OT - YouTube ads

Within the last couple weeks, my experience with YT took a downturn after they began placing two ads back-to-back at the front of videos. These are the "your video will start soon", meaning that I can't opt-out after some seconds. Anyone know whether this is a system-wide change, or if it happens after users cross some magic bandwidth? It became SO annoying that I switched to another browser specifically for viewing YT, one that (so far) is successfully blocking all their inane ads that I zero interest in. (Yes I know I can pay them to not run ads, but it's the principle of the thing. I mean, they know it's me, and they know that after showing the same ad 100 times, if I didn't click through before, it's probably not going to happen on the 101st try.)

I have seen some of that.  Usually for me there is a timer in the lower right corner of the screen.  When the timer is done I can opt out of the ad and go to what I wanted to see.

i have used Chrome and find that everytime Youtube updates the ad injection I have to go looking for which chrome extension works best that day.  Today it's uBlock Origin but in the past it has been something else.  

I.E. you have to accept that you're going to need to spend a few minutes on google searching for which tool works in the google browser to block the google video site (i'm sensing a theme here)

I use Firefox with Ublock Origin, and so far it's been rock solid.

Yeah it's kind of annoying. On the plus side, it will boost their earnings and stock price. ;)

Firefox is your best best. OTOH I got google to offer me premium when I was on a trip in Taiwan super cheap. Maybe the same thing could be accomplished with a VPN?

Opera is also good, it also has a free VPN that allowed me to watch the N24 on YT this year

my method that has been working for years is when I click a video, if an ad plays, I quickly page back (alt + left arrow) and then page forward (alt + right arrow) and it seems to trick YT to not play an ad

ClearWaterMS said:

i have used Chrome and find that everytime Youtube updates the ad injection I have to go looking for which chrome extension works best that day.  Today it's uBlock Origin but in the past it has been something else.  

 

I.E. you have to accept that you're going to need to spend a few minutes on google searching for which tool works in the google browser to block the google video site (i'm sensing a theme here)

So Chrome is changing the way that they approve extensions pretty soon. UBlock and a few others used to roll out almost daily updates, now they have to wait for approval. Chrome is changing heavily under the skin. "to protect user data" in a way that also makes blocking ads almost impossible to do. Why because google sells the ads and controls the delivery keys, we used to be able to get around this but they are masking data now along with the ads to get around this and delaying updates.

Firefox is not doing this along with a few others but even my PiHole does not catch everything anymore. 

WonkoTheSane said:

I use Firefox with Ublock Origin, and so far it's been rock solid.

Same experience but with AdBlock.  Never have ads.  

Google has vested interest in making YT show ads, so Chrome is really out.  Never tried Edge.  

At the risk of screwing myself forever......I don't have ads on YouTube vids I watch. I don't know if it's Ad Block's doing or somehow related to the number of vids you post to the site (I don't do a huge amount, just here and there) keeping the ads out. 

It used to make me so mad when I'd be in the middle of watching a video and it would stop for a commercial or three  - so much so that I would just close the vid.

They want you to sign up for YouTube Premium, which is ad free.  I decided to do it - I watch more YouTube than anyting else these days, so I figure it's basically the same as paying for any other sort of streaming service.

I also have AdBlock Plus on my computer, and as I recall prior to signing up for YouTube Premium I was starting to get warning messages about using it there.

alfadriver said:

WonkoTheSane said:

I use Firefox with Ublock Origin, and so far it's been rock solid.

Same experience but with AdBlock.  Never have ads.  

Google has vested interest in making YT show ads, so Chrome is really out.  Never tried Edge.  

I had Ad-block (I think) and it worked great - right up until YT warned me one day that I "appear to have" ad-blocking, and that if I persist in using it, they'd block me. Game on.

Like I said, if a viewer (who YT easily tracks) doesn't click-through after seeing the same ad 100 times, YT would be wise to decide, "huh, maybe he's not interested, show something different." But they don't... okay.

In reply to kb58 :

AdBlock stopped working on Chrome, with a bunch of warnings.  But it works fine on Firefox.  

alfadriver said:

Google has vested interest in making YT show ads, so Chrome is really out.  Never tried Edge.  

Edge is a Chromium browser, so 99.9% likely to be affected by anything negative google does is relation to ads.

Just switch to Brave browser. It does an excellent job of killing terrible ads without resorting to an ad blocker add on. 

That's the browser I'm trying out, Brave. It does have a quirk with how it handles bookmarks; adding a bookmark in MS Edge doesn't always appear in the Brave bookmark list, even if imported again. Sent in a Support ticket, and there a lot of Support issues regarding bookmarks.

I haven't figured out how to block ads again but lately I've been getting them for Xiaflex and they're weirdly amusing so I'm ok with it for now. 

YouTube premium has been worth every penny. That's all I watch and 95% is on one of our two smart TVs which are always a struggle to get Adblock to work on

Not to be Debbie downer, but keep in mind that most of the videos you are watching are produced by folks trying to earn some level of a living out of it.  Much like tuning into a terrestrial television broadcast, the ads are there so you don't pay anything to view all of the content.  Not an unreasonable tradeoff to me.

In reply to Loweguy5 :

YT/Google pays them, even if you skip the ads.  And many of them have sponsors.

If the ads were specific for the video, that would be one thing- like GRM is.  But when they are videos based on google spying on you, not so much.  This is the only site that I don't block ads.

Loweguy5 said:

Not to be Debbie downer, but keep in mind that most of the videos you are watching are produced by folks trying to earn some level of a living out of it.  Much like tuning into a terrestrial television broadcast, the ads are there so you don't pay anything to view all of the content.  Not an unreasonable tradeoff to me.

I understand; YT is a business and can't exist doing this for free. That said, viewing an ad doesn't equate to a product being sold (said another way, why watch an ad that I have zero interest in). What annoys me is them pushing the same ads over and over. I feel that their business plan is flawed because showing the same ad more than a few times (and they know how many times they made me watch it), it's a fair bet that I've either already bought it, or have zero interest. Showing it another 100 times doesn't increase the odds of me buying it, and actually makes it less likely.

In reply to alfadriver :

As a content producer, I can (respectfully) tell you this is inaccurate.  There is a pay model that has a huge range in how the content creator is paid and it is in part based upon the ad play length.  Skipping the ad isn't going to matter to Hoovie, but channels that are just starting to get traction may be hurt financially which may limit the speed at which they can grow.

I'm not trying to be internet watchdog and you'll do what you're going to do and that's your business.  Knowing how your actions impact others is power in making those decisions.

I: haven't seen a Youtube ad in years. uBlock Origin and Sponsor Block on Firefox are the tits

As a creator, I struggle with the ad thing as I'm also a viewer. We don't get to pick the ads or even the category of ads they show. It is possible to turn off 'mid-run' ads, but I have not done so. I have to admit I like the monthly deposits I get from YT for doing nothing after I upload a video. For now they will stay. I guess if I ever get a sponsor (Ha!) I might reconsider.

I watch YT on my tv so no browser will matter. I pretty much just get political ads right now. Never ending, repetitive political ads. For both idiots. It seems that when I get one of those 'click the survey question' ones, though, if I answer it I tend to get more of those and less ads. 

I noticed that the amount of ads they put in will vary with the device.  My desktops (iMac and Windows PC) have less ads than my Apple TV device, which gets hit hard with ads and most of the time the time to wait to skip the ads is the lenght of the ads, so no skipping.  The ad amounts have increased drastically over time, with the Apple TV getting the worst of it.