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As much I hate YouTube ads it makes sense they fight hard to prevent ad blocking. It must cost a fortune to run something the size and complexity of YouTube
by harryquach 3y ago
As much I hate YouTube ads it makes sense they fight hard to prevent ad blocking. It must cost a fortune to run something the size and complexity of YouTube
- developerDan 3y agoI’d say a good 90% of ads I view on YouTube mobile (I have an adblocker on desktop) are for Google Fiber which 1) is a Google product and therefore doesn’t generate income on ads sales and 2) I’m already a customer of so they literally can’t make a sale on me with the ad. It’s completely useless so I should be able to block the ads as they serve no purpose whatsoever. The other 10% are the scam “get solar for free” ads.
- goku12 3y agoOnline services seeking revenue isn't a bad thing. However, offering the service for free (or without ads) initially until all competitors are dead and then seeking revenue shouldn't be considered benign.
- nhinck2 3y agoYoutube has been running ads since 2009 from a very cursory search. This isn't a new development from them.
- goku12 3y agoDoesn't that mean that there were at least 3 years before that when they didn't serve ads? I can certainly remember the days when you didn't need an ad-blocker to watch videos without ads. How are the other video hosting sites from those days doing now?
- nhinck2 3y agoHmm, I went back and it looks like they were selectively running ads all the way back in 2006 before google bought them.
- dietr1ch 3y agoSure, but how long until they became profitable? Running at a loss to keep competition away sounds anti-competitive, but sure, there might not be a good way to tell a bad bet from an evil one.