9 ms·

I’m done with video ads. My new policy is: “not even once”. I’d rather not pirate but it doesn’t feel wrong since I’m perfectly willing to pay for no-ads produ

I’m done with video ads. My new policy is: “not even once”. I’d rather not pirate but it doesn’t feel wrong since I’m perfectly willing to pay for no-ads products if they are available. 90% of my entertainment is from YouTube Premium and I love it. The rest is HBO and Hulu with the no-ads package. I bought Hulu Live for a show, cancelled it immediately when I realized it forced ads.

irrational 4y ago
That’s why I use YouTube-dl to watch anything on YouTube.
- i_like_apis 4y ago
  Youtube Premium is very worth the money IMO. You’re missing out on being able to click around easily, I couldn’t get by with just YouTube-dl. But it is a good hack to get around ads. I’m a huge YouTube user though. The other nice thing about premium is that you can background play on mobile. I’d pay 3x for these features. I guess I shouldn’t let YT know that though.
batch12 4y ago
It cracked me up the other day when the kids watched two ads to be allowed to watch the trailer for the Mario movie. Watch an ad to watch an ad.
- socialismisok 4y ago
  While a trailer is maybe technically an ad, it's also more. The social phenomena of being a part of the zeitgeist is fun for a lot of folks. We can all meme about Jack Black together or how Chris Pratt is a weird choice.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  Watch a {Google ad} to watch a {Universal Pictures ad}. The last mile device ad interposition is going to keep pushing the boundaries until it's limited by law. Which would be something like "hardware/software platform companies cannot own ad businesses* and must allow equal+ access to any ad bidder who wants to run an ad" *Defined as anything more nuanced than bulk sales of ad space +For some definition of equal That we ever let platforms own ad businesses is the cause of so many current failures.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Yes, then an ad bidder must have access to all the personal information that the platform provider has. Then the EU steps in with another 10 chapter 99 section law “GDPR 2.0” that inflicts another banner notice that causes us to endure a cookie notice to allow cookie notices to allow cookies.
- potamic 4y ago
  A majority of context online these days is just ads. You watch something seeking informative context and it's not till you're halfway through you realize the entire video was just a garb to plug in some sponsor product. It's getting harder and harder to discover solid, well research content that is made for the sake of making content.
- andrepd 4y ago
  Well why don't you do your kids a favour (young minds are especially malleable to ads) and install uBlock?
  - eftychis 4y ago
    I am going to go the extra mile to make sure my kids don't watch ads as much as is humanly possible. I concur. Every time I check reality without an ad blocker I get sad.
    - lostlogin 4y ago
      When I break Pihole it doesn’t take long for someone to yell ‘I saw an ad’.
      - gruez 4y ago
        Given how popular youtube/twitch/google is, and that pihole doesn't do anything for those sites, I'm surprised that people didn't notice the ads before.
        lostlogin 4y ago
        They don’t use those - Google adverts appear but you can’t click them as they go nowhere (possibly making them more annoying).
        thedrbrian 4y ago
        adblockers do though. I've not seen a single ad on YouTube on my MacBook as I've got all the safari blockers from my old iPad.
  - batch12 4y ago
    I do use ublock origin where I can. And a pihole. Ads still find a way on some platforms.
Glyptodon 4y ago
Hulu seems to work with adblockers so far, but the other missing feature that's miserable is lack of accelerated playback, like 1.5x, etc.
- jedberg 4y ago
  If you're using an ad blocker I assume you're using your browser to watch? If so there are multiple plugins that will add sped up playback to Hulu. Some of them are just generic HTML5 video adjusters.
  - Glyptodon 4y ago
    For some reason looking for something like that just didn't occur to me. Thanks for mentioning.
- sedro 4y ago
  This seems to work: document.querySelectorAll('video').forEach(v => v.playbackRate = 1.5)
withinboredom 4y ago
You must live in the US? That streaming service is the most expensive one where I live, for basically no ads. Or at least it used to be. Just checked and it’s ~8 bucks a month. Before that, it was almost 25 bucks a month.
- mrweasel 4y ago
  I'm not in the US, and I have about the same subscriptions (I also have Netflix). YouTube Premium, while expensive, granted, is the streaming service I get the most joy from. Netflix I would cancel in a heartbeat, if they crack down on sharing of logins, I only maintain that because my sister and sister in-law use it. HBO... My wife likes so, we keep it. There is NO WAY that I'm going back to ad based streaming, or TV for that matter. If I forget to login to YouTube, or have to watch local TV programming with ads I get super angry, it is god damn awful. It's offensive and obnoxious. One interesting thing I have notice, in regard to YouTube: While some channels are absolute garbage, professional YouTubes have better storylines and better editing that national broadcasters in Denmark. There's one or two good shows, but modern programming on Danish TV is terrible. There's no sense of storytelling, there are jump-cuts everywhere and camera handlings is subpar to be honest. I am amazed what some YouTubers are able to produce, it's well researched, it's filmed beautifully, storytelling right on point and the editing is just beautiful. Not saying that there isn't a lot of low budget and low quality, but when a channel like Bald and Bankrupts was able to outshine a national broadcast on all measures that matter to me, on a weekly basis, there's something wrong.
libraryatnight 4y ago
I also enjoy APIs, and I also have started to revert back to flying the jolly roger if there's not a reasonable ad-free paid means of watching things. I don't care enough about most of this stuff to be tortured and abused to experience it.
- bradleyjg 4y ago
  Have you considered not watching instead? There’s plenty of books in the library with no ads.
  - libraryatnight 4y ago
    My username isn't libraryatnight because I don't read ;)
  - matheusmoreira 4y ago
    Nah. We'll consume media on our terms and these companies are going to have to deal with it.
    - bradleyjg 4y ago
      I’m sure you’ll get exactly the content you deserve.
      - matheusmoreira 4y ago
        Hell yes I'm gonna get exactly what I deserve. Because I actually pay for these crappy streaming services and what I get is horribly compressed "high definition" video loaded with artifacts on even 90% black frames that I can't even download to my device which means service is interrupted if I lose my internet connection. Meanwhile the "pirates" are getting DRM free extremely high quality Blu-Ray encodes they can watch whenever they want on a player that doesn't suck such as mpv.
        nobodyandproud 4y ago
ModernMech 4y ago
I don't get this. You say you're perfectly willing to pay to watch media that is ad free, and you do. So then why do you feel you have the right to pirate shows that are not ad free? Why don't you just watch ad free media that you pay for instead of pirating media that forces ads? Is there not enough media that is ad free for you to watch, such that you need to resort to piracy?
- Retric 4y ago
  If I am never going to pay for X, then nobody is harmed by me pirating it. That said, I haven’t pirated anything in a decade. It’s up to content creators to create business models that work for them, but I really don’t care if they pick one that doesn’t work for me.
  - einherjae 4y ago
    Are you saying that X provides a value to you that you are unwilling to pay for at any rate? Not even something like 1 cent with minimal transaction friction and no ads or tracking? Not even if the ask was for something non monetary like saying thanks in a guestbook?
    - Retric 4y ago
      I recently canceled patroon support for an author and there is absolutely no content they could create that would make me willing to buy their content at any price. I also lost interest in their content, but in theory if I still had interest I would think nothing of pirating it.
- SantalBlush 4y ago
  The notion of private property fails when it comes to things that can be multiplied in quantity practically for free, by a practically unlimited amount. What I mean when I say private property "fails" is that it is not a useful concept to us as a society in cases like this. The consumption of goods of the aforementioned type are nonrival, meaning my consumption of it does not interfere with your consumption of it. That's why it doesn't really matter.
amelius 4y ago
> I’d rather not pirate but it doesn’t feel wrong since I’m perfectly willing to pay for no-ads products if they are available. Yes, providing only 1 payment option that comes with mandatory psychological manipulation is not a true payment option.
- i_like_apis 4y ago
  Well, the content can’t be free ultimately. It costs money to make the stuff. I honestly would be happy to pay 2 or 3x the cost to watch without ads.
  - eftychis 4y ago
    Not true unfortunately, as youtube, tv series and movies have shown, there is product placement that is huge/at least substantial. Do you wanna know if a character is not the killer/bad guy? He is not using an iPhone.
  - PenguinCoder 4y ago
    Costs money to make but doesn't cost near what the "accounting" shows. There's no reason why actors should get literal millions of dollars per gig.
    - swores 4y ago
      Surely capitalism, and more specifically demand, is the reason? If the current companies paying them millions of dollars per gig say "sorry, we decided we don't like ads and don't want to charge our viewers more, so forget the millions we've now got a $200k offer for your next TV series season Mr Famous Actor" they'll take a job with the first company that once again offers them millions.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      Unless you’re making minimum wage, I’m sure a lot of people would probably say the same thing about what you make.
Mikeb85 4y ago
I mean, I kind of agree but Amazon does it well IMO where they show one ad at the beginning and allow you to skip it. Realistically they probably don't charge enough to be able to get rid of all ads and I doubt consumers want to pay the "real" cost of content.
silisili 4y ago
> I’m done with video ads.. Me too, if I pay for it. If I don't...toss up. Tubi has a ton of content and the ads don't bother me much. Short and far between. Redbox(free) on the other hand can go straight to hell. I don't see how anyone watches that.

irrational 4y ago

That’s why I use YouTube-dl to watch anything on YouTube.

i_like_apis 4y ago
Youtube Premium is very worth the money IMO. You’re missing out on being able to click around easily, I couldn’t get by with just YouTube-dl. But it is a good hack to get around ads. I’m a huge YouTube user though. The other nice thing about premium is that you can background play on mobile. I’d pay 3x for these features. I guess I shouldn’t let YT know that though.

batch12 4y ago

It cracked me up the other day when the kids watched two ads to be allowed to watch the trailer for the Mario movie. Watch an ad to watch an ad.

socialismisok 4y ago
While a trailer is maybe technically an ad, it's also more. The social phenomena of being a part of the zeitgeist is fun for a lot of folks. We can all meme about Jack Black together or how Chris Pratt is a weird choice.
ethbr0 4y ago
Watch a {Google ad} to watch a {Universal Pictures ad}. The last mile device ad interposition is going to keep pushing the boundaries until it's limited by law. Which would be something like "hardware/software platform companies cannot own ad businesses* and must allow equal+ access to any ad bidder who wants to run an ad" *Defined as anything more nuanced than bulk sales of ad space +For some definition of equal That we ever let platforms own ad businesses is the cause of so many current failures.
- scarface74 4y ago
  Yes, then an ad bidder must have access to all the personal information that the platform provider has. Then the EU steps in with another 10 chapter 99 section law “GDPR 2.0” that inflicts another banner notice that causes us to endure a cookie notice to allow cookie notices to allow cookies.
potamic 4y ago
A majority of context online these days is just ads. You watch something seeking informative context and it's not till you're halfway through you realize the entire video was just a garb to plug in some sponsor product. It's getting harder and harder to discover solid, well research content that is made for the sake of making content.
andrepd 4y ago
Well why don't you do your kids a favour (young minds are especially malleable to ads) and install uBlock?
- eftychis 4y ago
  I am going to go the extra mile to make sure my kids don't watch ads as much as is humanly possible. I concur. Every time I check reality without an ad blocker I get sad.
  - lostlogin 4y ago
    When I break Pihole it doesn’t take long for someone to yell ‘I saw an ad’.
    - gruez 4y ago
      Given how popular youtube/twitch/google is, and that pihole doesn't do anything for those sites, I'm surprised that people didn't notice the ads before.
      - lostlogin 4y ago
        They don’t use those - Google adverts appear but you can’t click them as they go nowhere (possibly making them more annoying).
      - thedrbrian 4y ago
        adblockers do though. I've not seen a single ad on YouTube on my MacBook as I've got all the safari blockers from my old iPad.
- batch12 4y ago
  I do use ublock origin where I can. And a pihole. Ads still find a way on some platforms.

Glyptodon 4y ago

Hulu seems to work with adblockers so far, but the other missing feature that's miserable is lack of accelerated playback, like 1.5x, etc.

jedberg 4y ago
If you're using an ad blocker I assume you're using your browser to watch? If so there are multiple plugins that will add sped up playback to Hulu. Some of them are just generic HTML5 video adjusters.
- Glyptodon 4y ago
  For some reason looking for something like that just didn't occur to me. Thanks for mentioning.
sedro 4y ago
This seems to work: document.querySelectorAll('video').forEach(v => v.playbackRate = 1.5)

withinboredom 4y ago

You must live in the US? That streaming service is the most expensive one where I live, for basically no ads. Or at least it used to be. Just checked and it’s ~8 bucks a month. Before that, it was almost 25 bucks a month.

mrweasel 4y ago
I'm not in the US, and I have about the same subscriptions (I also have Netflix). YouTube Premium, while expensive, granted, is the streaming service I get the most joy from. Netflix I would cancel in a heartbeat, if they crack down on sharing of logins, I only maintain that because my sister and sister in-law use it. HBO... My wife likes so, we keep it. There is NO WAY that I'm going back to ad based streaming, or TV for that matter. If I forget to login to YouTube, or have to watch local TV programming with ads I get super angry, it is god damn awful. It's offensive and obnoxious. One interesting thing I have notice, in regard to YouTube: While some channels are absolute garbage, professional YouTubes have better storylines and better editing that national broadcasters in Denmark. There's one or two good shows, but modern programming on Danish TV is terrible. There's no sense of storytelling, there are jump-cuts everywhere and camera handlings is subpar to be honest. I am amazed what some YouTubers are able to produce, it's well researched, it's filmed beautifully, storytelling right on point and the editing is just beautiful. Not saying that there isn't a lot of low budget and low quality, but when a channel like Bald and Bankrupts was able to outshine a national broadcast on all measures that matter to me, on a weekly basis, there's something wrong.

libraryatnight 4y ago

I also enjoy APIs, and I also have started to revert back to flying the jolly roger if there's not a reasonable ad-free paid means of watching things. I don't care enough about most of this stuff to be tortured and abused to experience it.

bradleyjg 4y ago
Have you considered not watching instead? There’s plenty of books in the library with no ads.
- libraryatnight 4y ago
  My username isn't libraryatnight because I don't read ;)
- matheusmoreira 4y ago
  Nah. We'll consume media on our terms and these companies are going to have to deal with it.
  - bradleyjg 4y ago
    I’m sure you’ll get exactly the content you deserve.
    - matheusmoreira 4y ago
      Hell yes I'm gonna get exactly what I deserve. Because I actually pay for these crappy streaming services and what I get is horribly compressed "high definition" video loaded with artifacts on even 90% black frames that I can't even download to my device which means service is interrupted if I lose my internet connection. Meanwhile the "pirates" are getting DRM free extremely high quality Blu-Ray encodes they can watch whenever they want on a player that doesn't suck such as mpv.
      - nobodyandproud 4y ago

ModernMech 4y ago

I don't get this. You say you're perfectly willing to pay to watch media that is ad free, and you do. So then why do you feel you have the right to pirate shows that are not ad free? Why don't you just watch ad free media that you pay for instead of pirating media that forces ads? Is there not enough media that is ad free for you to watch, such that you need to resort to piracy?

Retric 4y ago
If I am never going to pay for X, then nobody is harmed by me pirating it. That said, I haven’t pirated anything in a decade. It’s up to content creators to create business models that work for them, but I really don’t care if they pick one that doesn’t work for me.
- einherjae 4y ago
  Are you saying that X provides a value to you that you are unwilling to pay for at any rate? Not even something like 1 cent with minimal transaction friction and no ads or tracking? Not even if the ask was for something non monetary like saying thanks in a guestbook?
  - Retric 4y ago
    I recently canceled patroon support for an author and there is absolutely no content they could create that would make me willing to buy their content at any price. I also lost interest in their content, but in theory if I still had interest I would think nothing of pirating it.
SantalBlush 4y ago
The notion of private property fails when it comes to things that can be multiplied in quantity practically for free, by a practically unlimited amount. What I mean when I say private property "fails" is that it is not a useful concept to us as a society in cases like this. The consumption of goods of the aforementioned type are nonrival, meaning my consumption of it does not interfere with your consumption of it. That's why it doesn't really matter.

amelius 4y ago

> I’d rather not pirate but it doesn’t feel wrong since I’m perfectly willing to pay for no-ads products if they are available. Yes, providing only 1 payment option that comes with mandatory psychological manipulation is not a true payment option.

i_like_apis 4y ago
Well, the content can’t be free ultimately. It costs money to make the stuff. I honestly would be happy to pay 2 or 3x the cost to watch without ads.
- eftychis 4y ago
  Not true unfortunately, as youtube, tv series and movies have shown, there is product placement that is huge/at least substantial. Do you wanna know if a character is not the killer/bad guy? He is not using an iPhone.
- PenguinCoder 4y ago
  Costs money to make but doesn't cost near what the "accounting" shows. There's no reason why actors should get literal millions of dollars per gig.
  - swores 4y ago
    Surely capitalism, and more specifically demand, is the reason? If the current companies paying them millions of dollars per gig say "sorry, we decided we don't like ads and don't want to charge our viewers more, so forget the millions we've now got a $200k offer for your next TV series season Mr Famous Actor" they'll take a job with the first company that once again offers them millions.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Unless you’re making minimum wage, I’m sure a lot of people would probably say the same thing about what you make.

Mikeb85 4y ago

I mean, I kind of agree but Amazon does it well IMO where they show one ad at the beginning and allow you to skip it. Realistically they probably don't charge enough to be able to get rid of all ads and I doubt consumers want to pay the "real" cost of content.

silisili 4y ago

> I’m done with video ads.. Me too, if I pay for it. If I don't...toss up. Tubi has a ton of content and the ads don't bother me much. Short and far between. Redbox(free) on the other hand can go straight to hell. I don't see how anyone watches that.