-content ads that literally just cut in and disrupt what I'm watching.

xemdetia 5y ago
I think the other thing that pushed me to put it back on after experimenting with it off was the absolute dearth of inventory Youtube apparently thought was appropriate to show me. I watch a lot of content of various lengths in a lot of various fields but I would get the same one or two ads for days. Then I started getting the 10m+ ads that seem to be randomly OK for some reason? I don't think I could stomach another experiment.
- stonecharioteer 5y ago
  Vanced even has SponsorBlock, which is insanely good
lopis 5y ago
During the holidays, YouTube was showing me 2 15-second ads every single video. I stopped using the app and stuck to the browser. Then I found out about vanced from HW. I'm sorry to my followed channels but it became unbearable.
reaperducer 5y ago
love a 1m ad on every 10s video Christmas 2020 I tried to watch midnight Mass from Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York on YouTube. (Not live; after.) SIX MINUTES of commercials at the start, and the rest of the program had TWENTY-SIX commercial breaks. I haven't watched YouTube since.
- sixothree 5y ago
  What is happening is they are pushing you to Youtube Premium.
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    Sounds like they pushed him away from YouTube. And they pushed others into adblockers

souldeux 5y ago

I've been using and loving this: https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext

aembleton 5y ago
That looks really interesting. Thanks

WA 5y ago

Well, you can buy YouTube premium and have no ads.

matheusmoreira 5y ago
Or you can install an adblocker instead which also blocks much of the surveillance. There's also sponsor block which blocks ads that even paying customers are forced to see. Don't support these advertisers in any way. Especially Google.
- rsanek 5y ago
  I hope folks that take this stance support creators in another fashion, like through Patreon. Otherwise the content that is consumed by those ad blocking won't get produced, simply because the creator can't make a living off of it. That makes me uncomfortable as I believe most of us on HN like at least some YouTube content and would like to see more of it.
  - matheusmoreira 5y ago
    I'm more than happy to pay for content. I support creators even though I know it's a crappy deal since all I get for my money is a worthless license which puts me at their mercy since I own nothing. I will absolutely not tolerate ads of any kind and if their business model is ads I would rather see them go bankrupt than put up with it.
deergomoo 5y ago
I happily pay for YouTube Premium because I watch tons of niche stuff that creators are able to make a living off. YouTube has a lot of problems, and the ads for non-Premium users are probably going too far, but I find a lot of value in consuming and supporting a wealth of high quality content on obscure topics.
- account42 5y ago
  I do support some creators (as directly as possible) but honestly I prefer content where money was never an incentive. Ultimately it's up to creators to find ways of funding their passions and just because ads are the easiest way to do that right now does not mean that we have to support that. I also don't think I'd get bored if all ad-supported content just vanished and even if I did it would be worth it to force creators to find less manipulative funding sources. Or we could do away with all of that and make sure everyone has enough to live no matter what they do - but people would rather pay megacorporations than pay higher taxes that can be redistributed to creators.

brimble 5y ago

One of the little absurdities of our modern world is having to watch an ad before you are allowed to watch an ad that you requested (movie trailers, superbowl ads that people sometimes share, that kind of thing)

Kye 5y ago

It sounds like this has only gotten worse since I asked HN about it almost two years ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23769291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23769291

dredmorbius 5y ago

Browsing in incognito mode and behind an ad-blocking DNS server, YouTube runs pre-roll ads perhaps on 1 in 4 videos. I've found that refreshing the page seems to always remove the ads. Though I'm increasingly taking to searching through Invidious. (YouTube is somewhat more convenient thanks to the !yt DDG bang search.) I also often play audio through mpv.