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Youtube IT Technology

YouTube Has Started Blocking Ad Blockers (androidpolice.com) 243

An anonymous reader shares a report: YouTube Premium subscribership grew to a record 80 million users in 2022, and Google responded by announcing it would be investing more into its subscription offerings in 2023. What we didn't realize at the time was how that could mean handicapping its free offerings to get more people to pay for its services. When watching videos yesterday, one Redditor encountered a popup informing them that "Ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube." The message offered a button to "Allow YouTube ads" in the person's ad blocking software and went on to explain that ads make the service free for billions of users and that YouTube Premium offers an ad-free experience. It even provided a button to easily sign up for a YouTube Premium membership.
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YouTube Has Started Blocking Ad Blockers

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  • This will fail (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DarkRookie2 ( 5551422 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:21PM (#63511799)
    I will take the power of a million hackers against the 10 devs that Google has.
    • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Pinky's Brain ( 1158667 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:29PM (#63511825)

      The ad blockers can not show the ads, but Google can choose when to stream video.

      If they implement it correctly, the best you can do is block out the ad while still having to wait for it to end.

      • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Informative)

        by Anonymous Brave Guy ( 457657 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:01PM (#63511919)

        If they implement it correctly, the best you can do is block out the ad while still having to wait for it to end.

        (a) That's still a significant improvement given how bad a lot of the ads are.

        (b) Google still don't get the ad revenue unless they're willing to lie to advertisers about how many people really saw their ad. And by deterring viewers who were never going to watch ads voluntarily anyway they might (might) reduce second order effects that help to promote their best and most profitable content. So it seems like a strategy that can't really win but could really lose.

        I doubt there's any way you can beat the blockers sustainably just by trying to detect them. As with piracy, the optimal strategy to make money from video ads might be to acknowledge the reality and try to make doing what you want easier than working around it. Plenty of relatively popular channels on YouTube feature product placements or have the host openly acknowledge their commercial sponsors as an integral part of the presentation. YouTube's problem is that they haven't found a good way to take their cut of those kinds of ad revenue.

        • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Insightful)

          by dirk ( 87083 ) <dirk@one.net> on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:20PM (#63511985) Homepage

          As with most piracy strategies though, they don't need to stop everyone. As long as they can make it significantly hard for the average user to use an ad blocked on YouTube, they have accomplished their goal. Yes, you will never be able to stop a really dedicated person willing to code their own blocker, but if mom and dad can't keep up with the blocker of the week that works, they are going to give up, and that is who they really care about.

          • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Bill, Shooter of Bul ( 629286 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:55PM (#63512111) Journal
            Exactly. Spotify is fine despite the pirate bay existing. If anything pirate bay use plummeted as streaming of movies/tv and music became available at a reasonable price. You don't have to stamp out piracy, just make it more difficult for most people and make paying for it the least annoying option.

            I didn't use youtube at all until they had an adfree model. Now, I use it all the time.
          • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Insightful)

            by ewibble ( 1655195 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @04:41PM (#63512245)

            Its not hard once a use a bypass once its implemented, it is really about how many ads are shown. If you have a few ads then that is fine most people won't even bother installing an ad blocker, but as youtube has gotten more ads and benefit ratio of ad blocker changes and people start installing it. If google didn't litter youtube with ads most people would just watch them. Once they start using an ad blocker then its an effort to remove them.

            I am not against ads, I understand they are necessary, I am against excessive ads. The question is who is in the right position to determine what is excessive I don't think its google since they will always want to make more money. It probably isn't the viewer since 0 is the optimal number, however I don't mind a few, but 33% of the time in a show like it is on TV is excess.

        • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Interesting)

          by NewtonsLaw ( 409638 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @04:12PM (#63512163)

          "given how bad a lot of the ads are"

          It's worse than "bad"... so many of the ads on YouTube are for outright scams. Free energy generators, potions that will cure cancer, RC jets that turn out to be crappy little tin toys, etc, etc.

          No matter how many times people report these scam ads, YouTube just keeps on showing them -- proving that, despite what they claim, the *only* thing YT is interested in is *REVENUE*.

          example (and read the comments for proof) [youtube.com].

      • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:10PM (#63511945)

        The ads wouldn't be so bad, except that: web ads often have malware; youtube ads can be excessive in number sometimes; they have ads before movie previews (ads before ads); asinine ads.

        That said, I see the ads when using the TV, there's no way to block them there. On the PC I block them; it used to just have a long delay before the video started, now the videos are starting immediately (possibly adblock caught up, given time google will catch up, it's just part of the mutli decade long episode of Hungry Games).

      • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Herr Joebob ( 716476 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:22PM (#63511997)
        That's still an improvement in some cases. Years ago there was a (I think) Navy ad that was in full 2k and apparently ONLY 2k. My internet was too slow to play it live and YT would just stop trying to play my actual video playlist when the ad stuttered too much, so I could either refresh to hopefully get another ad or pause the ad and let it buffer enough to hopefully play through. So shortly after that experience I enabled AdBlock. I *wasn't* against watching ads to pay for the service but they had simply failed to provide something usable. In fact if AdBlock stops working I might pay for premium, which wasn't even an option when I first starting blocking them.
        • Re:This will fail (Score:5, Informative)

          by BeaverCleaver ( 673164 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @07:02PM (#63512649)

          Plenty of people have download caps, so they too are directly paying for every byte of video, even the ads. I remember when cable TV came to my country, first there were no ads, because you were already paying for the content. Then there were ads between shows, because that didn't interrupt the show. Now there are ads during the show, and even cuts to the show's running times so they can squeeze even more ads in. It seems like Youtube is doing the same, with an added helping of tracking and datamining that cable companies could only dream about.

          I have no objection to advertising and would happily accept a static ad on the side of a page (or, you know, just PAY for content. I have no problem with this). But advertising companies have consistently proven themselves to be greedy, dishonest, and irresponsible (ads for illegal products/services, scams, serving up malware, trackers and spyware,ads covering content, pretending that the ad IS the content etc). So fuck them. Block all the ads.

      • Which basically puts us back to using the mute button during commercials on broadcast or cable TV... Not good
    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:45PM (#63511863)
      but it's really not hard to stop ad blockers. You just serve the ads from the same servers as the video. And you don't serve up the real content until the advert has played. Best case you can black hole the adverts and add a long delay.

      The reason Youtube didn't do this is they were afraid of competition. They're not anymore. Nobody is even pretending to enforce anti-trust law, so they're free to do whatever they want with zero risk of competitors. If one shows up they'll just spend a bunch of money from their Search business to undermine them until they go out of business. And there's squadoo you can do about it because we won't stop putting people in charge that won't enforce laws against mega corps.

      If you don't like it, change how you vote. It does mean you'll have to give up some things, mostly culture war nonsense and moral panics. But it's tough to give those up because they're designed to push your buttons. You need to be aware when your buttons are being pushed.
      • If you don't like it, change how you vote.

        If voting actually did anything maybe I would.
        But all the options I get when voting aren't good enough. So no voting for me and I am left really annoyed that congress can sell their vote but I can't. I want $20. That is a decent dinner for a change.

      • Then I'll just have the videos buffer, strip the ad and go get the soda while it loads and buffers. YouTube thinks I watch the ad, instead my system is downloading and buffering the stream, stripping the ads as they come and serving me what I want to see.

    • Not if they start splicing the ads into the video on the fly.

  • Yeah, no. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by NateFromMich ( 6359610 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:24PM (#63511805)
    I'm sorry, but youtube simply isn't worth paying for, in my opinion, and the last time I tried watching it without blocking the ads, it wasn't worth all the damn ads either.
    • Re:Yeah, no. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rogoshen1 ( 2922505 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:31PM (#63511831)

      ads are a scourge, and any sensible person should do as much as they can to avoid them at every opportunity.

      • Re:Yeah, no. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:14PM (#63511955) Homepage Journal

        ads are a scourge, and any sensible person should do as much as they can to avoid them at every opportunity.

        I hear ya....SO many and so often and getting LONGER too.

        I don't see any ads really when watching on my desktop, but once I watch YouTube through and app, like on iPad, Apple TV (hardware) or my Fire TV Square.....I get inundated and I don't know of any way to squash them through the apps....

        They're almost to the point to where I'm stopping watching except on my desktop.

        Which is too bad...as that most TV content sucks .....

        • I just hooked a little 50 dollar mini-PC from ebay (i5 6th gen quad core) to my TV and got a HTPC remote with a little keyboard on it. Adblocked youtube, on my couch tv is a win.
        • by Strider- ( 39683 )

          I used to report every single add they showed me as "offensive" as I find all advertising offensive. I'd just hit the little i icon, reprot it as offensive, and it would stop showing me them, and any following.

          They don't let me do that any more.

        • They're almost to the point to where I'm stopping watching except on my desktop.

          Which is too bad...as that most TV content sucks .....

          I've done this. I only ever watch youtube on "real computers" now. It seemed like a hassle at first, then I realised that I am actually saving time, because I'm not wasting any time watching ads.

        • by elcor ( 4519045 )
          Brave browser
    • by jwhyche ( 6192 )

      I guess it depends on what you watch on youtube. If you are watching the make up or jewelry crap, then I wouldn't pay for it ether.

      I watch a lot of historic and scientific videos, stuff with high quality production value. SEA and Cool Words are two that come to mind. There are few high quality history channels out there. I find this content worth paying for.

      • I'm watching a lot of videos on all-grain home brewing lately...good stuff out there.

        Useful and practical too...also with brewing ciders and meads.

        I'm always good on videos for photography, videography and SPFX tools...post processing, etc.

    • Re: Yeah, no. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Albanach ( 527650 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:47PM (#63511867) Homepage

      You get quite a lot for the subscription value. Ad free, the ability to watch in the background, ability to download, and YouTube Music.

      I expect the real move here is to put pressure on Spotify and Apple. Apple can respond by bundling music and Apple TV. Spotify could try to upsell their unique podcast offerings. Eventually users have to choose what they want alongside their music subscription.

      • Can do the first 3 with addons and switching to desktop mode on my mobile browser.
        The last is a worthless service to me that does nothing except inflate the already inflated costs.
      • Re: Yeah, no. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by ukoda ( 537183 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:21PM (#63511991) Homepage
        Ad free now, but how long until it becomes "less ads"? My guess is until they think subscription vs unsubscribed ratio has flattened off so there is a reduction in revenue growth. At that time bean counters will panic and demand a new income stream, i.e. add 'premium' ads to the subscription stream.

        The problem will be the ads in the subscription version will grow, just like they did with the free version. There they started as just a few occasionally at the beginning and end up with multiple ads in every stream until the service became unwatchable forcing you to either give up, buy a subscription or install an ad blocker. If subscription goes down the same path what are you going to do?

        To me the greed of advertisers reminds me of Monty python's Mr creosote. If they knew what the word restrain meant there would be no ad blockers. During a recent Linux install I searched for a solution to an issue before I got around to installing an ad blocker in Firefox. OMG I couldn't believe how out of control ads have got, such an assault on the senses, how could anyone think it was reasonable?
        • Lot of assumptions in this post... but the basic rebuttal would be that if they start making changes you don't like, you can cancel at any time. It's not like cable deals or subsidized phone plans where you're locked in for years - you can discontinue it trivially.

          • by ukoda ( 537183 )
            Not sure if it is a rebuttal if it is something I already said was a potential out come.

            I do believe content creators should be rewarded so I did tolerate ads at first but when they increased 25 fold I snapped and installed an ad blocker. I had considered a subscription but it was over priced relative to the amount of content I consume and I really don't trust Google anymore after how quickly they ramped up the ads to 25 times the amount I started at once they figure I was addicted. The catch is I'm no
      • You get quite a lot for the subscription value. Ad free, the ability to watch in the background, ability to download, and YouTube Music.

        I expect the real move here is to put pressure on Spotify and Apple. Apple can respond by bundling music and Apple TV. Spotify could try to upsell their unique podcast offerings. Eventually users have to choose what they want alongside their music subscription.

        I pay the Google tax. As far as I'm concerned it's a good deal. Unlimited (whatever that means) google drive that I use for backup, no youtube ads, They host my mail. All for not a lot of money compared to competing services.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • 100% agree.
      I would rather loose youtube than allow adverts, trackers, malware,spyware served to my by youtube.
      And then I would also stop my patreon payments to content creators unless they make it available to some other platform too.
  • Ethical to pay (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:25PM (#63511809)

    I hate YouTube ads a LOT, but I just tolerate them because YouTube creators deserve something for the effort of making videos, and that is how the money flows.

    It just happens I hate giving Google money even more which is why I don't have a premium subscription to get rid of ads I hate. But I'm not going to try to cheat the system because them I'm also cheating the people that make videos.

    • by poobah75 ( 2883043 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:33PM (#63511833)
      I support multiple content creators through Patreon to make sure that they aren't held hostage to creating clickbait to appease the YouTube algorithms. However this makes me wonder if they will extend the ads to videos marked private that I get to watch a few days earlier than the general public through the Patreon interface.
    • Re:Ethical to pay (Score:5, Informative)

      by c ( 8461 ) <beauregardcp@gmail.com> on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:44PM (#63511857)

      but I just tolerate them because YouTube creators deserve something for the effort of making videos

      I tried. I really did. But the sheer amount of outright junk or scam ads and the inability to flag/block them made it just unbearable.

    • Re:Ethical to pay (Score:5, Insightful)

      by blackomegax ( 807080 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:41PM (#63512071) Journal
      You should look up a breakdown of how much a youtube creator actually earns per ad view. It is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a penny.

      You'd be better off throwing them ONE DOLLAR on patreon and paying for 10,000 ad views that you can then go ethically block.
    • The creators have their own ads and get money that way. Which is why I won't pay for YouTube Premium, Google are charging premium prices for an ad-laden experience.

  • That's fine. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Petersko ( 564140 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:27PM (#63511819)

    Nobody has to use it, and it's their service to do with as they see fit. Makes sense they would do this. Nothing to see here.

    • This is the worst take.

      They are a defacto monopoly on online video streaming. They may own the site, but they don't own the content. They also don't offer a way for many creators to opt out of their mandatory monetization of your content, even if they don't pass along the income to you.

      You are the product, and I personally am not going to sit through several minutes of uninteresting, unnecessary, irrelevant shit I will never buy for any reason to watch a couple minutes of video. My time is worth more
      • by ukoda ( 537183 )
        Well said. I would sit through an ad to allow the content creators some income, but the problem is advertiser's greed knows no limits. If they knew what the word 'restraint' meant there would be little use of ad blockers. Advertisers remind me of Monty python's Mr creosote.
      • > They are a defacto monopoly on online video streaming.

        Insta reels, fb reels, tiktok? Some of those are even moving towards long-form video.
      • Comparing it to Microsoft's ads in the O/S is intellectual dishonestly. You absolutely get to choose what's shown in your browser. You can opt out. Lots of people do it.

      • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        No they're not. There are piles of online video streaming sites, and it's a low barrier to entry. Even Disney eventually figured out how to do it.

        Most of the interesting YouTube stuff is mirrored elsewhere, whether it's Curiosity Stream, Nebula (created by youtubers annoyed at youtube), or Patreon Video.

    • Should I invoice them for the electricity it costs to run ads on my computer? Just wondering if I still get to decide what my computer does with video streams served by another computer.

  • ...watch this important message from their sponsors.

    Since the ads are served by bots, can't they just be watched by bots too?
    • And that's part of the problem. The content creators are not picking the ads, they're chosen randomly and often are unrelated to the content. I especially see this with untargeted ads; it really REALLY wants me to see ads for stupid mobile games when I'm seeing content about a PC game.

  • by Dictator For Life ( 8829 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:38PM (#63511845) Homepage

    "YouTube has started blocking me."

    Whatever. In the great battle for my eyes, entertainment loses every time if ads enter the battlefield. I don't need YouTube, and I don't need their ads.

    • by ukoda ( 537183 )
      Yes, if I had to watch ads there is just two channels whose content I would watch, the rest would just not be worth the pain. My viewing time on Youtube would dive to fraction of what it is now. The shame is Youtube drove the demand for ad blockers by being too greedy.
  • now to delete youtube from my bookmarks, byebye youtube
  • You don't get the content.
    You aren't entitled to free entertainment of whatever you want.
    • by OfMiceAndMenus ( 4553885 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:55PM (#63511885)
      It's not YouTube's content to monetize. YouTube doesn't even let content creators demonetize their videos unless they're "big enough".

      Fuck YouTube, they don't deserve any ad revenue or literally anything for the broken shitty monopoly they provide. They're owned by one of the richest companies on the internet, they're just milking you stupid ad-watching peons for your spare time and converting it to cash.

      Sounds like you're a fucking idiot if you watch YouTube ads.
      • by Merk42 ( 1906718 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:24PM (#63512003)

        It's not YouTube's content to monetize.

        Why do I have to give money to ${store} even though they didn't make ${product}??? That means I'm entitled to just take it for free!

        • It's not YouTube's content to monetize.

          Why do I have to give money to ${store} even though they didn't make ${product}??? That means I'm entitled to just take it for free!

          I can certainly watch their showdisplay for free, even if I am not buying anything ;)......

      • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
        You mean the creators who pay, what was it again, oh yea, $0 to have their content stored and distributed? Those creators?
      • What the parent company makes is irrelevant. Youtube runs about 18% EBIT. Healthy, but below that of other social media giants.

    • by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:15PM (#63511959)

      With broadcast television, nobody forced you to watch the ads. Everyone knew that most people left the room to go get a sandwich or do something else. And the broadcast networks make a LOT of money this way, with curated ads, ads that didn't offend, without including malware, without popping up the next ad break a mere 5 minutes after the previous one, etc.

      • by Merk42 ( 1906718 )

        With broadcast television, nobody forced you to watch the ads. Everyone knew that most people left the room to go get a sandwich or do something else. And the broadcast networks make a LOT of money this way, with curated ads, ads that didn't offend, without including malware, without popping up the next ad break a mere 5 minutes after the previous one, etc.

        You're free to go get a sandwich or do something else while the YouTube ad(s) play too.

  • yt-dlp (Score:5, Informative)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:51PM (#63511875)

    For those unaware, yt-dlp is a great program for downloading videos from YouTube and other platforms. https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-d... [github.com]

    • I should plan ahead for this stuff. Spent 5 hours sitting around in the hospital with no wifi yesterday and the tv showing dr phil. There's only so much wordscapes I can do before going crazy.

  • Fine with me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Drethon ( 1445051 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:52PM (#63511877)

    Ads don't bother me much, take it or leave it if they get too many ads. What bugs me is the websites that start telling me to shut off my ad blocker, when the only thing I have is a program that blocks trackers.

  • by iAmWaySmarterThanYou ( 10095012 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:55PM (#63511893)

    Yes they own the site and can do what they want with it, including forcing ads, etc.

    However, they do have to take reality into account. If they force feed too many of the usual repetitive stupid ads then people will get turned off and find their entertainment elsewhere, user numbers will drop which means ads values will drop and so on to the bottom line.

    Ads, sure, but with balance against people's tolerance or they'll kill the golden goose. They paid 6 billion USD for it years ago but if they fuck it up it can go to zero. Hosting videos isn't rocket science.

  • by TheNameOfNick ( 7286618 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @02:59PM (#63511907)

    Youtube with ads is unusable and I'm not paying Google for anything, ever. I'll do without Youtube if I have to.

    • This. I have like six different blockers (etc.) installed that all affect youtube, including one specifically for that and nothing else. On my Google TV, I use Smart Tube. I am downright serious about not seeing ads, anywhere. They distract me too much. Google wanted to be the home of streaming video, and now they want to alter the deal, but their reputation frankly isn't good enough to sell turning them off.

    • Which blocker are you using?

      Don't tease us.

    • by G00F ( 241765 )

      Youtube with ads is unusable and I'm not paying Google for anything, ever. I'll do without Youtube if I have to.

      I'd lose the ability to fix my car and many things around the house... on the first/second try...

  • by Indy1 ( 99447 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:06PM (#63511935)

    With the amount of ad servers that get compromised and serve out malware, blocking ads isn't just reducing annoyances, its basic system security.

    Further, its up to me what system resources and bandwidth get used for. If I don't want to waste resources for crappy ads that only annoy me and get in the way, that's my right to refuse them at a client level or redirect them to /dev/null.

    • Your browser, your rules.
      Their site, their rules.

      The end result is that browser and site will interact only when there is alignment of both rulesets.

      Is the rulesets are orthogonal, browser and site will not get along, and site will not be usable in browser.

      Easy peasy.

  • by MpVpRb ( 1423381 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:16PM (#63511961)

    It's a valuable resource

    • Whereas I would LOVE to see the death of the service that has resulted in so many search results going to things that are needlessly presented as videos, with lots of filler added in to get over the minimum time for monetization and "subscribe!" crap added to the end when a simple paragraph and a diagram would be a hundred fold more useful.

      YouTube COULD be useful, but it mostly promotes lower quality crap that drowns out the good stuff with volume.

  • by ebunga ( 95613 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:33PM (#63512039)

    I've got better things to do.

  • Well, leave it to the smart cookies of uBlock origin and privacy badger to get around this block, which in turn will lead the smart cookies at Google to devise a more effective ban, which in turn... you get the idea.

    I'll keep viewing youtube with adblockers on (after all, the FBI recomends them*), and when a block like this hits, I'll browse youtube for a few days with adblock off, until uBlock and PB updates.

    Easy peasy.

    *https://yro.slashdot.org/story/22/12/22/2214206/even-the-fbi-says-you-should-use-an-ad-

  • by dixonpete ( 1267776 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:39PM (#63512065)
    I can't tolerate ads on any platform, so I guess I'll be using the extra time to exercise. I'd call that a win.
  • by Anonymouse Cowtard ( 6211666 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:48PM (#63512093) Homepage
    On the TV I hit Mute, close my eyes and count down from 15 (or 30 or 5). It's blissful.
  • I'll show myself out.

  • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @05:22PM (#63512345)

    Instead of blocking the ad, have a script that clicks EVERY ad a couple thousand times. Preferably distributed around all participating people carrying the plugin to ensure we have a load of unique IPs. The advertisers pay a fortune until they realize that they're being ripped off and simply stop advertising with YouTube.

  • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @05:26PM (#63512359)

    Have a plugin that buffers a few minutes of a video and strip the ads. Sure, it would mean that you have to start buffering a bunch of minutes before watching, but to resolve this, just have the plugin buffer every related video while you're watching the first one.

    Sure, that would make YouTube lose a lot of money on having to deal with the insane waste of bandwidth but ... hey, how's that my problem, just let me skip the ads and I stop wasting your bandwidth. Deal?

  • by Babel-17 ( 1087541 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @06:46PM (#63512607)

    The ones that need for me to click on "Skip ads" for me to not have a two minute ad play. I often keep my phone in my pocket at the gym, listening to recorded streams.

    At home I let the ads play, but at the gym I use Firefox with ABP enabled, and I visit YouTube with Firefox set to display as a "Desktop site", not a mobile one. That lets me keep the display off without the stream pausing as a result. Currently the stream just plays, with no ads.

  • by PPH ( 736903 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @07:29PM (#63512693)

    I keep getting the "Enable DRM" message whenever a website tries to play a video ad on my system (Linux, Firefox). Occasionally, I click "Enable". Then I get a message about an out of date libavcodec. I've tried to update that, but it has caused Pulse Audio to have fits and finally stop working. VLC with ALSA still works for stuff I want to watch, so I'm not motivated to waste time fiddling with my system to watch your stinkin' ads.

    At any rate, the things that complain the most about DRM are ads. What? You think people actually WANT to steal that shit?

  • by nicubunu ( 242346 ) on Thursday May 11, 2023 @02:25AM (#63513223) Homepage

    The experience of YouTube with ads is simply awful, if the only option is to watch them all, then I won't watch YouTube. Make the ads experience less awfull and then I may accept some.

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