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Youtube Businesses Media The Almighty Buck

YouTube is Testing Having Two Skippable Ads Back-To-Back (cnet.com) 181

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
If you hate having your video binging session on YouTube interrupted by multiple ad breaks, the good news is that things are about to change. CNET: The streaming platform is rolling out a new tweak to its video watching experience, by placing two skippable ads back-to-back, which it says will reduce the number of ad interruptions later in the video -- up to 40 percent less in a session, according to the company's blog post Wednesday.
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YouTube is Testing Having Two Skippable Ads Back-To-Back More

YouTube is Testing Having Two Skippable Ads Back-To-Back

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  • Blocking Back-To-Back Ads (Score:5, Funny)

    by AHuxley ( 892839 ) on Thursday November 22, 2018 @09:37PM (#57686432) Journal
    Ad blocking add-ons are testing blocking back-to-back ads.

    • What ???? Youtube has ads ? Not so. (Score:4)

      by stooo ( 2202012 ) on Friday November 23, 2018 @03:37AM (#57687212) Homepage

      Youtube has ads ?
      Not on the videos I watch.
      Never saw those.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        It's funny, I never see ads on YouTube either, unless I'm using someone else's browser, and I'm not blocking them.

        Perhaps YouTube has figured out that it's just not worth showing ads to some people?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Greyfox ( 87712 )
        Yeah, every time I browse the internet on someone else's computer I realize how much the internet would suck without uBlock origin. Then again, I'd probably spend almost no time on the computer outside work if I weren't using an ad blocker, so I suppose that sword cuts both ways.

  • Does Youtube still have ads? (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I'd forgotten it ever did.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday November 22, 2018 @09:50PM (#57686466)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • I don't know that they do.
        I run 2/3 of them (never heard of PB) and I get the usual shit ton of ads.
        I know someone who, running only ublock because I made him do it, NEVER gets ads on YouTube. Never. It's astonishing, but somehow I suspect he's fallen through some database crack in the system. Maybe he's not the only one?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ncc74656 ( 45571 ) *

          With the different ad blockers I've used over the years (currently using uBlock on Chrome), I've never had YouTube ads come through on the desktop. The YouTube plugin for Kodi (probably how I watch most YouTube videos nowadays) doesn't show any ads either, despite the lack of an ad blocker in Kodi. The only place where an ad might show up is in the YouTube Android app (despite having AdGuard running), but I rarely use that.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by green1 ( 322787 )

            On Android I use vanced. No ads, otherwise it's the same as the official client. Find it on xda.

            Ublock stops all ads on my laptop too. The only time I see ads is if I use the TV set top box, so there's a reason I never do that.

    • Never see them on a desktop but blocking them via phone is more difficult. I guess you could root your Android and add a hosts file.

      • Youtube streams the ads on Android so you can't block them with a hosts file or any other blocking software even if you wanted to. Just don't use the official client or use the web version.

      • I think there is an apk for that

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by green1 ( 322787 )

        Android use vanced. It's the official client, but with the ads stripped out and a few extra features. Find it on xda.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Never seen one :)

  • A new idea! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 22, 2018 @09:51PM (#57686472)

    Congratulations to Youtube for inventing the commercial break. This will surely be an idea loved by all!

  • Are they not the same fucking ad? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I remember trying to use the YouTube feature of a smart TV for some reason (so no ad blocking) and what I discovered was that YouTube would constantly show me the same fucking unskippable ad for every single video we watched. I think we watched like five different videos before deciding that watching videos via this "feature" was dumb (turns out the built-in smart TV apps tend to be terrible, I know, shocking news) but what I remember most was that every single video was preceded by the exact same ad for so

    • Re:Are they not the same fucking ad? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Thursday November 22, 2018 @11:35PM (#57686716) Homepage Journal
      That is because the online ad system is a joke. Google shows the same ads over and over and are completely irrelevant. I don't know why companies still pour money into online advertising. It isn't targeted well at all.

      • Re:Are they not the same fucking ad? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 23, 2018 @12:46AM (#57686844)

        It's especially hilarious if you sometimes watch videos on YouTube with small kids. The targeting system apparently doesn't consider the content of the videos you're watching. Or, well, no. I'd bet that it does, but it's only considered in aggregate, so it just determines the entire pool of ads you might get. So you go to watch some Sesame Street video with a three year old via something that doesn't allow ad blocking and get an ad for something completely inappropriate.

        I wish it were for things that were at least funny like for condoms or erectile dysfunction medicine, but instead it's ads for things like R rated movies in front of your video of Elmo. (OK, not really, since I'm fairly sure that the official Sesame Street account is allowed to police the ads placed on their videos. But it absolutely will do it for similar YouTube videos for children posted by people without the clout to limit what's allowed to advertise on their videos.)

        Which, of course, just leads to ad blockers being required for anyone who knows small children, in order to not have to explain why all those people were on fire before showing them that video of someone singing their ABCs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MrMr ( 219533 )
        Well, you should be happy. Irrelevant ads cost you less than those from companies you might actually buy stuff from.

      • Well, occasionally, when I feel the need for a goof, I turn adblocking off when watching videos debunking some snakeoil, and usually it seems fairly reliable that I get ads for exactly the snakeoil the video debunks.

        The system works!

  • Tech Bubble is over (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 22, 2018 @10:11PM (#57686548)

    The bloated, tumorous mass that is Alphabet is reaching the end of it natural lifecycle.
    Like the giant Dinosaurs of the Cretatious, tech companies have grown too massive, too specialized, and too homogeneous, needed ever more massive revenues simple to sustain the bloating overheads. Two ads. Three ads. Ten ads. When you're 3 stories tall and defecate piles larger than most other animals, you're always hungry for more.
    But they are more vulnerable than ever to any oncoming "extinction event". In our case, likely a fiscal contraction brought about by some fumbling central bank, or a geo-political disaster brought to us by our genius ruling class.
    Or hell, maybe people will just get tired of "high-tech" companies with a hundred thousand "smart guys" who can't seem to produce software or applications that even matches functionality commonplace 15 years ago, and who keep screwing up what we have left that's working, and who all seem to get paid 5 times more than anyone else actually producing something. The bigger Amazon gets, the less surprised I'll become of any sudden acceptance of nationalization among the growing American plebian class.

    But I digress. Because let's be honest people. How many of you ever considered Youtube to be something worth paying for?

    • My wife likes to watch a couple of Youtube streamers, and I sometimes watch instructional videos for work or hobbies (I prefer text but beggars can't always be choosers I suppose). We got so sick of the ads that we got a subscription. Worth it, in my opinion, even if it doesn't compare to Netflix in terms of € per hour of use.

      • I'm so sick of the ads that I'm going to install a proxy to kill them. We still watch on the fire tv stick and having an ad play before almost every damned video we watch is already garbage.

      • Bloackada and Youtube Vanced for Android, Ublock origin on other platforms work pretty well keeping ads at bay, including in my Chromecast. No subscription. I also keep my country of origin as Canada for reducing the inane quantity of garbage that my country fellows post.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Part of the roadmap (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 22, 2018 @10:12PM (#57686550)

    1. Back to back ads with reduced frequency.
    2. Increased ad frequency.
    3. Back to back to back ads with reduced ad frequency.
    4. Increased frequency of ads.
    5. Ads consume at least 6 minutes per half hour and are arranged into added-value blocks called 'commercial breaks'.

    • Re:Part of the roadmap (Score:5, Informative)

      by religionofpeas ( 4511805 ) on Friday November 23, 2018 @12:56AM (#57686876)

      I've already stopped watching 99% of youtube on mobile because of the ads. Only when I'm really particularly interested in watching that video right now, I'll play the ad. Otherwise, I wait until I can get my laptop with adblock.

    • Re:Part of the roadmap (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 ) on Friday November 23, 2018 @02:55AM (#57687124) Homepage

      I am a customer, trying to watch a youtube video. You, the fuck knuckle advertiser demand I watch the ad you want to scream at me first, will I buy your product, come on honestly will I buy your product, NO, I can not emphasise how much no. You are not selling me fucking anything except a hatred of your company, it is simply the way it is. I watch bugger all ads, I mean seriously bugger all, I pay for the bulk of my content, trying to force me to watch, what is now, an extremely annoying advertisement, does not make me want to do business with you, it makes me hate you, A WHOLE FUCKING LOT.

      Ads on youtube can only work after content, voluntarily. Sure more will watch the ad at the beginning but you stupid fucking advertisers will not be selling anything other than annoyance and they will remember the cause of the annoyance, you fucking POS ad.

      It's nothing like old idiot box ads, 15 minutes of every hour of viewing, people became accustomed, now, well, one or two ads a day and they really stand out in the worst way possible, pretty much a street side hawker running into your lounge room screaming at you that you buy the product and the only thing you remember fuck that company and fuck that product.

      OK people, honesty time, how many of you people have bought a product based upon a YouTube ad and how many of you have not bought a product because of a Youtube ad. The only Youtube ads, that seem to have positive effect are ones embedded in the content as a sponsor of that content, Google makes no money from these, well they need to smarten up. Buying Youtube and burying it under the billions in debt created by buying it, not that smart a move, fucked profitability right up. Youtube want to sell an ad, they have to be banner ads in prominent locations aligned with the content that invite greater interaction.

      • Scream all you want, the sad truth about online advertising is that it is cheap. Even cheaper with targeted ads... no, that doesn't mean that they magically know you need new shoes so they show you ads for shoes, it means that they can target a certain demographic with a fair accuracy. And because it is so cheap, they can afford to show their ads to tens of thousands of people if only one of them decides to buy their product.

        • it means that they can target a certain demographic with a fair accuracy

          I can say that, without exception, I only get ads for things I have never,ever, shown the slightest interest in, or ads for things that I've already bought.

        • The technology to block them is cheap too.

        • Yeah, and even though 99% of people will get annoyed and click the shit away from the ad, even a 1% response on direct marketing, depending on what it is, can be considered MASSIVE. So yes, they can afford the ill will. I've run ad campaigns that were deliberately designed to annoy, cajole, irritate - and when people started bitching about it on social media the response rate SOARED.

      • Wow, talk about first world problems. If it bothers you that much to see adds while consuming free content and sucking up their bandwidth, then pay for the no-ads version or go somewhere else (like, outside).

        Just decide whether you like free shit more than you hate ads.

  • In other news (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 22, 2018 @10:30PM (#57686586)

    Youtube is testing the patience of their users, which is already near its limit.

  • :rubs thumb against forefinger: (Score:5, Funny)

    by sheramil ( 921315 ) on Thursday November 22, 2018 @10:47PM (#57686628)

    I can only suppose that being forced to watch the first half of a second of an ad before skipping it counts as watching the ad in Youtube's opinion. Being forced to skip two of them doubles their ad-view count.

    "I know! We'll just compress the ads into the first half second! We could call them... blip-verts ."

    • Don't worry. That's at least 20 minutes in the future.

    • "I know! We'll just compress the ads into the first half second! We could call them... blip-verts ."

      And they will BLOW YOUR MIND!

    • I'd watch the BBC version twice, but the only good part of the American version was the ads. They should have just looped the intro music for 24 minutes.

    • Well, forcing me to watch 5 seconds of an ad for something I'm not interested in, doesn't really help anyone.

      Use those 5 seconds to show me 10 ads that I can skip immediately and maybe one of those 10 will catch my eye, and maybe then someone might actually make some money off me.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      "I know! We'll just compress the ads into the first half second! We could call them... blip-verts ."

      I nominate you for advertising industry messiah. Please convince them this is the greatest idea ever. Maybe some bullshit about subliminal messaging.

  • I no longer have to open my eyes and reach for the phone to press skip between videos before sleep. There will be no reason!
  • I really miss my DVR since cutting the cord. Muting ads is a poor second. I just tried watching the Saints game with my antenna, jeebus farukin christo what kind of idiot watches that many commercials? I didn't make it past the first quarter before finding something more productive to digest my food to.
    • I hear you... I haven't watched any cable in ages, though it's included in my Internet subscription and I still have the set top box. The other day I did some channel surfing. And holy crap aren't there a lot of ads? And isn't every single one a personal insult to our intelligence? I can't remember how we put up with that crap, but for the life of me I can't imagine why anyone would, these days.

    • VPN to a country with fewer ads in its football streams. Germany works for me.

  • This of cause sucks for evryone not having youtube premiu, ( I watch a lot of content from a few creators and want to support them), personaly I nevre see ds on youtube, appart from the times scumbags include sponsor messages in the video it self. If you as me premium is wort it just for ad blocking )I watch a lot on IOS/TvOS so adblocking on youtube does not realy work

    • See, that's the reason right there. If you watched on a sensible OS/Browser combo, ad blocking would work.

      But I guess you're already used to paying for stuff others get for free, so that's fine.


  • When using the youtube app for anything I noticed a gradual increase in the occasional ads that cannot be skipped. It's like we're all fucking hamsters and the wheel keeps shrinking ever so slightly to find the "optimum" levels of BS we'll put up with. This sort of forced crap only happens in the app.

    Almost any device that can run an "app" can run a browser. I never get this sort of shit with my uBlock Origin.

    We are being fed garbage all the time and it's escalating in complexity, timing and stealth. Lo

  • You don't get it, do you? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Friday November 23, 2018 @05:37AM (#57687478)

    Try, just TRY please, to get into the mindset of your user. He browses your videos or, better, he looks at his front page and sees a new video from his favorite YouTuber. Hey, great, the day just got better, a new video from HIM/HER and I get to watch it.

    He clicks.

    And is greeted by an ad.

    Let's ponder for a moment what we have here now. We have someone whose mind is expecting and looking forward to seeing a video that he really, really wants to see. This ad could now be the most on-topic ad you could possibly imagine, it could be for the cure of his incurable brain tumor and he would cuss and curse for as long as he has to watch it before he can skip it. It could be the trailer for his favorite movie franchise that he has been watching religiously since birth. It does not matter.

    It is NOT what he wants NOW.

    And yes, that's worse than it was on cable. On cable, you knew that at 6:30pm your show starts. You knew that days in advance. Because that's how it always is. Watching an ad before does not change that. Your expectation is not disappointed because there was no immediate "want it now" motivation for you. Seeing a new video being offered IS such a moment. It's surprising (more or less), it's new and exciting and you want it NOW.

    Before anyone goes "waaah, entitled crybaby can't wait..." YES. That is how people are. People are looking forward to something and anything standing between them and that something will be pushed out of the way. Especially if it's nothing they give half a fuck about like an ad.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rnturn ( 11092 )

      ``And yes, that's worse than it was on cable. On cable, you knew that at 6:30pm your show starts.''

      We haven't subscribed to cable since the early '90s. The model back then was: Cable->No Commercials. None. Nada. Oh HBO might have had the occasional promo for this month's ``Elton John -- In Concert'' (which was aired pretty much every month at the time) but there were no commercials at all back then.

      The closest thing we have to cable now is the free internet programming that we can receive on our semi-

    • Try, just TRY please, to get into the mindset of your freeloading leech that is consuming your bandwidth and using your tech while expecting to pay absolutely nothing for it

      FTFY. I hate ads too but I don't want to pay for no ads so I'm stuck with them because free shit.

      • Once they stop selling my data, they can get back on that high horse again.

        • Once they stop selling my data, they can get back on that high horse again.

          It is perfectly clear that you are trading your data and time (watching ads) in exchange for free content and that you are doing this voluntarily.

          So, just stop. I would love to see some kind of alternate platform and model take off.

  • 40% (Score:2)

    by Luthair ( 847766 )
    Shouldn't there be half as many ad breaks? 40% sounds like they're going to run more ads in addition to doubling them up.

  • So they just want to show more ads up-front before we get any content. That sounds like it will end well.

    I've already unsubbed from several channels that got into the "two minutes of endorsements, begging for likes and subs, and Patreon, but hey, you can just skip it if you don't like it, so it's okay".

  • And a few have mentioned it. Yes, it is paying for Youtube Premium.

    Originally, I signed up to explicitly get rid of the ads. But almost immediately I got offered the Youtube Music app and I love it. And I didn't have to teach it what music I liked because it already knew as I'd been Liking the music videos I love for years. Subtle advantage over other music services: Youtube usually has the music video, too. :)

  • One thing people are missing regarding YouTube inserting ads in the middle of videos, when they try to compare it to broadcast TV.

    When you watched a show on TV, and they were inserting ads in the middle, those shows would be edited with the expectation that there would be commercial breaks, and the layout of the show would account for them. On YouTube, they'll break in with a commercial whenever they feel like it. Doesn't matter if you're watching a musical performance, technical presentation, whatever.

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