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SponsorBlock – skip sponsor segments on YouTube

661 points by anotherhue 2y ago

dtx1 2y ago
Firefox, UBlock, Sponsorblock. Only way to tube
dangus 2y ago
Also extra useful: iSponsorBlockTV. You run it in on a server and you can set it up with the YouTube app on all your commercial streaming boxes that don't support browser extensions. https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV
- add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
  How does this work, how does it get between the client and youtube.com?
  - synchrone 2y ago
    It uses the tv youtube app remote control over local network to see if it plays a video, and skips at the right time.
    - ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
      Ha. What a fantastic piece of hack. Absolutely brilliant. Love it.
- post_break 2y ago
  Oh my god I could kiss you. It works on AppleTV.
nerdjon 2y ago
[flagged]
- dialup_sounds 2y ago
  With sponsorships I think people are just annoyed by them being repetitive. There are maybe ten companies that seem to sponsor every YouTube channel and podcast, and there's only so many times you can get pitched the same wallet or VPN before you develop the instinct to skip ahead. But before we skip ahead, let me tell you about this comment's sponsor, Squarespace. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace is the all-in-one platform to build a beautiful online presence and run your business. Use code "eyeroll" to get 10% off your first order.
  - chankstein38 2y ago
    Oh god lol don't give companies who buy ad space any ideas!
- Nextgrid 2y ago
  If I’m going to skip it manually anyway, may as well let the machine do it. The whole point of computers is to automate busywork. No sales will be lost either way as I’m already a customer of the website builder and am absolutely not in the market for a VPN and never will be.
- vikramkr 2y ago
  It's because it's an annoyance with ads and even if people want a free web to exist something something prisoners dilemma. Also these ads are in videos even if you're e.g. paying for YouTube premium so it's not just the free web.
- ulyssys 2y ago
  It's not necessarily an either-or situation. It can be privacy, annoyance, and a general lack of effectiveness. Advertising isn't just the art of selling a product, it's the art of getting past our normal social defense that someone is trying to take our money, our attention, and our time. Advertising is necessarily adversarial, and everyone's tolerance for it is going to be unique depending on how heavily they rely on free resources, but it is a necessary unpleasantry at its best. If I could even recall the exact number of times an advertisement of any type appealed to me in the last 20 or more years, it would amount to less than the fingers on my hand. I used to welcome all of Google's advertising tracking and relevance-seeking as the best version of advertising out there, but even that resulted in unimpressive and less than meaningful ads. If Google can't advertise something useful to me, then I have zero qualms about walking by, palm facing them in refusal. Because of these product failures, and because it is unwise to trust a big company with all of your personal data, I rarely desired to be advertised to at all. Individual content creators have the opportunity to give me a chance with something unique that they know that their viewers would be interested in because they (hopefully) relate to their audience much more than a faceless corporation, and can present a product in its best, most relevant light. But if that content creator is trying to sell me a Scandinavian VPN service or a game of legendary shadows, you can bet I have zero interest. All this may change as GenAI-driven methods may key in on relevant interests based on what I wish to share about myself. I'm hoping that Apple's Intelligence systems will end up preserving privacy as well as driving a more effective ad model.
jocaal 2y ago
The creator of this extension also makes DeArrow [1]. It replaces the clickbait thumbnails and titles with less annoying ones. I highly recommend it. [1] https://dearrow.ajay.app/ https://dearrow.ajay.app/
- rendaw 2y ago
  Whoah, how does it do that? It looks like magic, so does it handle the clickbait use of "this" as well ("this game", "this recipe", "this film")? I'm using one that just decapitalizes and uses a random frame thumbnail from the middle, which is okay.
  - gabegm 2y ago
    According to the extension homepage: "DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube. The goal is to make titles accurate and reduce sensationalism. No more arrows, ridiculous faces, and no more clickbait. ... There are currently 64,634 users who have submitted 230,432 titles and 107,027 thumbnails."
- zamadatix 2y ago
  Oh my god, what a difference it made. Thanks for sharing this. I do wish this could have just been a feature tacked on the Sponsor Block extension, especially considering it has features which rely on that data, but otherwise it's perfect. For those that haven't watched the demo video: for videos that don't have community thumbnails or titles it has options allowing it to automatically pick a random (non-sponsor segment) screenshot and automatically clean up the title (remove emoji, fix capitalization).
- xdennis 2y ago
  I used to use it, unfortunately it doesn't work so well with titles. It lowercases unknown acronyms and initcaps all words even in languages which Do Not Use This Capitalization For Titles.
  - teddyh 2y ago
noone_youknow 2y ago
As a YouTuber, I’m conflicted about this. My main channel (non-tech) is small, but is monetised, and YouTube see fit to throw me a _very_ variable amount of money every month. CPMs are down right now so revenue has tanked along with it, it’ll pick back up at some point, but the variability is itself the pain point. My videos are relatively expensive and time consuming to make, but people seem to find them useful, and even enjoyable. The occasional (relevant) sponsor read or similar has been a huge help in providing some stability in the past, and I know for many channels it’s the main source of income since YPP revenue share can be so volatile. I do worry that if this takes off it will just result in those sponsors pulling their budgets for this type of advertising, and it’ll be another nail in the coffin for creators. Sure many of us also do patreon etc but that’s never really sat right with me personally (and see also the post on HN just today about Apple coming for a revenue split there for another creator-hostile storm brewing). On the other hand, I totally get the hatred of “the usual suspect” sponsors (VPNs, low-quality learning platforms etc) that get done to death because of their aggressive sponsor budgets and not-unreasonable deals. Those get shoehorned into a ton of videos and it’s a shame, but a blunt instrument like this is likely to kill off sponsorships as a whole, not just those bad ones.
- efilife 2y ago
  Don't do your videos for money. You are interrupting users that pay for YouTube premium with ads in the middle of your videos. Set up a way to donate to you on YouTube, channel memberships are an option, they display next to the "subscribe button".
  - noone_youknow 2y ago
    > Don’t do your videos for money. This is of course a valid suggestion, and there are many, many creators that do this. However I think the world would be a poorer place if we lost all the creators that do need to make _some_ money for their channels to survive, which IMHO is the natural endgame if we remove or block all routes to passive monetisation. I do get the issue with premium, as a premium subscriber myself I too find it annoying to be interrupted by yet another 30-second (or increasingly, more) read for some shady VPN or whatever. Channel memberships, like patreon etc., are an option, but have a vanishingly small rate of uptake, and people expect some sort of value-add in return (early access to videos, a discord, and so on). Without other routes to revenue this just devalues the content itself, which I feel may be part of the problem here - we no longer value attach value to quality content. Rick Beato made a great video on the effects of this (in the music industry) recently, and it’s not great - but it does feel like all media is going a similar way.
t0bia_s 2y ago
Freetube.io has it implemented already few years.
delta_p_delta_x 2y ago
For anyone using an Android phone, the ReVanced[1] patches for the YouTube app (formerly just YouTube Vanced) applies both an adblock and SponsorBlock, on top of various other convenience features. You'll need to provide your own YouTube APK file to patch. I'll never go back to using non-Vanced YouTube ever again. Advertisements are a blight on this world. They are the reason for marketing and sales budgets being quadruple that of engineering and UI/UX budgets, the whole 'form before function' thing, and enshittification in general. [1]: https://revanced.app/patches?pkg=com.google.android.youtube https://revanced.app/patches?pkg=com.google.android.youtube
- cypherpunks01 2y ago
  Came here to say the same thing. Revanced YT patches for Android are extremely sweet. And yes, even better features (for viewers) than YT Premium.
- BLKNSLVR 2y ago
  The only thing that moved me on from using (Re)Vanced was setting up my own Invidious instance, and using the Clipious app (F-Droid store) to access it. Clipious, by default, connects to public instances of Invidious, so you can try it out without having to setup your own instance. ReVanced remains my backup option, however.
- MaxikCZ 2y ago
  Has the installation gotten easier? Last time I checked I needed to find a speccific version apk of youtube app itself that revanced patcher patches before installing. Too many steps to make way too often.
  - delta_p_delta_x 2y ago
    > Too many steps to make way too often. This is not how I feel. The last time I patched my app was several months ago, and it's still running fine. I do have to patch about twice a year and it's a five-minute affair of getting the correct version, going to APKMirror and downloading the corresponding version of YouTube, and patching it with the latest app.
wanderingmind 2y ago
Sponsorblock is not as blunt a tool as people make it here. You can only block specific type of ads and you can whitelist whole channels which I do for some niche channels I subscribe to. In Android, I use Tubular [1], the NewPipe fork that integrates Sponsorblock and ReturnYoutube Dislike. My only additional request in this awesome app is if we can download the video after snipping out the sponsor block sections. [1] https://github.com/polymorphicshade/Tubular https://github.com/polymorphicshade/Tubular
- stavros 2y ago
  That sounds useful, thanks! Odd that it's not on any of the stores (eg F-droid).
  - Joe_Cool 2y ago
    It is in the Izzyondroid repo: https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/org.polymorphicshade.tubular https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/org.polymorphicshad... I can also highly recommend the app sponsored by Louis Rossmann: Grayjay. It can do everything that Tubular does and much, much more. It also uses a plugin architecture so you don't have to wait for an update of the app when Youtube blocks it again. https://grayjay.app/ https://grayjay.app/ It's also on the Play Store but without any plugins due to Google policy.
    - stavros 2y ago
      Thank you! I've added the repo and will look at Grayjay now.
- anotherhue 2y ago
  yt-dlp has a sponsorblock integration that removes the segments from the downloaded file.
  - wanderingmind 2y ago
    Yes I use it in Desktop/laptops, but integrating it in Android through termux was a pain. I recently found out about [Seal](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.junkfood.seal/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.junkfood.seal/) which seems to provide a front end for yt-dlp in Android. Might try this out soon.
Always42 2y ago
i have been using sponsor block firefox extension for some time. It's incredible. Youtubers I watch (LTT, marcushouse) are typically shilling crap like vpn or those stupid ray bud things. Youtube is not usable without adblocker and annoying without sponsorblock
- rchaud 2y ago
  Those channels are essentially informercials with brand deals. Rather than skipping sponsors, I dumped them altogether. LTT content especially has become far more vacuous over time. It's as if the videos are a vessel around which to place ads.
  - flutas 2y ago
    Hard agree. I used to watch LMG all the time, then it felt like the content turned to infomercials. Then that whole drama thing went on and the fact that (in a leaked video) they had a manager say "you gonna get up on that table and dance for me" at the end of a HR meeting with zero reactions aside from laughing led me to fully block all of their channels. To me it's clear they have an internal culture problem that came along with the money.
    - BonoboIO 2y ago
      I find the LTT stupid ideas like watercooling his server room funny but without Sponsorblock it’s a pain. Also their merch … this is so overpriced. A screwdriver for 70 dollar, when nearly the same product costs 20. But there are enough people that buy that stuff.
      - Dylan16807 2y ago
        As far as I'm aware it's a similar price to screwdrivers of similar quality. Much cheaper options exist but I wouldn't call them "nearly the same".
        2y ago
wruza 2y ago
Please if you report segments, use a correct type! I’ve seen enough segments to be marked as ads when they are self-promotion and self-promotion when they are barely promotion and more like further exploration info.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  It's pretty inevitable when you have stuff like this that "ads" devolves into "the boring parts". It's all volunteer driven and there's way too many videos to moderate, so it is what it is.
dang 2y ago
Related: iSponsorBlockTV v2: SponsorBlock for TVs and game consoles - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37873749 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37873749 - Oct 2023 (115 comments) SponsorBlock – Skip sponsor, filler, intro, outro, like/sub reminders on YouTube - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35733993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35733993 - April 2023 (4 comments) SponsorBlock – Skip over sponsorship segments on YouTube - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26886275 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26886275 - April 2021 (174 comments) An open-source browser extension to auto-skip sponsored segments on YouTube - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21743196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21743196 - Dec 2019 (101 comments) Show HN: SponsorBlock – Skip sponsorship segments of YouTube videos - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20778926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20778926 - Aug 2019 (137 comments)
nikisweeting 2y ago
For anyone that watches a lot of YouTube I also highly recommend the "Tweaks for YouTube" extension, it's totally transformed my watching experience and fixes a lot of the little nits I have with the facebook UI and algorithmic feeds. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tweaks-for-youtube/ogkoifddpkoabehfemkolflcjhklmkge https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tweaks-for-youtube/...
heraldgeezer 2y ago
Firefox + ublock origin + this + enhancer for youtube = Youtube bliss :) I dont auto skip sponsors as some are actually useful but clicking the button works
- hnarn 2y ago
  Using yt-dlp to download video files is great too because it has support for sponsorblock[1] which will then automatically remove the segments you choose from the file. [1]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#sponsorblock-options https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#sponsorb...
fngjdflmdflg 2y ago
One issue with SponsorBlock is that people use skip to highlight[0] on music, which should be illegal. To me there often is no highlight for music. You need to hear the first part of the piece in order to enjoy the second. And people have different views on what counts as the highlight. I don't even like seeing the skip to highlight color on the scrub bar in videos that are just music. Skip non music[1] is good though. [0] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Highlight https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Highlight [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Music:_Non-Music_Section https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Music:_Non-Music_Section
- Joe_Cool 2y ago
  You can just turn that off in the options including the marker on the seek bar. Also when it is bad don't hesitate to downvote. The database is only that good because of user feedback (and some anti-botting measures). You can check hidden segments and votes here: https://sb.ltn.fi/ https://sb.ltn.fi/ And messing about with the API is made easy here: https://mruy.github.io/sponsorBlockControl-sveltekit/ https://mruy.github.io/sponsorBlockControl-sveltekit/ You can find this and many more things on the wiki you already linked.
  - fngjdflmdflg 2y ago
    I think that turns off the skip to highlight everywhere, right? I still want to see skip to highlight in non music videos. Also, looking at the use cases on the wiki for highlight, musics should not be allowed > Skipping to the point/most important part of the video Skipping to the part of the video referred to by the title Skipping to the part of the video referred to by the thumbnail Skipping to the part of the video referenced from a preview/teaser at the start of the video There is no "most important part" of a piece of music. And the last three don't apply at all.
    - Joe_Cool 2y ago
      That is planned per channel but not a priority at the moment: https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/issues/435 https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/issues/435
giancarlostoro 2y ago
Honestly, my brain tunes out the sponsored segment. Just like it did for TV ads.
andrewmcwatters 2y ago
I suspect if I was creating videos and putting them on YouTube, the best way to make SponsorBlock obsolete would be to put a banner on my video that lasted the duration of my video. You’d then need to create a new type of in-video adblocker that displayed an overlay to cover the advertisement, since you could no longer block it by timestamp.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  That may sadly be the next step if this does become prolific enough for ads to stop sponsoring individuals. A race to the bottom of quality against consumers who want free stuff and content creators who want to pay rent.
j-bos 2y ago
Youtube premium also supports skipping past commonly skipped video timestamps.
torlok 2y ago
Was looking for this exactly. I understand that you have to make money somehow if you want to dedicate yourself to YouTube, but I always found sponsor segments to be worse than native advertising, and just plain gross to watch.
- godelski 2y ago
  > worse than native advertising While I agree with the sentiment, this point I highly disagree with. At least sponsor segments are (at their face) transparent. I'm sad that there's many disingenuous products and misinformation in these segments, but at least you know it is an ad. On the other hand, native advertising has all those same bad things but additionally tries to deceive you into believing it isn't an ad. Analogously, I'd be upset if someone handed me a glass of piss when I asked for something to drink. But at least I can recognize it and turn it down. On the other hand, if you hand me a glass of piss and actively take efforts to make it look, taste, and appear like water, al while telling me it is water, sure, I probably won't be upset because I don't know. But dear god... if I find out... Well, I don't think there are many reasons that someone should be punched in the face, but that doesn't mean there are zero reasons to... Deception is so much worse. Btw: check out ReVanced[0]. You can rebuild the YouTube APK (and others) to integrate adblock and sponsor block. All optional too! Unlike pihole, it'll actually achieve that. [0] https://revanced.app/ https://revanced.app/
- lolinder 2y ago
  > worse than native advertising Hard disagree. Sponsored segments are better in a few ways: * They're a return to the days where ads didn't need to be targeted at people but instead were targeted at content. "If you're watching this educational video you might like Brilliant" is a heck of a lot less intrusive than "I noticed you were searching for shoes the other day, so here's a Nike ad". * The creator has to own it. There's no hiding behind the algorithm or Google or whatever, they have to actually read off the advertisement. I find the human in the loop serves as a valuable filter on what gets advertised (at least on the channels I follow). * The best creators actually make the ad worth watching. See Terrible Writing Advice for an example. I don't always watch the ad, but I sometimes do because it's just fun. In general I agree that ads are bad in all their forms, but sponsor reads are one of the least offensive items in a bad genre.
swfsql 2y ago
I wish there existed something like this for arbitrary videos such as for movies..
- anotherhue 2y ago
  Kinda https://runpee.com/ https://runpee.com/
OldMatey 2y ago
Is there an equivalent that anyone knows about for Podcasts?
dailykoder 2y ago
I don't mind when youtubers have their own in-video ads tbh. Yes, a lot of them are often advertising really stupid shit (because it prolly gives the most money), but at least on most videos it doesn't break the flow as heavy as the normal youtube ads and it ain't as annoying. So I'd give them these few seconds of brainwashing me to deliver content that I like. That's fine. I just stopped viewing people that use too many ads. Simple as that
- 8note 2y ago
  Bdouble0100's are as entertaining as the rest of the video. Still screws with the flow, but worth skipping then going back to watch after
- Timber-6539 2y ago
  Your content creators were always going to increase monetization strategies, whether you gave them the nod or not. That's the beauty of capitalism hard at work. I personally couldn't use YouTube without Sponsorblock as a matter of principle, I hate ads. Doesn't matter how many times you try to categorize and dress them up.
  - ok_dad 2y ago
    What's the alternative to ads? I pay for YouTube premium, and I just mute the sponsor segment ads in videos. I get good information and entertainment from those video creators, so I would like them to get paid to continue doing it.
    - Iulioh 2y ago
      Just to make you aware, they added pseudo SponsorBlock on TY Premium. If you "skip" 10 seconds on a sponsored segment a "skip to next part button" will appear on screen to the end of the sponsored segment (it does not use chapters and it does not appear 100% of times)
    - dailykoder 2y ago
      Yes, the alternative to ads is paying. As someone mentioned in this thread: It's kinda shit that these sponsored segments don't get skipped automatically if you pay for premium. I am too greedy to pay for premium tbh and as long as µblock works with the normal ads, I'm fine. If it stops working one day, I'll probably rather stop using youtube instead of paying for premium
ddtaylor 2y ago
I have been using it since beta and it's always awesome.
voidUpdate 2y ago
I still don't understand a lot of youtube advertising. Like for me, if I'm being advertised something, I instinctively don't trust it, because they're having to pay people to say good things about it rather than people who have used it telling me it's a good thing. And there are still so many sponsorships from places like BetterHelp, which has been known to be a scam for a while now, and Raid Shadow Legends, which is just a crappy mobile game that is about as "mobile game" as you can get. The only reason I use onshape is because a friend recommended it to me, and I was very skeptical about it initially
- freetonik 2y ago
  I feel the same. The more I hear about a brand in youtube ads (or any ads, for that matter), the more "scammy" feeling I get about it. At this point I feel I won't even consider looking into NordVPN, Betterhelp, or SquareSpace, even though I understand how this feeling is unjustified.
  - bugtodiffer 2y ago
    > I understand how this feeling is unjustified Every company you listed is bad. NordVPN wasn't caught yet, but it's to good to be true and ALWAYS having 73% off is illegal marketing. Betterhelp sold data to facebook to retarget you with ads. SquareSpace had a security issue were entering the email of an old, not yet migrated account, was instant account takeover... how does this slip through security reviews? Everything that needs my favorite minecraft youtuber to advertise it, is scam. It wouldn't sell without influencer marketing.
    - voidUpdate 2y ago
      The thing about nordVPN (and VPN services in general) is they always talk about how funneling all your traffic through them makes it more secure and it means that governments cant spy on you and whatever. But sending all your traffic through a single point of failure seems like a bad idea from a government protection view, and how is it any more secure than https? The only thing that I've seen it be good for is making it look like you're from somewhere else to watch different stuff on streaming services. I think Tom Scott put it well here https://youtu.be/WVDQEoe6ZWY https://youtu.be/WVDQEoe6ZWY
surfingdino 2y ago
I like the technical side of such projects, because I'm a dev. I am also a creator and I am always conflicted when see such tools, because it does affect the bottom line of other creators.
- welferkj 2y ago
  I hate the very idea of "content creation" for its own sake, so this is perfect. Youtube was a million times better when it was people uploading quirky and informative videos about stuff they actually cared about, as opposed to soullessly shilling "content" dominating the recommendations no matter how much you try to convince the algorithm you aren't interested.
  - alkonaut 2y ago
    A hundred times this. I'd go so far as saying I'd trade the 2024 media landscape for the 2014 one in a heartbeat. And honestly, I'd also trade that one for the 1994 media landscape. "Content creators" are the worst thing to happen to media in 50 years.
maccard 2y ago
I think this is inevitable, but I’m also disappointed. I run an adblocker because deep tracking is invasive, consent can’t freely be given for every website, a significantly detracted user experience from relayouts while reading, huge performance costs, and bandwidth usage. We’re seeing here on this thread that it is in fact that people just don’t want ads. These content creators need to be paid somehow.
bugtodiffer 2y ago
I can not live without this. Even if I am on a device with premium, I still need to use like 3 different blockers/extensions to get YouTube to a state were it is usable.
seanvelasco 2y ago
i've gotten used to having no ads thanks to Firefox with uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock that it became painful when i try to browse the web on others' computers SponsorBlock is a godsend when watching Linus Tech Tips where it feels like it's 80% ads and 20% content for other YouTubers, i find that their ads are actually useful if they're relevant to the video's content. for example, i discovered Boot.dev when i was watching bigboxSWE
account42 2y ago
Personally I just stop watching videos and entire channels with sponsored segments. If they are okay with shilling some crappy product for a little cash I don't trust them not to sell out or be deceptive in less obvious ways as well.
- matsemann 2y ago
  I also feel it's annoying that videos have become so long to cram in more ad breaks. It's not that I'm "tiktok generation that only can consume short content", but some things just aren't warranted a 15+ minute video. I'm interested, but not that interested. Sorry Steve Mould, Veritasium etc., I love your videos, but many of them could have been a few minutes long
- ThrowawayTestr 2y ago
  I also expect my entertainment providers to work for free.
histories 2y ago
I think this is the most interesting read: https://blog.ajay.app/voting-and-pseudo-randomness-or-sponsorblock-or-youtube-sponsorship-segment-blocker https://blog.ajay.app/voting-and-pseudo-randomness-or-sponso...
sheerun 2y ago
Skipping is not anonymous by default: "So, if you watch a video, and it does have segments, and you do skip a segment, then the server does get access the that segment ID, which is directly linked to the video."
- alkonaut 2y ago
  What do you mean by "not anonymous" here? Obviously the server will receive what video you are looking at, as well as anything it can deduce from your request (such as IP) in order to work. Whether it just gets the video (required to work at all) or an individual segment (not quite required but could lessen the payload size) doesn't matter for the level of anonymity does it?
  - anticensor 2y ago
    SponsorBlock is 20-anonymous: https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/wiki/K-Anonymity https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/wiki/K-Anonymity
pprotas 2y ago
uBlock Origin, Consent-o-Matic to automatically decline cookies, SponsorBlock and Argentinian VPN for $2/month YouTube premium makes the internet usable again.
- nicce 2y ago
  What is specific with Argentinian?
  - pprotas 2y ago
    Some countries have way cheaper YouTube Premium prices, so you can just sign up in that country using a VPN. I think that these days Argentina might not be the cheapest anymore, though.
    - nicce 2y ago
      Ah, I thought that VPN should be bought from there.
- ivann 2y ago
  YouTube has started cancelling premium subscription made in a different country. https://www.pcmag.com/news/youtube-cracking-down-on-cheap-premium-plans-bought-via-vpn https://www.pcmag.com/news/youtube-cracking-down-on-cheap-pr...
billpg 2y ago
But how will I become an actual member of the House of Lords by buying a square foot of land in Scotland if I skip the sponsor blocks of videos?
frankzander 2y ago
Most thread opener start with "I" ... seems that people need to make a statement why or why they are not using Sponsorblock. Interesting.
hnburnsy 2y ago
Ads are just going to migrate into the context via bugs or in video popups/banners like we now have on cable and network TV in the US. Of course this won't reduce ad breaks at all.
hnburnsy 2y ago
Two questions. 1) if I skip ads on a video via Smart Tube Next, does this directly reduce the creator's income? 2) why do creators ask for likes and subscribe, does this directly increase income?
- jaderobbins1 2y ago
  By no means an expert, but these are my thoughts: 1) probably not directly. Eventually the advertisers might notice a decrease in effectiveness lower their investment in that area (either by lowering the amount they are willing to give the creator for a sponsored segment or not doing sponsored content entirely). Eventually if they think the ROI isn't there they will reduce their spend. 2) You have to feed the algorithm beast to be successful. Even channels with high subscriptions still get a tremendous amount of views from YouTube's recommended algorithm. One big part of that algorithm is "Engagement" which includes the number of subscribers, likes, and any other engagement on the video (such as comments, which is why you'll see a lot of comment-bait questions in videos now like (if you disagree let me know in the comments).
  - hnburnsy 2y ago
    thx
ystdhjs 2y ago
[flagged]
rldjbpin 2y ago
maybe my viewing habits are not much different from the contributors, but i am very impressed with the effectiveness of the community effort here. i have seen some cases where videos get the right tagging within minutes of going live. almost suggesting that the creators might be secretly doing the tagging for us! from further digging, it appears that the initial community efforts have also helped develop a neural network based approach (https://github.com/andrewzlee/NeuralBlock https://github.com/andrewzlee/NeuralBlock). this appears to be the top current contributor according to the leaderboard (https://leaderboard.sbstats.uk/ https://leaderboard.sbstats.uk/), with almost 8x the contributions to the next submitter, and ~1.6% of total submissions. regardless of your moral stand on this, a very impressive collection of open-source efforts!
webspinner 2y ago
I spend a lot of time on Youtube, I watch live trials, so this helps a lot, thanks!
iwishiknewlisp 2y ago
Revanced with sponsorblock is the best method of watching youtube on mobile without ads. I think their is an ethical question about supporting creators, so I think if you do use an adblockwr and sponsorblock you should consider donating directly to creators you watch.

661 points by anotherhue 2y ago

dtx1 2y ago

Firefox, UBlock, Sponsorblock. Only way to tube

Also extra useful: iSponsorBlockTV. You run it in on a server and you can set it up with the YouTube app on all your commercial streaming boxes that don't support browser extensions. https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV https://github.com/dmunozv04/iSponsorBlockTV

add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
How does this work, how does it get between the client and youtube.com?
- synchrone 2y ago
  It uses the tv youtube app remote control over local network to see if it plays a video, and skips at the right time.
  - ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
    Ha. What a fantastic piece of hack. Absolutely brilliant. Love it.
post_break 2y ago
Oh my god I could kiss you. It works on AppleTV.

nerdjon 2y ago

[flagged]

dialup_sounds 2y ago
With sponsorships I think people are just annoyed by them being repetitive. There are maybe ten companies that seem to sponsor every YouTube channel and podcast, and there's only so many times you can get pitched the same wallet or VPN before you develop the instinct to skip ahead. But before we skip ahead, let me tell you about this comment's sponsor, Squarespace. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace is the all-in-one platform to build a beautiful online presence and run your business. Use code "eyeroll" to get 10% off your first order.
- chankstein38 2y ago
  Oh god lol don't give companies who buy ad space any ideas!
Nextgrid 2y ago
If I’m going to skip it manually anyway, may as well let the machine do it. The whole point of computers is to automate busywork. No sales will be lost either way as I’m already a customer of the website builder and am absolutely not in the market for a VPN and never will be.
vikramkr 2y ago
It's because it's an annoyance with ads and even if people want a free web to exist something something prisoners dilemma. Also these ads are in videos even if you're e.g. paying for YouTube premium so it's not just the free web.
ulyssys 2y ago
It's not necessarily an either-or situation. It can be privacy, annoyance, and a general lack of effectiveness. Advertising isn't just the art of selling a product, it's the art of getting past our normal social defense that someone is trying to take our money, our attention, and our time. Advertising is necessarily adversarial, and everyone's tolerance for it is going to be unique depending on how heavily they rely on free resources, but it is a necessary unpleasantry at its best. If I could even recall the exact number of times an advertisement of any type appealed to me in the last 20 or more years, it would amount to less than the fingers on my hand. I used to welcome all of Google's advertising tracking and relevance-seeking as the best version of advertising out there, but even that resulted in unimpressive and less than meaningful ads. If Google can't advertise something useful to me, then I have zero qualms about walking by, palm facing them in refusal. Because of these product failures, and because it is unwise to trust a big company with all of your personal data, I rarely desired to be advertised to at all. Individual content creators have the opportunity to give me a chance with something unique that they know that their viewers would be interested in because they (hopefully) relate to their audience much more than a faceless corporation, and can present a product in its best, most relevant light. But if that content creator is trying to sell me a Scandinavian VPN service or a game of legendary shadows, you can bet I have zero interest. All this may change as GenAI-driven methods may key in on relevant interests based on what I wish to share about myself. I'm hoping that Apple's Intelligence systems will end up preserving privacy as well as driving a more effective ad model.

jocaal 2y ago

The creator of this extension also makes DeArrow [1]. It replaces the clickbait thumbnails and titles with less annoying ones. I highly recommend it. [1] https://dearrow.ajay.app/ https://dearrow.ajay.app/

rendaw 2y ago
Whoah, how does it do that? It looks like magic, so does it handle the clickbait use of "this" as well ("this game", "this recipe", "this film")? I'm using one that just decapitalizes and uses a random frame thumbnail from the middle, which is okay.
- gabegm 2y ago
  According to the extension homepage: "DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube. The goal is to make titles accurate and reduce sensationalism. No more arrows, ridiculous faces, and no more clickbait. ... There are currently 64,634 users who have submitted 230,432 titles and 107,027 thumbnails."
zamadatix 2y ago
Oh my god, what a difference it made. Thanks for sharing this. I do wish this could have just been a feature tacked on the Sponsor Block extension, especially considering it has features which rely on that data, but otherwise it's perfect. For those that haven't watched the demo video: for videos that don't have community thumbnails or titles it has options allowing it to automatically pick a random (non-sponsor segment) screenshot and automatically clean up the title (remove emoji, fix capitalization).
xdennis 2y ago
I used to use it, unfortunately it doesn't work so well with titles. It lowercases unknown acronyms and initcaps all words even in languages which Do Not Use This Capitalization For Titles.
- teddyh 2y ago

noone_youknow 2y ago

As a YouTuber, I’m conflicted about this. My main channel (non-tech) is small, but is monetised, and YouTube see fit to throw me a _very_ variable amount of money every month. CPMs are down right now so revenue has tanked along with it, it’ll pick back up at some point, but the variability is itself the pain point. My videos are relatively expensive and time consuming to make, but people seem to find them useful, and even enjoyable. The occasional (relevant) sponsor read or similar has been a huge help in providing some stability in the past, and I know for many channels it’s the main source of income since YPP revenue share can be so volatile. I do worry that if this takes off it will just result in those sponsors pulling their budgets for this type of advertising, and it’ll be another nail in the coffin for creators. Sure many of us also do patreon etc but that’s never really sat right with me personally (and see also the post on HN just today about Apple coming for a revenue split there for another creator-hostile storm brewing). On the other hand, I totally get the hatred of “the usual suspect” sponsors (VPNs, low-quality learning platforms etc) that get done to death because of their aggressive sponsor budgets and not-unreasonable deals. Those get shoehorned into a ton of videos and it’s a shame, but a blunt instrument like this is likely to kill off sponsorships as a whole, not just those bad ones.

efilife 2y ago
Don't do your videos for money. You are interrupting users that pay for YouTube premium with ads in the middle of your videos. Set up a way to donate to you on YouTube, channel memberships are an option, they display next to the "subscribe button".
- noone_youknow 2y ago
  > Don’t do your videos for money. This is of course a valid suggestion, and there are many, many creators that do this. However I think the world would be a poorer place if we lost all the creators that do need to make _some_ money for their channels to survive, which IMHO is the natural endgame if we remove or block all routes to passive monetisation. I do get the issue with premium, as a premium subscriber myself I too find it annoying to be interrupted by yet another 30-second (or increasingly, more) read for some shady VPN or whatever. Channel memberships, like patreon etc., are an option, but have a vanishingly small rate of uptake, and people expect some sort of value-add in return (early access to videos, a discord, and so on). Without other routes to revenue this just devalues the content itself, which I feel may be part of the problem here - we no longer value attach value to quality content. Rick Beato made a great video on the effects of this (in the music industry) recently, and it’s not great - but it does feel like all media is going a similar way.

t0bia_s 2y ago

Freetube.io has it implemented already few years.

delta_p_delta_x 2y ago

For anyone using an Android phone, the ReVanced[1] patches for the YouTube app (formerly just YouTube Vanced) applies both an adblock and SponsorBlock, on top of various other convenience features. You'll need to provide your own YouTube APK file to patch. I'll never go back to using non-Vanced YouTube ever again. Advertisements are a blight on this world. They are the reason for marketing and sales budgets being quadruple that of engineering and UI/UX budgets, the whole 'form before function' thing, and enshittification in general. [1]: https://revanced.app/patches?pkg=com.google.android.youtube https://revanced.app/patches?pkg=com.google.android.youtube

cypherpunks01 2y ago
Came here to say the same thing. Revanced YT patches for Android are extremely sweet. And yes, even better features (for viewers) than YT Premium.
BLKNSLVR 2y ago
The only thing that moved me on from using (Re)Vanced was setting up my own Invidious instance, and using the Clipious app (F-Droid store) to access it. Clipious, by default, connects to public instances of Invidious, so you can try it out without having to setup your own instance. ReVanced remains my backup option, however.
MaxikCZ 2y ago
Has the installation gotten easier? Last time I checked I needed to find a speccific version apk of youtube app itself that revanced patcher patches before installing. Too many steps to make way too often.
- delta_p_delta_x 2y ago
  > Too many steps to make way too often. This is not how I feel. The last time I patched my app was several months ago, and it's still running fine. I do have to patch about twice a year and it's a five-minute affair of getting the correct version, going to APKMirror and downloading the corresponding version of YouTube, and patching it with the latest app.

wanderingmind 2y ago

Sponsorblock is not as blunt a tool as people make it here. You can only block specific type of ads and you can whitelist whole channels which I do for some niche channels I subscribe to. In Android, I use Tubular [1], the NewPipe fork that integrates Sponsorblock and ReturnYoutube Dislike. My only additional request in this awesome app is if we can download the video after snipping out the sponsor block sections. [1] https://github.com/polymorphicshade/Tubular https://github.com/polymorphicshade/Tubular

stavros 2y ago
That sounds useful, thanks! Odd that it's not on any of the stores (eg F-droid).
- Joe_Cool 2y ago
  It is in the Izzyondroid repo: https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/org.polymorphicshade.tubular https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/org.polymorphicshad... I can also highly recommend the app sponsored by Louis Rossmann: Grayjay. It can do everything that Tubular does and much, much more. It also uses a plugin architecture so you don't have to wait for an update of the app when Youtube blocks it again. https://grayjay.app/ https://grayjay.app/ It's also on the Play Store but without any plugins due to Google policy.
  - stavros 2y ago
    Thank you! I've added the repo and will look at Grayjay now.
anotherhue 2y ago
yt-dlp has a sponsorblock integration that removes the segments from the downloaded file.
- wanderingmind 2y ago
  Yes I use it in Desktop/laptops, but integrating it in Android through termux was a pain. I recently found out about [Seal](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.junkfood.seal/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.junkfood.seal/) which seems to provide a front end for yt-dlp in Android. Might try this out soon.

Always42 2y ago

i have been using sponsor block firefox extension for some time. It's incredible. Youtubers I watch (LTT, marcushouse) are typically shilling crap like vpn or those stupid ray bud things. Youtube is not usable without adblocker and annoying without sponsorblock

rchaud 2y ago
Those channels are essentially informercials with brand deals. Rather than skipping sponsors, I dumped them altogether. LTT content especially has become far more vacuous over time. It's as if the videos are a vessel around which to place ads.
- flutas 2y ago
  Hard agree. I used to watch LMG all the time, then it felt like the content turned to infomercials. Then that whole drama thing went on and the fact that (in a leaked video) they had a manager say "you gonna get up on that table and dance for me" at the end of a HR meeting with zero reactions aside from laughing led me to fully block all of their channels. To me it's clear they have an internal culture problem that came along with the money.
  - BonoboIO 2y ago
    I find the LTT stupid ideas like watercooling his server room funny but without Sponsorblock it’s a pain. Also their merch … this is so overpriced. A screwdriver for 70 dollar, when nearly the same product costs 20. But there are enough people that buy that stuff.
    - Dylan16807 2y ago
      As far as I'm aware it's a similar price to screwdrivers of similar quality. Much cheaper options exist but I wouldn't call them "nearly the same".
      - 2y ago

wruza 2y ago

Please if you report segments, use a correct type! I’ve seen enough segments to be marked as ads when they are self-promotion and self-promotion when they are barely promotion and more like further exploration info.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
It's pretty inevitable when you have stuff like this that "ads" devolves into "the boring parts". It's all volunteer driven and there's way too many videos to moderate, so it is what it is.

dang 2y ago

Related: iSponsorBlockTV v2: SponsorBlock for TVs and game consoles - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37873749 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37873749 - Oct 2023 (115 comments) SponsorBlock – Skip sponsor, filler, intro, outro, like/sub reminders on YouTube - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35733993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35733993 - April 2023 (4 comments) SponsorBlock – Skip over sponsorship segments on YouTube - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26886275 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26886275 - April 2021 (174 comments) An open-source browser extension to auto-skip sponsored segments on YouTube - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21743196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21743196 - Dec 2019 (101 comments) Show HN: SponsorBlock – Skip sponsorship segments of YouTube videos - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20778926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20778926 - Aug 2019 (137 comments)

nikisweeting 2y ago

For anyone that watches a lot of YouTube I also highly recommend the "Tweaks for YouTube" extension, it's totally transformed my watching experience and fixes a lot of the little nits I have with the facebook UI and algorithmic feeds. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tweaks-for-youtube/ogkoifddpkoabehfemkolflcjhklmkge https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tweaks-for-youtube/...

heraldgeezer 2y ago

Firefox + ublock origin + this + enhancer for youtube = Youtube bliss :) I dont auto skip sponsors as some are actually useful but clicking the button works

hnarn 2y ago
Using yt-dlp to download video files is great too because it has support for sponsorblock[1] which will then automatically remove the segments you choose from the file. [1]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#sponsorblock-options https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#sponsorb...

fngjdflmdflg 2y ago

One issue with SponsorBlock is that people use skip to highlight[0] on music, which should be illegal. To me there often is no highlight for music. You need to hear the first part of the piece in order to enjoy the second. And people have different views on what counts as the highlight. I don't even like seeing the skip to highlight color on the scrub bar in videos that are just music. Skip non music[1] is good though. [0] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Highlight https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Highlight [1] https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Music:_Non-Music_Section https://wiki.sponsor.ajay.app/w/Music:_Non-Music_Section

Joe_Cool 2y ago
You can just turn that off in the options including the marker on the seek bar. Also when it is bad don't hesitate to downvote. The database is only that good because of user feedback (and some anti-botting measures). You can check hidden segments and votes here: https://sb.ltn.fi/ https://sb.ltn.fi/ And messing about with the API is made easy here: https://mruy.github.io/sponsorBlockControl-sveltekit/ https://mruy.github.io/sponsorBlockControl-sveltekit/ You can find this and many more things on the wiki you already linked.
- fngjdflmdflg 2y ago
  I think that turns off the skip to highlight everywhere, right? I still want to see skip to highlight in non music videos. Also, looking at the use cases on the wiki for highlight, musics should not be allowed > Skipping to the point/most important part of the video Skipping to the part of the video referred to by the title Skipping to the part of the video referred to by the thumbnail Skipping to the part of the video referenced from a preview/teaser at the start of the video There is no "most important part" of a piece of music. And the last three don't apply at all.
  - Joe_Cool 2y ago
    That is planned per channel but not a priority at the moment: https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/issues/435 https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/issues/435

giancarlostoro 2y ago

Honestly, my brain tunes out the sponsored segment. Just like it did for TV ads.

andrewmcwatters 2y ago

I suspect if I was creating videos and putting them on YouTube, the best way to make SponsorBlock obsolete would be to put a banner on my video that lasted the duration of my video. You’d then need to create a new type of in-video adblocker that displayed an overlay to cover the advertisement, since you could no longer block it by timestamp.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
That may sadly be the next step if this does become prolific enough for ads to stop sponsoring individuals. A race to the bottom of quality against consumers who want free stuff and content creators who want to pay rent.

j-bos 2y ago

Youtube premium also supports skipping past commonly skipped video timestamps.

torlok 2y ago

Was looking for this exactly. I understand that you have to make money somehow if you want to dedicate yourself to YouTube, but I always found sponsor segments to be worse than native advertising, and just plain gross to watch.

godelski 2y ago
> worse than native advertising While I agree with the sentiment, this point I highly disagree with. At least sponsor segments are (at their face) transparent. I'm sad that there's many disingenuous products and misinformation in these segments, but at least you know it is an ad. On the other hand, native advertising has all those same bad things but additionally tries to deceive you into believing it isn't an ad. Analogously, I'd be upset if someone handed me a glass of piss when I asked for something to drink. But at least I can recognize it and turn it down. On the other hand, if you hand me a glass of piss and actively take efforts to make it look, taste, and appear like water, al while telling me it is water, sure, I probably won't be upset because I don't know. But dear god... if I find out... Well, I don't think there are many reasons that someone should be punched in the face, but that doesn't mean there are zero reasons to... Deception is so much worse. Btw: check out ReVanced[0]. You can rebuild the YouTube APK (and others) to integrate adblock and sponsor block. All optional too! Unlike pihole, it'll actually achieve that. [0] https://revanced.app/ https://revanced.app/
lolinder 2y ago
> worse than native advertising Hard disagree. Sponsored segments are better in a few ways: * They're a return to the days where ads didn't need to be targeted at people but instead were targeted at content. "If you're watching this educational video you might like Brilliant" is a heck of a lot less intrusive than "I noticed you were searching for shoes the other day, so here's a Nike ad". * The creator has to own it. There's no hiding behind the algorithm or Google or whatever, they have to actually read off the advertisement. I find the human in the loop serves as a valuable filter on what gets advertised (at least on the channels I follow). * The best creators actually make the ad worth watching. See Terrible Writing Advice for an example. I don't always watch the ad, but I sometimes do because it's just fun. In general I agree that ads are bad in all their forms, but sponsor reads are one of the least offensive items in a bad genre.

swfsql 2y ago

I wish there existed something like this for arbitrary videos such as for movies..

anotherhue 2y ago
Kinda https://runpee.com/ https://runpee.com/

OldMatey 2y ago

Is there an equivalent that anyone knows about for Podcasts?

dailykoder 2y ago

I don't mind when youtubers have their own in-video ads tbh. Yes, a lot of them are often advertising really stupid shit (because it prolly gives the most money), but at least on most videos it doesn't break the flow as heavy as the normal youtube ads and it ain't as annoying. So I'd give them these few seconds of brainwashing me to deliver content that I like. That's fine. I just stopped viewing people that use too many ads. Simple as that

8note 2y ago
Bdouble0100's are as entertaining as the rest of the video. Still screws with the flow, but worth skipping then going back to watch after
Timber-6539 2y ago
Your content creators were always going to increase monetization strategies, whether you gave them the nod or not. That's the beauty of capitalism hard at work. I personally couldn't use YouTube without Sponsorblock as a matter of principle, I hate ads. Doesn't matter how many times you try to categorize and dress them up.
- ok_dad 2y ago
  What's the alternative to ads? I pay for YouTube premium, and I just mute the sponsor segment ads in videos. I get good information and entertainment from those video creators, so I would like them to get paid to continue doing it.
  - Iulioh 2y ago
    Just to make you aware, they added pseudo SponsorBlock on TY Premium. If you "skip" 10 seconds on a sponsored segment a "skip to next part button" will appear on screen to the end of the sponsored segment (it does not use chapters and it does not appear 100% of times)
  - dailykoder 2y ago
    Yes, the alternative to ads is paying. As someone mentioned in this thread: It's kinda shit that these sponsored segments don't get skipped automatically if you pay for premium. I am too greedy to pay for premium tbh and as long as µblock works with the normal ads, I'm fine. If it stops working one day, I'll probably rather stop using youtube instead of paying for premium

ddtaylor 2y ago

I have been using it since beta and it's always awesome.

voidUpdate 2y ago

I still don't understand a lot of youtube advertising. Like for me, if I'm being advertised something, I instinctively don't trust it, because they're having to pay people to say good things about it rather than people who have used it telling me it's a good thing. And there are still so many sponsorships from places like BetterHelp, which has been known to be a scam for a while now, and Raid Shadow Legends, which is just a crappy mobile game that is about as "mobile game" as you can get. The only reason I use onshape is because a friend recommended it to me, and I was very skeptical about it initially

freetonik 2y ago
I feel the same. The more I hear about a brand in youtube ads (or any ads, for that matter), the more "scammy" feeling I get about it. At this point I feel I won't even consider looking into NordVPN, Betterhelp, or SquareSpace, even though I understand how this feeling is unjustified.
- bugtodiffer 2y ago
  > I understand how this feeling is unjustified Every company you listed is bad. NordVPN wasn't caught yet, but it's to good to be true and ALWAYS having 73% off is illegal marketing. Betterhelp sold data to facebook to retarget you with ads. SquareSpace had a security issue were entering the email of an old, not yet migrated account, was instant account takeover... how does this slip through security reviews? Everything that needs my favorite minecraft youtuber to advertise it, is scam. It wouldn't sell without influencer marketing.
  - voidUpdate 2y ago
    The thing about nordVPN (and VPN services in general) is they always talk about how funneling all your traffic through them makes it more secure and it means that governments cant spy on you and whatever. But sending all your traffic through a single point of failure seems like a bad idea from a government protection view, and how is it any more secure than https? The only thing that I've seen it be good for is making it look like you're from somewhere else to watch different stuff on streaming services. I think Tom Scott put it well here https://youtu.be/WVDQEoe6ZWY https://youtu.be/WVDQEoe6ZWY

surfingdino 2y ago

I like the technical side of such projects, because I'm a dev. I am also a creator and I am always conflicted when see such tools, because it does affect the bottom line of other creators.

welferkj 2y ago
I hate the very idea of "content creation" for its own sake, so this is perfect. Youtube was a million times better when it was people uploading quirky and informative videos about stuff they actually cared about, as opposed to soullessly shilling "content" dominating the recommendations no matter how much you try to convince the algorithm you aren't interested.
- alkonaut 2y ago
  A hundred times this. I'd go so far as saying I'd trade the 2024 media landscape for the 2014 one in a heartbeat. And honestly, I'd also trade that one for the 1994 media landscape. "Content creators" are the worst thing to happen to media in 50 years.

maccard 2y ago

I think this is inevitable, but I’m also disappointed. I run an adblocker because deep tracking is invasive, consent can’t freely be given for every website, a significantly detracted user experience from relayouts while reading, huge performance costs, and bandwidth usage. We’re seeing here on this thread that it is in fact that people just don’t want ads. These content creators need to be paid somehow.

bugtodiffer 2y ago

I can not live without this. Even if I am on a device with premium, I still need to use like 3 different blockers/extensions to get YouTube to a state were it is usable.

seanvelasco 2y ago

i've gotten used to having no ads thanks to Firefox with uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock that it became painful when i try to browse the web on others' computers SponsorBlock is a godsend when watching Linus Tech Tips where it feels like it's 80% ads and 20% content for other YouTubers, i find that their ads are actually useful if they're relevant to the video's content. for example, i discovered Boot.dev when i was watching bigboxSWE

account42 2y ago

Personally I just stop watching videos and entire channels with sponsored segments. If they are okay with shilling some crappy product for a little cash I don't trust them not to sell out or be deceptive in less obvious ways as well.

matsemann 2y ago
I also feel it's annoying that videos have become so long to cram in more ad breaks. It's not that I'm "tiktok generation that only can consume short content", but some things just aren't warranted a 15+ minute video. I'm interested, but not that interested. Sorry Steve Mould, Veritasium etc., I love your videos, but many of them could have been a few minutes long
ThrowawayTestr 2y ago
I also expect my entertainment providers to work for free.

histories 2y ago

I think this is the most interesting read: https://blog.ajay.app/voting-and-pseudo-randomness-or-sponsorblock-or-youtube-sponsorship-segment-blocker https://blog.ajay.app/voting-and-pseudo-randomness-or-sponso...

sheerun 2y ago

Skipping is not anonymous by default: "So, if you watch a video, and it does have segments, and you do skip a segment, then the server does get access the that segment ID, which is directly linked to the video."

alkonaut 2y ago
What do you mean by "not anonymous" here? Obviously the server will receive what video you are looking at, as well as anything it can deduce from your request (such as IP) in order to work. Whether it just gets the video (required to work at all) or an individual segment (not quite required but could lessen the payload size) doesn't matter for the level of anonymity does it?
- anticensor 2y ago
  SponsorBlock is 20-anonymous: https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/wiki/K-Anonymity https://github.com/ajayyy/SponsorBlock/wiki/K-Anonymity

pprotas 2y ago

uBlock Origin, Consent-o-Matic to automatically decline cookies, SponsorBlock and Argentinian VPN for $2/month YouTube premium makes the internet usable again.

nicce 2y ago
What is specific with Argentinian?
- pprotas 2y ago
  Some countries have way cheaper YouTube Premium prices, so you can just sign up in that country using a VPN. I think that these days Argentina might not be the cheapest anymore, though.
  - nicce 2y ago
    Ah, I thought that VPN should be bought from there.
ivann 2y ago
YouTube has started cancelling premium subscription made in a different country. https://www.pcmag.com/news/youtube-cracking-down-on-cheap-premium-plans-bought-via-vpn https://www.pcmag.com/news/youtube-cracking-down-on-cheap-pr...

billpg 2y ago

But how will I become an actual member of the House of Lords by buying a square foot of land in Scotland if I skip the sponsor blocks of videos?

frankzander 2y ago

Most thread opener start with "I" ... seems that people need to make a statement why or why they are not using Sponsorblock. Interesting.

hnburnsy 2y ago

Ads are just going to migrate into the context via bugs or in video popups/banners like we now have on cable and network TV in the US. Of course this won't reduce ad breaks at all.

hnburnsy 2y ago

Two questions. 1) if I skip ads on a video via Smart Tube Next, does this directly reduce the creator's income? 2) why do creators ask for likes and subscribe, does this directly increase income?

jaderobbins1 2y ago
By no means an expert, but these are my thoughts: 1) probably not directly. Eventually the advertisers might notice a decrease in effectiveness lower their investment in that area (either by lowering the amount they are willing to give the creator for a sponsored segment or not doing sponsored content entirely). Eventually if they think the ROI isn't there they will reduce their spend. 2) You have to feed the algorithm beast to be successful. Even channels with high subscriptions still get a tremendous amount of views from YouTube's recommended algorithm. One big part of that algorithm is "Engagement" which includes the number of subscribers, likes, and any other engagement on the video (such as comments, which is why you'll see a lot of comment-bait questions in videos now like (if you disagree let me know in the comments).
- hnburnsy 2y ago
  thx

ystdhjs 2y ago

[flagged]

rldjbpin 2y ago

maybe my viewing habits are not much different from the contributors, but i am very impressed with the effectiveness of the community effort here. i have seen some cases where videos get the right tagging within minutes of going live. almost suggesting that the creators might be secretly doing the tagging for us! from further digging, it appears that the initial community efforts have also helped develop a neural network based approach (https://github.com/andrewzlee/NeuralBlock https://github.com/andrewzlee/NeuralBlock). this appears to be the top current contributor according to the leaderboard (https://leaderboard.sbstats.uk/ https://leaderboard.sbstats.uk/), with almost 8x the contributions to the next submitter, and ~1.6% of total submissions. regardless of your moral stand on this, a very impressive collection of open-source efforts!

webspinner 2y ago

I spend a lot of time on Youtube, I watch live trials, so this helps a lot, thanks!

iwishiknewlisp 2y ago

Revanced with sponsorblock is the best method of watching youtube on mobile without ads. I think their is an ethical question about supporting creators, so I think if you do use an adblockwr and sponsorblock you should consider donating directly to creators you watch.