YouTube is Killing the Overlay Ad Format Next Month (arstechnica.com) 50
Here's something you don't see everyday: fewer ads on YouTube. Well, fewer ad formats, at least. From a report: YouTube's latest forum post says the company will be doing away with "Overlay ads" on YouTube videos. These are the old-school banner ads that pop up over the video player, obstructing the view of whatever you were trying to watch. YouTube says the ads are going away on April 6, calling them a "legacy ad format." The ads only worked on desktop, the company said, and they "are disruptive for viewers." Now the only ads in the video player will be video ads that can play before, in the middle of, or after a video. The "view product" pop-up ad is also allowed, and there will still be banner ads in the recommended video list.
I thought that was malware (Score:3)
I won't lie, when they first started doing those pop-ups I thought I had an ad-ware bug somewhere on my computer. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what was causing it so that I could kill it.
Re: (Score:2)
Which works great, until you want to watch on an actual TV. The difference in experiences watching YouTube on my computer vs. on my Roku is quite stark.
Re: (Score:2)
I watch Youtube on a TV with SmartTube on a Google TV. It doesn't display ads, and it has sponsorblock. I used to use a Shield Tube but then they put ads on the home screen like everyone else, and then I surrendered to having the functionality in the TV where it doesn't take up any additional space. The Shield Tube was a better device, but it wasn't a good enough gaming platform to be worth using for that (especially when I have a 40" display on my PC) so the fact that the TV's SoC is worthless for gaming i
Re: (Score:3)
"Smart" TVs are total crap and I wouldn't have one in the house if you paid me. When my old TV died it wasn't economical to get it repaired so I had a look at Smart TVs and decided they were all utter crap. Spyware infested pieces of junk which the manufacturers regularly abandoned after about 10 minutes.
So I did a bit of research then built a mini-itx Linux box (with Ubuntu LTS) and bought an Iiyama signage display (big monitor, 4k etc.). Initially I had a Hauppauge USB TV/Radio receiver attached so it
Re: (Score:2)
I've gone through all that shit, in the end you get an inferior UI and for what, so that services which track you on the back end can't track you on the front end too? Whoopee
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Let me know if you've found a surefire way to block YouTube ads on iPhone.
Easy. (Score:1)
You the Brave browser. I haven't seen a single ad on YT using Brave.
Re: (Score:2)
For reals? For some reason I never considered trying out Brave on mobile. I will try it, thanks!
Re: (Score:2)
If you want to play in Apples walled sandpit you have to wear your Apple diapers (which you have to buy at an inflated price) and do what you're told.
Re: (Score:2)
I get the phone from my employer.
Also what is the alternative? Playing in Google's walled sandpit?
Re: I thought that was malware (Score:1)
when they first started doing those pop-ups
... was 20 years ago. What are you on about?
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I'm not sure that's true (it might be true), but however old the youtube pop ups are, ad-ware pop ups are older. Don't know if you knew that.
Not to worry (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Adblock will stop all ads ont he desktop. I've seen no ads there on youtube for years. In the last couple of years it has meant that you ahve a pause before you can continue, just like the ad was there but you can't actually see any ads.
However - this doesn't work for streaming to a device, like a smart tv, Roku, etc. There I just put up with the ads, and if they're too obnoxious I skip the video. This is absurd at times, like multiple ads being shown during a movie preview. But because a movie preview
Re: (Score:2)
There are third party Youtube clients with ad and sponsor blocking baked in. Smart Youtube TV and SmartTube are both AndroidTV applications that do those things, for example. I believe there are ad-free options on lesser platforms as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently pi-hole doesn[t work for Roku. Or Google, whoever injects the ads. The SmartTube is android only, but it loses a lot of functionality if you don't have a remote control, ala chromecast. And YouTube premium costs as much as Netflix despite it being "free content" from third parties that Google does not produce. Oh well, the ads aren't terrible. People tell horror stories of 3 hour ads and ads very 3 minutes, but I've never seen that.
I don't think there's tracking; maybe it's because I turned
Re: (Score:2)
If you're using an "official" youtube client, the ads are baked in over SSL and can't be removed. You can screencast to your Roku from a better platform at least.
Re: (Score:3)
I watch YouTube videos on a Roku and the ads are BRUTAL, sometimes seemingly popping up as often as every few minutes (and the ads themselves can be a few minutes long). The experience can be pretty miserable.
Youtube ads (Score:1)
Youtube is currently at the point in ad placement in its videos that Hulu was shortly before they went to an exclusively pay-to-play model: back to back ads before, during, and after, and obnoxious enough that you often don't even bother unless you absolutely need the information.
I've all but stopped using youtube directly, at this point, as a result. The content they offer now, after they've purged a very significant amount of "non-corporate" media, is not worth the $12/month to avoid the ads, either.
Re: (Score:2)
There is an army of trolls on /. which mods down everything not explicitly Woke to maintain a narrat
Or maybe its just that the majority disagrees with your stance. Maybe you should do some self reflection.
Re: (Score:2)
There is an army of trolls on /. which mods down everything not explicitly Woke to maintain a narrat
Or maybe its just that the majority disagrees with your stance. Maybe you should do some self reflection.
Or take a Dark Retreat like a certain American quarterback?
Re: (Score:3)
The content they offer now, after they've purged a very significant amount of "non-corporate" media, is not worth the $12/month to avoid the ads, either.
YouTube never purged any non-corporate media, and there's no shortage of content. In fact, a good deal of creators from other platforms like Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram also upload their content to YouTube. There was a brief period where they did a massive change to how things were monetized which led to some creators changing their content or quitting, but that's pretty much in the past. And whoever quit is just replaced by other creators.
It's funny to me when people say they don't watch YouTube be
Subtitles (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, if they can make subtitles and closedcaptioning appear below the video instead of overlayed that could be useful too.
Re:Subtitles (Score:4, Insightful)
The video controls should, too. I still can't believe that if you pause the video, the progress indicator obscures the subtitles, among other things. I know UX people really suck at their jobs in general, but far too often it borders on trolling.
As other have said . . . (Score:1)
Sorry, too little, too late (Score:3)
Everyone I know already installed adblockers a long while ago because the ads became SO obnoxious that it is virtually impossible to use YouTube without anymore. And they're not going to get uninstalled. They are here to stay. Yes, you managed to even piss off the crowd that puts up with hundreds of malware popups in their browsers enough to reach out to their friends to have adblockers installed. There's even blocking software for those "sponsorship" plugs of the content creators themselves now.
Get a clue: People hate ads. And they will do everything to avoid them.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't hate advertising per se, but the manner in which it's done.
Last time I encountered it on Youtube (which I rarely use anyway), it was too loud (like it was on TV channels), and it interupted the video at the stupidest possible moments.
Used youtube-dl ever since, but I noticed it fails lately and the videos on the site only play for a second in Pale Moon before pausing, so I'm not bothering any longer.
I might check if the video is on Vimeo or another site if I really want to see it.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't hate advertising per se, but the manner in which it's done.
Last time I encountered it on Youtube (which I rarely use anyway), it was too loud (like it was on TV channels), and it interupted the video at the stupidest possible moments.
Used youtube-dl ever since, but I noticed it fails lately and the videos on the site only play for a second in Pale Moon before pausing, so I'm not bothering any longer.
I might check if the video is on Vimeo or another site if I really want to see it.
So you'll spend 15 MINUTES to avoid watching a 15 SECOND ad spot? That's silly.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
There is a fork of 'youtube-dl' that is better than 'youtube-dl'.
I am not sharing the name of the fork here because the 1st Rule of Fight Club is not to talk about Fight Club.
Re: (Score:3)
Get a clue: People hate ads. And they will do everything to avoid them.
They'll do...everything?
You mean they'll pay a nominal fee in order to be considered an actual customer instead of The Product in order to avoid ads everywhere?
We know how we got here. Enough with the BS.
Re: (Score:3)
If offered the chance and no other way to escape it, surprisingly, yes, they do.
Of course, if offered the chance to avoid it for free, they'll take that option.
Re: (Score:2)
You mean they'll pay a nominal fee in order to be considered an actual customer instead of The Product in order to avoid ads everywhere?
I did. Did you?
Yes. But I'm also from a generation who doesn't get offended over a "racist" price tag higher than free.
I, wasn't The Product growing up. Big difference.
more ads (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I can ff those. It's the annoying 6-âz second-long ads that are driving me away from YouTube. If I'm going to pay to remove ads, I pay for Netflix or Sling
Re: (Score:2)
This works great on the browser. Not at all for streaming devices though :/
https://chrome.google.com/webs... [google.com]
Firefox Mobile + UBlock Origin (Score:3)
What about the four pop ups in the end ... (Score:2)
Newpipe (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes! Either use Newpipe or the U-block origin plugin for FireFox Desktop or Mobile to lose those terrible ads to gain some peace.
Now make ad reporting fit for purpose (Score:3)
The amount of ads for scams that I get is unreal. I report then through their "ad center" but it doesn't lessen them. Are humans even dealing with these reports? Reporting an ad returns a thankyou message which they haven't updated since COVID claiming somebody might get to do something sometime. On top of that, there is ZERO feedback if the report was handled.
The stupid part to me is that the scam ads are there at all. I reckon it would be easy for YouTube to transcribe or watermark scam ads and once they've blocked once, they can be killed on sight - make the scammer go to the effort of cutting a new ad over and over. Or flag ads which use certain key words for human review. Again, it should be eminently possible.
Ad-blocked YouTube on TV (Score:3, Interesting)
My solution to watching YouTube on TV without ads:
I have a small NUC with Linux hooked up to the TV. I run Firefox (with uBlock) in full-screen using a separate profile dedicated to YouTube. I control the screen from my phone using the KDE Connect app. Not great, but works. I hate ads.
On the same NUC I have Kodi to watch my own movies streamed from a file server.
Desktop? (Score:3)
If they were desktop only, that explains why I didn't knew they were a thing... running Firefox + uBlock since forever. On the other hand... on smart TV I find YouTube unwatchable due to its annoying ads.
Ads have been blocked for years..... (Score:2)
As a creator... (Score:2)
...this kind of sucks for me.
For all the videos I've uploaded to my channel I only ever allow the overlay adverts - the other types intrude too much on the viewer, so I disable them in order to make the viewing experience better.
If the option for overlay ads is removed then I have the option of losing the bulk of my YT income, or changing all of my videos to use a more intrusive advert type which will just serve to annoy - and likely drive away - viewers.