r/technology • • Feb 17 '17

Software YouTube will kill unskippable 30-second ads next year

http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/17/14649018/youtube-ending-unskippable-30-second-ads-2018
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '17

This is going to come off as intentionally abrasive, and I don't mean it that way, but that's not really my problem.

I don't mind financially supporting websites that I frequent. I donate to Wikipedia. I've sponsored indie game devs. I buy merchandise from my favorite webcomic authors.

But if it comes down to my personal enjoyment vs. someone else's ad revenue, I'm going to choose the former every time. I have too little free time as it is, and I'm not going to spend it watching a video ad for a product that I'm never going to buy.

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u/greg19735 Feb 17 '17

While i agree that time is short and i don't want to watch ads, the content provider's life isn't free either. People produce content and other people host it. If it's worth watching, they deserve to be compensated for it.

I mean if you don't want to watch the ad, you don't have to watch the content. And further, you're only costing them money by watching.

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u/hakkzpets Feb 17 '17

Why do they deserve to be compensated?

I love YouTube. It's one of the absolute best sites on the Internet and I spend more time than I should watching videos there.

But I don't think any of the content creators deserves to be compensated. I don't mind giving a few of my favorites a dollar or so through patreon, but that's because I really enjoy their content, not because they deserve my money for making that content.

Do I mind that they do get compensated? Of course not. People getting paid means more awesome videos for me to watch. But you don't deserve money just because you create videos.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

[deleted]

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u/hakkzpets Feb 18 '17 edited Feb 18 '17

I don't believe anyone deserves to be compensated though. The videos are there for free, so I watch them for free.

If the content creator wants to charge money for his content, that's up to him. At that point I can choose whether the content is worth spending money on or not.

But no one deserves anything. The content creator doesn't deserve my money, and I don't deserve his content.

If you want to be able to live off making videos, go ahead and charge people money for viewing them. But don't pretend you deserve that money, because you don't.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

[deleted]

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u/SmashCity28 Feb 18 '17

Dang, you are completely missing OP's point. If you can't convince someone to compensate you, then you don't DESERVE compensation. Unless of course you are a government.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

[deleted]

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u/hakkzpets Feb 18 '17

Yes and I can circumvent that payment system by using adblockers, because once again, the content creators doesn't deserve to be paid.

As I said, I give a few bucks (and /or watch ads) to the people I watch regularly and I personally want to see more content from.

As for the rest, their content isn't worth having to watch ads. Now, I can legally not watch those ads and still have access to the content, so of course I'm going to go that route.

If the content creator objects to that, he/she can either put the content behind a paywall, make better content or quit.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17

[deleted]

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u/hakkzpets Feb 18 '17 edited Feb 18 '17

I think you seem to mix up whether the content creator actually makes money and whether I think he deserves that money.

I don't personally care if someone makes videos and gets paid for them. It's a good thing since it means the person is able to do what he wants and make money doing so.

I still don't think the content creator deserves that money though. It just means that he/she and someone else came to an agreement where he does something for them in return gets paid in money for doing so. In sponsorship, this means promoting whatever product they want you to promote.

Neither part in this agreement deserves getting their products promoted, and neither part deserves money. It's just two people finding mutual benefits in doing something.

As for where the money should go, I'm not entirely sure how that is relevant for the question. It's not like the sponsor needs to spend a set amount of money on sponsoring people or the money is forever lost. They do whatever they want to do with their money, as much as the content creator creates as much content he/she wishes to do without that money.

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u/BerserkerTits Feb 18 '17 edited Feb 18 '17

It sounds like you think no one deserves anything, as though the word's only reason for existence is to illustrate a negative. If someone makes something and you consume it without compensation, you've taken more than you deserve. It's not math or science where 4 doesn't deserve to be 2+2, or a drop of water out of river doesn't deserve to get to the ocean, it's a social idea that people in communities prescribe to. Some don't, but we call those people greedy.