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The endgame here is adblockers that spoof ad views and even sometimes clicks rather than just blocking them. This is very very bad for google if they force adb

The endgame here is adblockers that spoof ad views and even sometimes clicks rather than just blocking them. This is very very bad for google if they force adblockers to work like that. People will do it.

slimsag 3y ago
Another possible endgame is all YouTube videos are livestreams and you cannot skip on the timeline, with ads inserted directly into the stream. In that world, the best an adblocker would be able to do is show a blank screen for 30s while it waits for the real video's frames to resume.
- HlessClaudesman 3y ago
  If YT only live streams content, content caching services will strip out the ads, and play with a delay. Youtube will never monetise tech savvy users and should just stop trying. We only need to be slipperier than the average gazelle and the lions will never catch us.
  - gretch 3y ago
    > content caching services will strip out the ads, and play with a delay. To achieve this, you’ll need computation, storage, and bandwidth on the scale of YouTube. Do you think whoever offers that service will do so without ads or payment? Your whole scheme is based on hoping “kind” and knowledgeable volunteers do free labor for you. Good luck. I for one am tech savvy and am happy to pay $20 for the ad free service. Pretty reasonable trade if you ask me.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - fayalalebrun 3y ago
      If you play with a delay, then why would you need any more storage than what is required to play a single video? Personally I would not pay any amount to Google, as I believe it is unethical to support such a company. Google has a monopoly in several markets, to the point of being an unavoidable part of our lives. No single company should have that much power. Especially since due to its nature as a for-profit corporation, Google's interests are at odds with yours.
      - JAlexoid 3y ago
        I have a great solution in that case - just block all Google's services and don't use them. Just don't complain when more and more IT news publications put up a paywall, because ad revenue isn't enough to pay your salary. As for myself - most of my subscription price goes to the creators and I'm happy with that.
    - Paul-Craft 3y ago
      I don't need massive amounts of compute, storage, or bandwidth to run an app on my PC that "watches" the video and does those things offline, so I can watch the whole thing later without ads.
    - LightHugger 3y ago
      It already exists for twitch, check out TTV LOL. And you can host your own proxies too. Underestimating the sophistication of adblocking is foolish, people understand well that spending time to save time watching ads is worth it.
- huehehue 3y ago
  > all YouTube videos are livestreams and you cannot skip on the timeline, with ads inserted directly into the stream. So we really are back to reinventing cable TV
  - slimsag 3y ago
    Now that I think about it, they could implement timeline skipping support on the server. Select a time, the server alters your personal livestream and can still inject ads at any moment
- candiodari 3y ago
  Luckily now with AI this is not the problem it once was.
  - slimsag 3y ago
    How will AI help you? Make the screen blank for 30s while waiting for ad to end?
    - candiodari 3y ago
      Right now it will tell you what the ads are. So, if the video is played on a delay, it can remove ads, even baked into the video. And, coming up in foundation models right now, it can remake videos to remove ads entirely, making a new video with just the content. Perhaps it'll be a feature of the RTX 6090. I bet the hallucinations will be hilarious.
- LightHugger 3y ago
  Nope, twitch does this and we already have working adblockers for it. The twitch adblockers use a network of proxies.
chess_buster 3y ago
And the business buy the ads which get seen by no one, yet still Google makes money, just like with their other ads.
- fluoridation 3y ago
  Or, the businesses realize what's going on and they stop buying ads from Google, since nobody sees them anyway, and Google makes less money. Google isn't holding all the cards like they might think, here.

slimsag 3y ago

Another possible endgame is all YouTube videos are livestreams and you cannot skip on the timeline, with ads inserted directly into the stream. In that world, the best an adblocker would be able to do is show a blank screen for 30s while it waits for the real video's frames to resume.

HlessClaudesman 3y ago
If YT only live streams content, content caching services will strip out the ads, and play with a delay. Youtube will never monetise tech savvy users and should just stop trying. We only need to be slipperier than the average gazelle and the lions will never catch us.
- gretch 3y ago
  > content caching services will strip out the ads, and play with a delay. To achieve this, you’ll need computation, storage, and bandwidth on the scale of YouTube. Do you think whoever offers that service will do so without ads or payment? Your whole scheme is based on hoping “kind” and knowledgeable volunteers do free labor for you. Good luck. I for one am tech savvy and am happy to pay $20 for the ad free service. Pretty reasonable trade if you ask me.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - fayalalebrun 3y ago
    If you play with a delay, then why would you need any more storage than what is required to play a single video? Personally I would not pay any amount to Google, as I believe it is unethical to support such a company. Google has a monopoly in several markets, to the point of being an unavoidable part of our lives. No single company should have that much power. Especially since due to its nature as a for-profit corporation, Google's interests are at odds with yours.
    - JAlexoid 3y ago
      I have a great solution in that case - just block all Google's services and don't use them. Just don't complain when more and more IT news publications put up a paywall, because ad revenue isn't enough to pay your salary. As for myself - most of my subscription price goes to the creators and I'm happy with that.
  - Paul-Craft 3y ago
    I don't need massive amounts of compute, storage, or bandwidth to run an app on my PC that "watches" the video and does those things offline, so I can watch the whole thing later without ads.
  - LightHugger 3y ago
    It already exists for twitch, check out TTV LOL. And you can host your own proxies too. Underestimating the sophistication of adblocking is foolish, people understand well that spending time to save time watching ads is worth it.
huehehue 3y ago
> all YouTube videos are livestreams and you cannot skip on the timeline, with ads inserted directly into the stream. So we really are back to reinventing cable TV
- slimsag 3y ago
  Now that I think about it, they could implement timeline skipping support on the server. Select a time, the server alters your personal livestream and can still inject ads at any moment
candiodari 3y ago
Luckily now with AI this is not the problem it once was.
- slimsag 3y ago
  How will AI help you? Make the screen blank for 30s while waiting for ad to end?
  - candiodari 3y ago
    Right now it will tell you what the ads are. So, if the video is played on a delay, it can remove ads, even baked into the video. And, coming up in foundation models right now, it can remake videos to remove ads entirely, making a new video with just the content. Perhaps it'll be a feature of the RTX 6090. I bet the hallucinations will be hilarious.
LightHugger 3y ago
Nope, twitch does this and we already have working adblockers for it. The twitch adblockers use a network of proxies.

chess_buster 3y ago

And the business buy the ads which get seen by no one, yet still Google makes money, just like with their other ads.

fluoridation 3y ago
Or, the businesses realize what's going on and they stop buying ads from Google, since nobody sees them anyway, and Google makes less money. Google isn't holding all the cards like they might think, here.