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So Youtube changed how views are counted and is blaming ad blockers? Wouldn't surprise me if we now see a new trend of "click like, bell, and suscribe and don'

by pier25 1y ago

So Youtube changed how views are counted and is blaming ad blockers? Wouldn't surprise me if we now see a new trend of "click like, bell, and suscribe and don't forget to disable your ad blocker!". Obviously they don't care about these views since they are not generating ad revenue. Youtubers who use view counts for sponsor deals etc do care though.

reddalo 1y ago
>Youtubers who use view counts for sponsor deals Laughs in SponsorBlock
- jjice 1y ago
  Hell, YouTube even added that feature where it'll autoskip commonly skipped section so it's basically a built in SponsorBlock at this point (no doubt helped powered by those who skip via SponsorBlock). I'm surprised I haven't seen any controversy from people who are having their sponsors pay less because of this.
  - netsharc 1y ago
    Hah, the next move will be picture-in-picture ads (whether the ad or the content will be in the box in the corner depends on the desperation... Reminds me of F1 racing coverage on a free-to-air German TV network being reduced to a letterbox..
    - FinnKuhn 1y ago
      In my opinion the only sponsorships that actually work are the ones that are integrated into the content. For example Linus Tech Tips wearing his clothing in his videos and using his screwdriver. For car and/or hardware channels I often see sponsors products being used throughout the video as well, which you can't skip with Sponsor block.
      - StackRanker3000 1y ago
        What do you mean when you say ”work”? That you personally find them helpful? Or that they’re the only ones that can’t be easily avoided even if the viewer wants to? I think it’s pretty clear that other forms of sponsorships also drive revenue to advertisers (whatever people may feel about that)
        lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y ago
        > Or that they’re the only ones that can’t be easily avoided even if the viewer wants to? Surely this one given what they wrote. > which you can't skip
        BizarroLand 1y ago
        Work as in, "are effective at advertising a product" Showing "regular" people solving common recurring issues like, "what clothes should I wear, what tool will simplify this task, what products are effective at a good value, what software/hardware can accomplish the goals I have set" are the only effective advertising for many people. Sure, with kids you can show them a cool toy that other kids are playing with, inspiring desire. You can show adults and teens a sexy girl or a hot guy somehow attached to the product so that by association your product is hot or sexy, but those are the low handing fruit and only work on specific demographics. However, if you can clearly identify your target audience and then put a product that matches that audience in front of them while showing how the product is being used, thats it. Everyone who would purchase that type of product will buy it.
        FinnKuhn 1y ago
        I think the two existing replies to this question already answered this mostly, but I would define a "working" sponsorship as one that makes me consider buying it. Sponsorships that are basically just an add I don't even see thanks to SponsorBlock for example. So those are "not working" for me. But for the LTT screwdriver or the bamboo labs 3D printers where I see how they can be used I actually consider buying them or have already done so. One factor for this is obviously that they can't be skipped, but the bigger one is that they are obviously more relevant for me as I am already interested in the video's topic and therefore the products used in it.
    - mitthrowaway2 1y ago
      YouTube already does this for livestreams.
    - ta1243 1y ago
      Idiocracy TV https://blog.codinghorror.com/content/images/uploads/2007/01/6a0120a85dcdae970b0128777001ac970c-pi.jpg https://blog.codinghorror.com/content/images/uploads/2007/01...
      - PaulHoule 1y ago
        YouTube stole that user interface, Judge should have sued them.
  - Workaccount2 1y ago
    I believe it is only a premium feature, and premium user views pay substantially more than sponsors or ads.
  - BizarroLand 1y ago
    I'll stick with Sponsorblock since Googles motto is "Embrace, Expand, Extinguish"
    - craftkiller 1y ago
      It's "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" (assuming you're referring to the phrase from Microsoft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis... )
      - BizarroLand 1y ago
        Yes, right, thank you
- stemlord 1y ago
  I find it incredibly difficult to shed any sympathy for youtube "content creators". Youtube was most entertaining, or at least most interesting before anyone was monetizing the platform. Same goes for most of thr rest of the web but I digress
  - rafram 1y ago
    It would be great to live in a world where everyone could make cool stuff without needing to get paid, but we don't. Monetization is why YouTube gained a community in the first place.
    - ahepp 1y ago
      That simply isn’t true. YouTube had a huge community when it was just amateurs sharing videos for the love of the sport. Professional content creators didn’t come along until much later.
      - rafram 1y ago
        And they stayed because they could get paid for it.
        Eisenstein 1y ago
        It can be argued whether it is better to have creators who make it their income to constantly produce content or to have a revolving door of amateurs who cut their teeth on video production in youtube and move on.
      - whatevaa 1y ago
        You can do that today too. Like a channel Airborne Entertainment, strapping a boat motor to a car. Dump engineering, just two dudes doing stupid shit.
  - zanellato19 1y ago
    That's bizarre. I watch a lot of great content on YouTube that's possible because those people get paid. I would rather like if YouTube paid them _more_ because the sponsors and patrons of the world prove that not all views are the same. Sadly, a lot of shit content gets lots and lots of views
granzymes 1y ago
According to the GitHub issue, YouTube didn’t change anything. There are two endpoints that can be used to attribute a view. One is called multiple times throughout a video playback and has been in the easylist privacy filter for years. The other is called at the start of a playback, and was just added to the list (the timing lines up with the reports of view drops from tech YouTubers). This is not definitive proof that easylist caused the view drops, but it’s I’ve read the issue and a writeup by a YouTube creator and it seems pretty likely.
- swiftcoder 1y ago
  That's not quite what the github issue says? There appear to be several potentially contributing changes in the time window, and one of them actually re-enables a previously blocked YouTube analytics endpoint
  - granzymes 1y ago
    The re-enabled endpoint is yet a third endpoint different from the two I mentioned above. Turns out YouTube has a lot of analytics.
ziml77 1y ago
If all videos are affected by this, then it really should not be hard for these people to adjust their deals with sponsors to compensate.
- babypuncher 1y ago
  If views aren't being counted, it will still hurt their revenue from YouTube Premium subcribers. Premium views pay out a lot more than ad revenue from "free" views so that can hurt a lot.
  - tantalor 1y ago
    YT premium subscribers should disable adblockers anyway
    - CamperBob2 1y ago
      Why?
      - tantalor 1y ago
        Because YT doesn't serve ads to those users, so there is nothing to block at best, and at worst it screws up view counts.
        CamperBob2 1y ago
        (Shrug) As a Premium user, Google obviously knows what videos I'm watching, given that I'm logged in. Failure to credit the creator accordingly would amount to fraud. So that sounds like a 'them' problem, not a 'me' problem. There is no reason for ad tracking to play any role in the process whatsoever.
        ziml77 1y ago
        I'm not sure why it seems you have downvotes for saying that. Premium users by their very nature need to be logged in. YouTube has all of the watch stats for logged in users without needing the view to hit an extra analytics endpoint. They can and should just use that.
cactusplant7374 1y ago
Brave will hit 100 MAU this year. That is a lot of users that will never see ads.
gizmo686 1y ago
YouTube has a BrandConnect program where they facilitate sponsored videos. I'm not sure how many sponsorships are done through that as opposed to third party agents though.
carlosjobim 1y ago
View counts is a worthless metric for sponsor deals, as are any other type of metric provided by a third party. To get exact metrics, you should use discount codes that are unique for each channel. Then you will know the exact amount of sales each sponsorship is netting.
- kelvinjps 1y ago
  I believe the metrics are before the sponsorship is made, like a company will only sponsor a creator if that creator has more than a number of views
dmix 1y ago
> Youtube changed how views are counted and is blaming ad blockers? Youtube isnt quoted in this article. It's someones speculation
- spankalee 1y ago
  YouTube is quoted in the article. > Viewers Using Ad Blockers & Other Content Blocking Tools: Ad blockers and other extensions can impact the accuracy of reported view counts. Channels whose audiences include a higher proportion of users utilizing such tools may see more fluctuations in traffic related to updates to these tools.

by pier25 1y ago

reddalo 1y ago

>Youtubers who use view counts for sponsor deals Laughs in SponsorBlock

jjice 1y ago
Hell, YouTube even added that feature where it'll autoskip commonly skipped section so it's basically a built in SponsorBlock at this point (no doubt helped powered by those who skip via SponsorBlock). I'm surprised I haven't seen any controversy from people who are having their sponsors pay less because of this.
- netsharc 1y ago
  Hah, the next move will be picture-in-picture ads (whether the ad or the content will be in the box in the corner depends on the desperation... Reminds me of F1 racing coverage on a free-to-air German TV network being reduced to a letterbox..
  - FinnKuhn 1y ago
    In my opinion the only sponsorships that actually work are the ones that are integrated into the content. For example Linus Tech Tips wearing his clothing in his videos and using his screwdriver. For car and/or hardware channels I often see sponsors products being used throughout the video as well, which you can't skip with Sponsor block.
    - StackRanker3000 1y ago
      What do you mean when you say ”work”? That you personally find them helpful? Or that they’re the only ones that can’t be easily avoided even if the viewer wants to? I think it’s pretty clear that other forms of sponsorships also drive revenue to advertisers (whatever people may feel about that)
      - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y ago
        > Or that they’re the only ones that can’t be easily avoided even if the viewer wants to? Surely this one given what they wrote. > which you can't skip
      - BizarroLand 1y ago
        Work as in, "are effective at advertising a product" Showing "regular" people solving common recurring issues like, "what clothes should I wear, what tool will simplify this task, what products are effective at a good value, what software/hardware can accomplish the goals I have set" are the only effective advertising for many people. Sure, with kids you can show them a cool toy that other kids are playing with, inspiring desire. You can show adults and teens a sexy girl or a hot guy somehow attached to the product so that by association your product is hot or sexy, but those are the low handing fruit and only work on specific demographics. However, if you can clearly identify your target audience and then put a product that matches that audience in front of them while showing how the product is being used, thats it. Everyone who would purchase that type of product will buy it.
      - FinnKuhn 1y ago
        I think the two existing replies to this question already answered this mostly, but I would define a "working" sponsorship as one that makes me consider buying it. Sponsorships that are basically just an add I don't even see thanks to SponsorBlock for example. So those are "not working" for me. But for the LTT screwdriver or the bamboo labs 3D printers where I see how they can be used I actually consider buying them or have already done so. One factor for this is obviously that they can't be skipped, but the bigger one is that they are obviously more relevant for me as I am already interested in the video's topic and therefore the products used in it.
  - mitthrowaway2 1y ago
    YouTube already does this for livestreams.
  - ta1243 1y ago
    Idiocracy TV https://blog.codinghorror.com/content/images/uploads/2007/01/6a0120a85dcdae970b0128777001ac970c-pi.jpg https://blog.codinghorror.com/content/images/uploads/2007/01...
    - PaulHoule 1y ago
      YouTube stole that user interface, Judge should have sued them.
- Workaccount2 1y ago
  I believe it is only a premium feature, and premium user views pay substantially more than sponsors or ads.
- BizarroLand 1y ago
  I'll stick with Sponsorblock since Googles motto is "Embrace, Expand, Extinguish"
  - craftkiller 1y ago
    It's "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" (assuming you're referring to the phrase from Microsoft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis... )
    - BizarroLand 1y ago
      Yes, right, thank you
stemlord 1y ago
I find it incredibly difficult to shed any sympathy for youtube "content creators". Youtube was most entertaining, or at least most interesting before anyone was monetizing the platform. Same goes for most of thr rest of the web but I digress
- rafram 1y ago
  It would be great to live in a world where everyone could make cool stuff without needing to get paid, but we don't. Monetization is why YouTube gained a community in the first place.
  - ahepp 1y ago
    That simply isn’t true. YouTube had a huge community when it was just amateurs sharing videos for the love of the sport. Professional content creators didn’t come along until much later.
    - rafram 1y ago
      And they stayed because they could get paid for it.
      - Eisenstein 1y ago
        It can be argued whether it is better to have creators who make it their income to constantly produce content or to have a revolving door of amateurs who cut their teeth on video production in youtube and move on.
    - whatevaa 1y ago
      You can do that today too. Like a channel Airborne Entertainment, strapping a boat motor to a car. Dump engineering, just two dudes doing stupid shit.
- zanellato19 1y ago
  That's bizarre. I watch a lot of great content on YouTube that's possible because those people get paid. I would rather like if YouTube paid them _more_ because the sponsors and patrons of the world prove that not all views are the same. Sadly, a lot of shit content gets lots and lots of views

granzymes 1y ago

According to the GitHub issue, YouTube didn’t change anything. There are two endpoints that can be used to attribute a view. One is called multiple times throughout a video playback and has been in the easylist privacy filter for years. The other is called at the start of a playback, and was just added to the list (the timing lines up with the reports of view drops from tech YouTubers). This is not definitive proof that easylist caused the view drops, but it’s I’ve read the issue and a writeup by a YouTube creator and it seems pretty likely.

swiftcoder 1y ago
That's not quite what the github issue says? There appear to be several potentially contributing changes in the time window, and one of them actually re-enables a previously blocked YouTube analytics endpoint
- granzymes 1y ago
  The re-enabled endpoint is yet a third endpoint different from the two I mentioned above. Turns out YouTube has a lot of analytics.

ziml77 1y ago

If all videos are affected by this, then it really should not be hard for these people to adjust their deals with sponsors to compensate.

babypuncher 1y ago
If views aren't being counted, it will still hurt their revenue from YouTube Premium subcribers. Premium views pay out a lot more than ad revenue from "free" views so that can hurt a lot.
- tantalor 1y ago
  YT premium subscribers should disable adblockers anyway
  - CamperBob2 1y ago
    Why?
    - tantalor 1y ago
      Because YT doesn't serve ads to those users, so there is nothing to block at best, and at worst it screws up view counts.
      - CamperBob2 1y ago
        (Shrug) As a Premium user, Google obviously knows what videos I'm watching, given that I'm logged in. Failure to credit the creator accordingly would amount to fraud. So that sounds like a 'them' problem, not a 'me' problem. There is no reason for ad tracking to play any role in the process whatsoever.
        ziml77 1y ago
        I'm not sure why it seems you have downvotes for saying that. Premium users by their very nature need to be logged in. YouTube has all of the watch stats for logged in users without needing the view to hit an extra analytics endpoint. They can and should just use that.

cactusplant7374 1y ago

Brave will hit 100 MAU this year. That is a lot of users that will never see ads.

gizmo686 1y ago

YouTube has a BrandConnect program where they facilitate sponsored videos. I'm not sure how many sponsorships are done through that as opposed to third party agents though.

carlosjobim 1y ago

View counts is a worthless metric for sponsor deals, as are any other type of metric provided by a third party. To get exact metrics, you should use discount codes that are unique for each channel. Then you will know the exact amount of sales each sponsorship is netting.

kelvinjps 1y ago
I believe the metrics are before the sponsorship is made, like a company will only sponsor a creator if that creator has more than a number of views

dmix 1y ago

> Youtube changed how views are counted and is blaming ad blockers? Youtube isnt quoted in this article. It's someones speculation

spankalee 1y ago
YouTube is quoted in the article. > Viewers Using Ad Blockers & Other Content Blocking Tools: Ad blockers and other extensions can impact the accuracy of reported view counts. Channels whose audiences include a higher proportion of users utilizing such tools may see more fluctuations in traffic related to updates to these tools.