this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 110 points 7 months ago (4 children)

I create content that goes into YouTube. I generate a tiny bit of revenue from that. I have no say into how YouTube treats my viewers. If you watch the ads, awesome, I get some money. If not, I'm just glad you watched the video.

The majority of content on the platform is made up of channels my size and smaller. Most of us are getting paid pennies.

But YouTube doesn't care about us. They want to appease the larger studios.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 7 months ago

Youtube doesn't care about the collective "you" that is its namesake. It hasn't for over a decade. Itps all about the big studio level productions. It's no better than the mainstream television networks at this point.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Maybe its due to my age, but I use YT for tutorials on diy or fixing shit. I get 20s in, then whammo, ad. Just as the guy is focusing in on the area I need to see. I am watching a 5min video and 2min of ads.. it is ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Tubemate. Tubular. Newpipe. Ublock if nothing else.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Freetube, piped, invidious work great on desktop too

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

Don’t forget that if you have to rewind a part to see something the creator blew past that you needed to see and you get another two ads. Fuck that noise.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think you've got the right approach, FWIW.

Not sure that big business favouritism is the intent, but it's definitely more lucrative for them. Especially with Vimeo and other alternatives out there.

I remember when streaming took off in a big way - some on YT and others on justin.tv (later Twitch and now Amazon's Twitch) - and I thought you'd have to be objectively bonkers to rely upon an opaque and ever-changing algorithm for your financial future. Some have gamed it well, but it's pretty easy to see how they've survived - fake shock/reaction content, alt-light or worse content, polarising opinion, thinly-veiled advertorials, and so on.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I’d argue that there are a couple of studios that are still mostly focusing on making good content, not click bate.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I think YouTubers like MKBHD are generally playing it straight. Trying to stay on top by getting better and better content.

Although, these people tend to burnout eventually. They have to keep running a faster mile.

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I remember back when YouTube had ads. Haven’t had that issue for years now though.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (5 children)

On my browser, they blocked recommended videos. Lol. Now I use FreeTube. Anything like that happen to you?

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (9 children)

This just in, people don’t like ads. At all. Most people.

It is time to find a new business model that works. I’m not smart enough to know what that is so that you don’t piss off users, but whoever figures it out will be a billionaire.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They want people to pay for premium. That’s why they’re pushing more ads. To make the free plan insufferable.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

Then they will enshitify premium when they have a large percentage on it.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago

Back in the early days of youtube, I didn't mind them. Just a few ads here and there. Nowadays, the internet is barely usable unless you have an adblocker.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

How about a cryptominer that runs while watching videos, that would surely be a great idea :D

/s

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago

I would pay for premium IF it was a reasonable price.

I don't want shitty music bundled or whatever fuck else they are calling it now JUST youtube.

AND here's the big one, I want the fucking downvote count back and sponsor skip. Most videos have ads and fucking sponsor segments which are also fucking ads. I'm not paying to watch that.

And downvote count is absolutely crucial to be able to detect bullshit videos quickly.

Google is offering a shit product and asking a premium price. Fuck em.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I don't mind ads in the sidebar or on that little banner across the bottom of the screen sometimes. Its when the ads completely cover the content I'm trying to watch/view and/or start auto playing at obnoxious volume that I get annoyed. (Also fuck people on metered connections right?)

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Maybe like a subscription where people could pay a fee to avoid ads?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

The credit card companies should have invested heavily in micropayments. If I could just pay a tiny non subscription fee for a bit of media I would do that in a heartbeat.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

After they killed YouTube Vanced, I switched to New Pipe and never looked back

[–] [email protected] 30 points 7 months ago

For those wondering, ReVanced launcher short after that and is even better than Vanced.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Long time NewPipe user here, have you tried FreeTube?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

No, I've never even heard of this. Is it better than NewPipe?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It is faster, doesn't crash and you can read the answers to all comments. It lacks some features of NewPipe like the display dimming via swipe, but has some UI advantages (sharing without timestamp, you pain in the ass!).

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Google's a dumb ass company and I strongly suspect them to be Americas replacement to the echolon program mainly due to the timing.

Seems profits getting a bit more relevant than intelligence to them these days.

Yeah I'd rather go without YouTube than deal with the ads at this point they went ridiculous with it a long time ago.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Isn't the replacement to Echelon, just PRISM? Which yes Google are a part of, along with Meta, Microsoft, etc. As well as the lesser known MUSCULAR program.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Firefox for Android, AdBlock, Firefox -> Chrome user agent fake plugin. Works very well without any ads or issues.

This supports PiP which is YouTube premium feature.

I would jump ship instantly to something better if the content would be there.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Today, for the first time, I had 30-second ads on my smart TV like wtf. Is that even legal

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thirty 30 second ads? Am I reading that wrong?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Sorry for the typos. 30 second ads

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

ELI5 why google won't pull reddit on youtube API?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago (4 children)

YouTube already has ToS on their API and has paid tiers. But a lot (most?) of the third-party apps and tools bypass the API and directly scrape the site.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

Because YouTube is embedded a lot

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Ads have almost always been part and parcel of the YouTube experience. However, there's a point at which ads become so frequent, so irrelevant, and so relentless that they start hurting the user experience. We've been past that point for a while now.

Ironically, without an ad blocker it’s hard to read the Android Police blog. I invite anyone to try.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Google being an ass about alternative YouTube clients is somewhat dumb but they likely prefer to control user experience. They're a for profit entity so it shouldn't be that surprising. Google kicking users that cost them money is not dumb.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

Or maybe Google should just improve the experience so people want to pay for a premium subscription. But instead of investing in a better user experience they'd rather intentionally make it worse to drive consumers to pay to unshitify it. But instead they're blowing loads of cash which could be used to invest in the platform and turn even more profit, but they're using it to fight a war with their customers for short term profits. They are dumb.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

Yup. I've considered paying for YouTube premium, but:

  • it's too expensive for how much I watch
  • the YouTube app kinda sucks - NewPipe is nice to use (adjust volume and brightness by sliding a finger)
  • it's unclear how much creators get from my subscription
  • there's still sponsorships and whatnot

Nebula gets rid of the ads and sponsorships, and my understanding is creators get a larger cut vs YouTube. Grayjay allows me to follow multiple streaming services and has the volume/brightness management bits as well. I'm willing to pay for both of them because they bring value, YouTube doesn't.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (7 children)

Eventually, the users will rebel and just stop watching, and then the video creators will follow, because if nobody's watching, then there will be no reason to create on YouTube.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 7 months ago (4 children)

You know this won’t happen, but I like your optimism

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago
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