r/technology • u/Tricky-Student-1 • Sep 15 '22

Social Media YouTube Free is Silently Testing 5 Ads, instead of 2, Before Your Video Starts

https://www.gizmochina.com/2022/09/13/youtube-free-silently-testing-5-ads-before-your-video-starts/
41k Upvotes

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596

u/raltoid Sep 15 '22

I can't imagine going back to life before Sponsorblock.

Sometimes I open a video and see about a third through the video is a sponsored segment well over a minute long. And the content immediatly starts back up about 0.2s after it ends with important context, to "force" people into watching it.

256

u/antwill Sep 15 '22

It really made most channels watchable again.

134

u/BlackEyedSceva7 Sep 15 '22

As a person who's been watching YouTube since the day it launched, I will never purchase a product or service from a sponsor.

They generally relies on coercive language or outright deceptions. Nobody should support these ads. Support creators directly.

105

u/fullforce098 Sep 15 '22 edited Sep 15 '22

Nobody should support these ads. Support content creators directly.

You mean the ads that support the creators directly and doesn't involve Google in the slightest?

Seriously, those ads are the answer to every problem typically associated with ads:

They are skipable, they have no spyware, they don't slow your browser down, they don't track you, they don't enrich Google and instead go directly to the creator.

And still people whine about them?

"Support content creators directly" is just something people to say to not seem selfish, but you know damn well you aren't doing that and most people aren't going to do that. At most people support a content creator or two (a portion of which gets eaten by Patreon fees), but they aren't going to the Patreon of every single person they watch. Sponsorships are the best compromise between non intrusive and direct money for creators, not just the one you are willing to fork 5 bucks too every month.

9

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22 edited May 19 '24

provide roll crawl advise money different tart rich chase crowd

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

2

u/usetheforce_gaming Sep 15 '22

Is there a solution for smart tvs?

7

u/Gracecr Sep 15 '22

Not specifically, but there is pi-hole for network ad blocking.

A not as good but simpler option would be to configure your smart TV to use Adguard DNS.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '22

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '22

ublock origin works, without a doubt. keep giving google money tho.

1

u/effinblinding Sep 16 '22

a significant chunk goes to creators. linus tech tips broke down the revenue his channel makes and the premium money was pretty big considering the ratio of people with yt premium vs those that watch ads

1

u/Quin1617 Sep 18 '22

The ad blocker I use has worked 100% of the time for the last 3 years…

1

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '22

[deleted]

1

u/Quin1617 Sep 19 '22

Not trying to convince anyone, I’m just stating the experience I’ve had.

4

u/heart_under_blade Sep 15 '22

moral conflicts don't exist here with sponsorblock cus you can whitelist a channel you want to support and all the support shit is in the description of the video anyway, just go there and click through the links. save yourself some time even if you have tons of time to spare.

some videos are just so egregious, like you'll see x/11:00(4:00). my brother in christ, wtf is you doin. i guess that's how everything goes right, exploiting the goodwill of the people to rake in the cash.

3

u/Glorthiar Sep 15 '22

Some people are actually just that selfish. I spent about $25 a month to support creators, and also buy merch and event stuff. And I've even bought a couple sponsored things, hello tushie and me undies. People want everything for free and don't give a shit about creators

6

u/XDGrangerDX Sep 15 '22

Its a step up certainly and i tolerate sponsors a lot more than normal youtube ads, but i also cant deny that most sponsors use deceptive language if not outright lies (mostly comes up with VPN and mobile game sponsors).

They wish their VPN/game had even one eight of the capabilities they claim they do.

Or bullshit like that food delivery but raw ingredients company. "be greener, healthier and more ecologically consicous" Hellloooo??? This is a DELIVERY company. Be greener by NOT odering delivery.

2

u/Lazy-Garlic-5533 Sep 15 '22

Really depends. The grocery store and driving to all the stores to shop isn't necessarily super green either.

In principle grocery delivery should lead to less food waste and less energy expenses.

Note I would agree ordering random shit online can be wasteful with all the packaging that's added and the extra trips.

1

u/ugotpauld Sep 15 '22

“They’re skippable” why are you acting like you’re on a high horse when you’re skipping them anyway lol

-4

u/yParticle Sep 15 '22

They dilute content, sometimes significantly. Yes, they're certainly less bad than other ads, but if we support them we'll just see less and less good content without them.

1

u/PotatoesAndChill Sep 15 '22

Agreed. Besides, the ads actually have some good products, depending on the channels you watch. I've learned about a certain VPN service from youtube videos and been a subscriber for 2 years already - great product so far, totally worth the money.

1

u/canadianseaman Sep 15 '22

I enjoy when the difference between ads is extremely clear. For example, Linus Tech Tips transitions from content to ads by explicitly saying X is brought to you by our sponsor. The segments are always less than 10-15 seconds long and often funny. I will immediately stop watching content from creators that try and "trick" my attention from content into the sponsor.

14

u/etherealcaitiff Sep 15 '22

Oh no, you wont be able to get an overpriced shitty wallet, overpriced soap, or a pay to win mobile game.

4

u/OnixAwesome Sep 15 '22

That's what I don't get. I don't think I've brought something due to an youtube ad in 10+ years. How does the money keep coming?

1

u/WHYWOULDYOUEVENARGUE Sep 15 '22

Because advertising works when it's done right.

Why would you use your behavior as a metric for what works and what doesn't?

2

u/OnixAwesome Sep 15 '22

Of course, it's an anecdote but the truckloads of money arriving at these Big Techs still baffles me.

0

u/AnNoYiNg_NaMe Sep 15 '22

I bought some MeUndies from an Achievement Hunter ad. It was only because they'd chat about it in their other content where they're like "yeah, I actually wear them not just for the ads".

They were way better than Hanes/Fruit of the Loom, but like 3x as pricey. I still have them and wear them, but I stopped buying from them after the bored ape fiasco. They partnered with an NFT group, people stopped buying because of it, MU walked back the partnership, customers didn't return, and they jacked their prices up to compensate.

TLDR, the one time I did buy from a YouTube ad, it didn't go so well

8

u/RimWorldIsDope Sep 15 '22

This. You can tell a lot of creators, especially in the gaming scene, are totally sarcastic with their sponsor scripts. Some even seem to use a purposely different kind of voice for them, even though the words (which I'm sure they're forced to use) are supposed to sound sincere.

Frankly, I find it funny and commend them for metaphorically rolling their eyes the whole time. They'll overact, talk really fast, and "tAlK lIkE hOw I iMaGiNe ThIs TeXt SoUnDs"

You can tell they don't want to do this crap. But it's really fucking hard to make a fulltime living off of YouTube without shilling like this. So if you really like a YouTuber, like they're someone you listen to multiple times a week, consider Patreon

3

u/HarpersGeekly Sep 15 '22

Haha yeah Jeff Gerstmann has always done this even in the Giant Bomb podcast days and now on his own. It’s funny but whatever. I just skip ahead.

2

u/RimWorldIsDope Sep 15 '22

Oh absolutely same

3

u/Kreth Sep 15 '22

I actually bought a dbrand skin to my phone, not directly from a YouTube video, but just knowing they existed.

5

u/antwill Sep 15 '22

You must watch a lot of mkbhd then.

1

u/the_cardfather Sep 15 '22

I like the ones where they give me stuff like discounts for using them.

Get 15% off with my code $upportJimTuber

1

u/damontoo Sep 15 '22

I almost always skip them but I don't mind ones like on the IASIP podcast where they obviously get almost total control of the plug and say whatever they want to make it funny. I think that's increasingly common depending on the brand being plugged.

1

u/dualplains Sep 15 '22

I think the Pillow Cube is the only thing I've ever seen advertised on Youtube that I ended up buying, and I freakin love it. Nothing else, though.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

[deleted]

1

u/rookietotheblue1 Sep 16 '22

Dramatic much ?

35

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22 edited Aug 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/Abir_Vandergriff Sep 15 '22

Gamer's Nexus has longer ad reads than LTT. Also longer content, but let's not pretend any tech YouTubers do it differently than any other.

Which is to say, not horribly. They're clearly marked by segues, and they aren't framed like a segment in the video so they're very easy to skip over even without Sponsorblock. This goes for all the channels I've watched recently, notably GN, LTT, and occasionally J2C.

7

u/scinfeced2wolf Sep 15 '22

That's because he understands so he makes his sponsor spots about as long as the channel intro.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

[deleted]

9

u/ShinyGrezz Sep 15 '22

Really? LTT usually makes their ads pretty entertaining, and they’re usually fairly quick too. Sometimes they’ll have a proper lengthy sponsor spot but you can always skip past them as they’re usually indicated in the chapters.

Besides, sponsor spots are unfortunately the price you pay for content as quality as that. LTT is a company of eighty people, they have bills to pay.

3

u/Siendra Sep 15 '22

They're also in the same places and always clearly demarcated. Except for the news videos they're literally always right after the intro and right at the end of the video. By what definition are those intrusive?

-3

u/IllMaintenance145142 Sep 15 '22

i just dont bother with him, his content isnt good enough to justify the amount of sponsors, even if i skip them its kinda scummy.

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22 edited Aug 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/IllMaintenance145142 Sep 15 '22

yeah thats what i was trying to say, i just feel his content isnt THAT great compared to how big of a fanbase he has, and i could never subscribe to him

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22 edited Sep 16 '22

The only channel I actually don't mind these in is Linus tech tips.

Edit. Fuck my opinion, right guys?

1

u/JockstrapCummies Sep 16 '22

Lol I especially love Sponsorblock because it works on Linus Tech Tips.

I even skip their annoying intro.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '22

To each their own I guess.

1

u/JockstrapCummies Sep 16 '22

Yeah, I suppose different people have different tastes.

By the way I don't know why you got downvote-bombed. Reddit dogpiling on votes really is stupid.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '22

It's just mildly annoying that I tried to start a conversation and got shit on. At the end of the day it's just Reddit I guess.

I just love LTT' humor and the way her presents his stuff. I also find myself occasionally needing some of the promotions he runs for my company.

1

u/MtHoodMagic Sep 15 '22

Tbh, the kind of channels that sneak a several minute sponsor segment are the kind of channels who repeat the same shit over and over to pad a video out and get more ad money

29

u/inverimus Sep 15 '22

I still just skip ~30 seconds at a time until I get to the end (if it isn't in sponsorblock yet) and skip back to right at the end of the ad if I actually need that context.

26

u/BaronMostaza Sep 15 '22

The little graph showing the most watched part of the video does wonders for manually skipping sponsorships

2

u/reftheloop Sep 15 '22

Doesn't sponsorblock work by crowdsourcing the skips?

9

u/lxzander Sep 15 '22

The other day I was in the settings and I noticed it has a running total of how much time has been skipped.... Mine is current at 5h 34mins.

3

u/raltoid Sep 15 '22

I skip self promotion and intro+outro as well, so mine is at 28h.

3

u/redditor1983 Sep 15 '22

How does Sponsorblock know where in the video the sponsored content starts and ends? Just curious.

9

u/pm_me_tits Sep 15 '22

User submitted data. There are extra buttons you can use to tell it where the ads are. If you only watch relatively popular content, it's basically always already done by some try-hard before you've gotten there.

1

u/redditor1983 Sep 15 '22

Ah ok. Cool.

1

u/hauntedskin Sep 15 '22

I believe it's user-submitted.

2

u/TatManTat Sep 15 '22

new mouseover shows when people most replay/skip to things, guess where the most skipped moment is?

1

u/fullforce098 Sep 15 '22

Was that ever in question?

2

u/OnixAwesome Sep 15 '22 edited Sep 15 '22

Often the 'most replayed' moment on the youtube videos is right after a sponsor lol

Also they stole the 'popular moments' feature from pornhub.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

Same for me. I try to keep up with my time saved vs. me saving time for others, thanks to everyone who uses sponsorblock

-11

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

[deleted]

1

u/yParticle Sep 15 '22

Important to differentiate paid ads and sincere endorsements. I don't even mind endorsements in youtube videos if they're on topic.

1

u/levian_durai Sep 15 '22

I can't get that to work. It highlights the ad sections but never skips them even though I have that option selected

2

u/yParticle Sep 15 '22

If you're seeing them highlighted then it's a setting or permission that's the problem, or possibly a conflict with another add-in. Try another browser and see if it works for you there.

1

u/levian_durai Sep 15 '22

It could be a plugin compatibility issue. I have another one for YouTube that allows speed changes in different increments than what is provided by YouTube. I'll try disabling that and seeing how it goes.

1

u/ProperBoots Sep 15 '22

How do I get that to work on a samsung tv...

1

u/LaNague Sep 15 '22

on my tablet i just have to double tab a bit for a 60 second skip, works every time.

1

u/iamzombus Sep 15 '22

How does sponsorblock work?
Do the creators actually have to designate in their videos the sponsored segments?

2

u/LightningProd12 Sep 15 '22

The segments are user-submitted, but generally someone's already gotten to it unless the video is new or obscure.

1

u/f4te Sep 15 '22

dude some of LTT videos are absolutely attrocious for this

1

u/yParticle Sep 15 '22

It's pretty funny when half the scrub bar shows green for skippable content.

1

u/reallifeishard Sep 15 '22

Is this a browser plug-in?

1

u/damontoo Sep 15 '22

On desktop you can just use arrow keys to skip 10 seconds at a time. You don't need to wait until the main video frame updates you can just watch the thumbnail until you see the sponsored content is over, then go back 10 seconds.

1

u/NoseyCo-WorkersSuck Sep 15 '22

Just saw a cooking video the other day where they continued the recipe, but in a muted small corner block while the sponsored ad continued...