5 ms·

You forgot the part where they charge you to get rid of the ads but then the ads come back anyway so you're paying to be the product.

by aduty 7mo ago

api 7mo ago
I cancel when things do this. Paid, or ads. Paid with ads -> cancel immediately.
nickk81 7mo ago
This will happen! (difficult to show in a quick demo that you view for like 10 seconds)
SecretDreams 7mo ago
Yes, this is the silicon valley special. They get us to pay for a sub. Then they get us to pay for an ad free sub. Then the ads come anywho lol.
smilespray 7mo ago
YouTube Premium Lite! You know, with ads. That you pay to watch.
- sidewndr46 7mo ago
  Amazon prime! A paid service with advertisements for the original content no one wants to watch.
  - technothrasher 7mo ago
    You know something went wrong when I've got an Amazon Prime account, but I still pirate any of their video content that I want to watch.
    - evrenesat 7mo ago
      I do exactly same, even uninstalled their shitty tv app which managed to be stay slower than other streaming apps for many years, even on fire tv stick.
  - apparent 7mo ago
    Yeah, I basically never watch it anymore on account of the ads. Perhaps that was their goal: to reduce content licensing costs.
- riddley 7mo ago
  No Lite! about it. I've twice unsubbed from YTP because they started showing me ads. Never again.
  - SoftTalker 7mo ago
    I've never seen an ad logged in to Premium. Content creators do sometimes insert sponsor segments directly into the video, but YTP offers a skip feature that works fairly well.
    - golem14 7mo ago
      They do sneak it in when a blog etc plays an embedded YT video. It treats that as non-signed-in, you have to stop playing and continue on YT to avoid ads in that scenario.
    - riddley 7mo ago
      I've seen ads on the YT app for the nVidia Shield TV in multiple places. Sometimes ad-roll before/during a video sometimes as the first result in a search.
- 1over137 7mo ago
  I never understood this with cable TV either. You could use an antenna and watch TV over the air (with ads) or you could pay for cable and still watch ads!
  - computomatic 7mo ago
    Cable at least made sense on paper (if not obvious to the consumer). The channels were independent companies, they pay for the rights to content and get paid by ads. But they had the problem of how to actually get their feed into your home (over the air broadcast was the only D2C option). The cable provider was just a delivery mechanism. So you pay them to deliver the feeds. But they didn’t get any revenue from the content providers (or their ads). In other words, two different companies, two different services (content vs delivery), and two different revenue models.
  - SoftTalker 7mo ago
    Before streaming, if you didn't live in a large metro area, cable got you a good clear picture and more than one or two channels. That was the selling point for it when I was a kid. With OTA reception we would have had two channels with a clear picture and maybe two or three more with a lot of static/snow. Cable just carried regular broadcast channels back then. The value you paid for was more channels and better picture, not avoiding ads. HBO was the first premium add-on, and it didn't have ads. Some people set up a big dish antenna in their yard so they could get content directly off the satellite backhaul. This might not have had ads but it was a fairly big investment and you had to be sort of an AV geek to use it.
WarmWash 7mo ago
This take is prevalent but not really true. You can subsidize the cost of a full subscription by having ads. I know that society at large is mostly hopeless, but here on HN we generally have the mental firepower to comprehend "It's a sliding payment scale from no ads to all ads" Edit: You guys are welcome to be upset by this, but if you think it's wrong, please correct me. Ideally without using the one counter example of cable TV in the 90's. Monopolies bring bad behaviors.
- smallmancontrov 7mo ago
  No, if a company gets enough leverage the top plan will demand both payment and ads. We've seen it before and we'll see it again.
  - WarmWash 7mo ago
    Examples would be the best way to prove me wrong. Most (all?) streaming services offer an ad-free plan, and those are the most popular hybrid payment services by far.
    - moron4hire 7mo ago
      Easy: YouTube. You cannot purchase a completely ad free experience on YouTube.
      - WarmWash 7mo ago
        Creators including ads in their videos are not part of youtube. Youtube does not get a cut from those ads or play any role in making them. I know it's confusing, but those ads are part of the creator's videos that the creators put there themselves with deals they brokered outside of youtube. Youtube likely tolerates it because even with a 60% revenue share going go creators, often half of viewers pay nothing (no ad views or subscription), so sponsored segments can fill the gap for the creators. Note that Youtube premium does include the ability to skip sponsored segments though.
matheusmoreira 7mo ago
Paying to get rid of ads is paying for the privilege of doing their market segmentation for them. It's paying to segment oneself into the upper echelons of the market. People who pay to avoid ads have a lot of disposable income, the value of their attention increases. I wish uBlock Origin would incorporate AI features too. It could automatically detect brand names and product placement and blank it all out. Works on images and video. Augmented reality glasses with uBlock Origin would be life changing.
- marssaxman 7mo ago
  I wish we could use AI to solve captchas for us. Perhaps I should "vibe-code" such a browser plugin.
  - plasticchris 7mo ago
    It’s funny because captchas are meant to be hard for bots but easy for people and it might be the opposite now.
    - wlesieutre 7mo ago
      Some of the newer ones I've seen with random symbols scattered and rotated on a random background are really awful. As a person with all my mental faculties and mostly correctable vision I have to solve them carefully. Never would have imagine that "sit in a chair and browse the internet" would become an activity limited to the able bodied.
- delaminator 7mo ago
  > I wish uBlock Origin would incorporate AI features too. It could automatically detect brand names and product placement and blank it all out. that is a pretty good idea back in the day I had an adblocker which replaced the banners with your own pictures.
- Scoundreller 7mo ago
  > Paying to get rid of ads is paying for the privilege of doing their market segmentation for them. My local newspaper used to be wide-open. I happily subscribed but never logged in. Then they launched a paywall, so I unsubscribed. I didn't want to be a part of their logged-in paid premium user dragnet. The phone-call to cancel was a bit confusing for the CSR. "May I ask why are you cancelling?" Me: "Oh, because of the paywall" CSR: "Oh, that's just a technical issue, we can help you with that" Me: "Nono, you don't understand, I'm cancelling because there is _a_ paywall" I doubt my "reason for cancelling" got coded correctly.
neves 7mo ago
Also forgot the part where they start to disguise that an ad is really an ad. The ad is just melted in the content.

You forgot the part where they charge you to get rid of the ads but then the ads come back anyway so you're paying to be the product.

by aduty 7mo ago

You forgot the part where they charge you to get rid of the ads but then the ads come back anyway so you're paying to be the product.

api 7mo ago

I cancel when things do this. Paid, or ads. Paid with ads -> cancel immediately.

nickk81 7mo ago

This will happen! (difficult to show in a quick demo that you view for like 10 seconds)

SecretDreams 7mo ago

Yes, this is the silicon valley special. They get us to pay for a sub. Then they get us to pay for an ad free sub. Then the ads come anywho lol.

smilespray 7mo ago

YouTube Premium Lite! You know, with ads. That you pay to watch.

sidewndr46 7mo ago
Amazon prime! A paid service with advertisements for the original content no one wants to watch.
- technothrasher 7mo ago
  You know something went wrong when I've got an Amazon Prime account, but I still pirate any of their video content that I want to watch.
  - evrenesat 7mo ago
    I do exactly same, even uninstalled their shitty tv app which managed to be stay slower than other streaming apps for many years, even on fire tv stick.
- apparent 7mo ago
  Yeah, I basically never watch it anymore on account of the ads. Perhaps that was their goal: to reduce content licensing costs.
riddley 7mo ago
No Lite! about it. I've twice unsubbed from YTP because they started showing me ads. Never again.
- SoftTalker 7mo ago
  I've never seen an ad logged in to Premium. Content creators do sometimes insert sponsor segments directly into the video, but YTP offers a skip feature that works fairly well.
  - golem14 7mo ago
    They do sneak it in when a blog etc plays an embedded YT video. It treats that as non-signed-in, you have to stop playing and continue on YT to avoid ads in that scenario.
  - riddley 7mo ago
    I've seen ads on the YT app for the nVidia Shield TV in multiple places. Sometimes ad-roll before/during a video sometimes as the first result in a search.
1over137 7mo ago
I never understood this with cable TV either. You could use an antenna and watch TV over the air (with ads) or you could pay for cable and still watch ads!
- computomatic 7mo ago
  Cable at least made sense on paper (if not obvious to the consumer). The channels were independent companies, they pay for the rights to content and get paid by ads. But they had the problem of how to actually get their feed into your home (over the air broadcast was the only D2C option). The cable provider was just a delivery mechanism. So you pay them to deliver the feeds. But they didn’t get any revenue from the content providers (or their ads). In other words, two different companies, two different services (content vs delivery), and two different revenue models.
- SoftTalker 7mo ago
  Before streaming, if you didn't live in a large metro area, cable got you a good clear picture and more than one or two channels. That was the selling point for it when I was a kid. With OTA reception we would have had two channels with a clear picture and maybe two or three more with a lot of static/snow. Cable just carried regular broadcast channels back then. The value you paid for was more channels and better picture, not avoiding ads. HBO was the first premium add-on, and it didn't have ads. Some people set up a big dish antenna in their yard so they could get content directly off the satellite backhaul. This might not have had ads but it was a fairly big investment and you had to be sort of an AV geek to use it.

WarmWash 7mo ago

This take is prevalent but not really true. You can subsidize the cost of a full subscription by having ads. I know that society at large is mostly hopeless, but here on HN we generally have the mental firepower to comprehend "It's a sliding payment scale from no ads to all ads" Edit: You guys are welcome to be upset by this, but if you think it's wrong, please correct me. Ideally without using the one counter example of cable TV in the 90's. Monopolies bring bad behaviors.

smallmancontrov 7mo ago
No, if a company gets enough leverage the top plan will demand both payment and ads. We've seen it before and we'll see it again.
- WarmWash 7mo ago
  Examples would be the best way to prove me wrong. Most (all?) streaming services offer an ad-free plan, and those are the most popular hybrid payment services by far.
  - moron4hire 7mo ago
    Easy: YouTube. You cannot purchase a completely ad free experience on YouTube.
    - WarmWash 7mo ago
      Creators including ads in their videos are not part of youtube. Youtube does not get a cut from those ads or play any role in making them. I know it's confusing, but those ads are part of the creator's videos that the creators put there themselves with deals they brokered outside of youtube. Youtube likely tolerates it because even with a 60% revenue share going go creators, often half of viewers pay nothing (no ad views or subscription), so sponsored segments can fill the gap for the creators. Note that Youtube premium does include the ability to skip sponsored segments though.

matheusmoreira 7mo ago

Paying to get rid of ads is paying for the privilege of doing their market segmentation for them. It's paying to segment oneself into the upper echelons of the market. People who pay to avoid ads have a lot of disposable income, the value of their attention increases. I wish uBlock Origin would incorporate AI features too. It could automatically detect brand names and product placement and blank it all out. Works on images and video. Augmented reality glasses with uBlock Origin would be life changing.

marssaxman 7mo ago
I wish we could use AI to solve captchas for us. Perhaps I should "vibe-code" such a browser plugin.
- plasticchris 7mo ago
  It’s funny because captchas are meant to be hard for bots but easy for people and it might be the opposite now.
  - wlesieutre 7mo ago
    Some of the newer ones I've seen with random symbols scattered and rotated on a random background are really awful. As a person with all my mental faculties and mostly correctable vision I have to solve them carefully. Never would have imagine that "sit in a chair and browse the internet" would become an activity limited to the able bodied.
delaminator 7mo ago
> I wish uBlock Origin would incorporate AI features too. It could automatically detect brand names and product placement and blank it all out. that is a pretty good idea back in the day I had an adblocker which replaced the banners with your own pictures.
Scoundreller 7mo ago
> Paying to get rid of ads is paying for the privilege of doing their market segmentation for them. My local newspaper used to be wide-open. I happily subscribed but never logged in. Then they launched a paywall, so I unsubscribed. I didn't want to be a part of their logged-in paid premium user dragnet. The phone-call to cancel was a bit confusing for the CSR. "May I ask why are you cancelling?" Me: "Oh, because of the paywall" CSR: "Oh, that's just a technical issue, we can help you with that" Me: "Nono, you don't understand, I'm cancelling because there is _a_ paywall" I doubt my "reason for cancelling" got coded correctly.

neves 7mo ago

Also forgot the part where they start to disguise that an ad is really an ad. The ad is just melted in the content.