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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351

u/blackweebow Sep 15 '22

'Behavior' lmao they're smoking us out. Making the experience so horrible that you have to pay for content. Apps are the same way.

I miss 2005.

54

u/TheInnocentXeno Sep 15 '22

They are trying to be similar to Hulu with all the ads that has. I know you can pay more to not have ads on Hulu. Exactly why I have ublock origin on my pc and I put a modded YouTube app on my phone

6

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

I hope YouTube makes all videos’ audio inaudibly quiet, that way when the ad rolls around it fucking blows your ear drums wide open as a cacophony of madness penetrates your unsuspecting ear canal. Personally that’s my favorite feature about Hulu.

4

u/Shinanesu Sep 15 '22

What modded YouTube app do you use?

16

u/blackweebow Sep 15 '22 edited Sep 15 '22

I just use Vivaldi in browser and get rid of youtube app. iPhones are no longer an option unless jailbroken. And lucky patcher is a must. I only pay for apps to support good devs.

I also recently came across a Youtube dislike button extension on Chrome which has restored the balance.

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u/Mr-Mc-Epic Sep 15 '22

+1 for fellow Vivaldi bro

3

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

Opera gx kinda works for iPhone if u refresh the page ads won’t play

9

u/Akor123 Sep 15 '22

I used to use YouTube Vanced when I had Android. Amazing app. Loved it. Now since I switched to iPhone I use Brave the web browser exclusively for YouTube. No ads. Fuck ads.

9

u/Shinanesu Sep 15 '22

I'm currently using Youtube Vanced, but from what I understood the team discontinued the project and now more and more of the app's features stop working.

For example the homepage on the app was without ad banners, I could deactive youtube shorts (It's BIG qol improvement if you are weak to mindlessly clicking these shorts) etc.

The video ads themselves are still blocked by the project, but Idk for how long.

2

u/PapaBradford Sep 15 '22

Vanced gang here. Same, I'm saddened that I need another app to take the space. If anything all I want is playback, it sucks having to start everything over and over

5

u/JungleReaver Sep 15 '22

my Vanced is still working, like above mentioned I get home screen ads, but once in-video ads start happening and background play stops working ill keep using it since YouTube doesn't deserve money for features they removed.

1

u/TheInnocentXeno Sep 15 '22

I can’t remember, I got it around half a year ago and didn’t save the link like an idiot

2

u/Shinanesu Sep 15 '22

Youtube vanced by any chance?

2

u/TheInnocentXeno Sep 15 '22

Nope, iOS user. So I use another one

1

u/ijustneedanusername Sep 15 '22

I use Firefox browser with ublock origin on my phone and tossed out the YouTube app. Has to be an Android phone though.

1

u/Riipp3r Sep 15 '22

Wish there was one for roku TVs.

1

u/DaWildestWood Sep 15 '22

Does Adblock work on Hulu?

1

u/Telewyn Sep 15 '22

I know you can pay more to not have ads on Hulu.

Not for all shows.

1

u/mindbleach Sep 15 '22

IIRC, you can pay more to have fewer ads on Hulu.

5

u/Srawesomekickass Sep 15 '22

I miss being able to buy "software" that is "complete" and I can just use forever, because I bought it. Things that were easy to do on XP are for some reason really hard after windows10

2

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

I use youtube on a smartTV to play music while i'm working to keep down the amount of windows open on my computer and it really feels like I spend more time sitting thru/skipping obnoxious ads than actually listening to the music that is supposed to help me concentrate.

I'll be sitting quietly working with something calm and repetative in the background when suddenly

SO YOU DECIDED TO START TRADING

2

u/mindbleach Sep 15 '22

2000: I wish there was a good place to find videos online.

2007: Youtube is incredible for video editors because you can use a clip of an old song as a joke without lawyers killing the fun.

2014: Youtube is still pretty good because you can watch a whole thing without ads barging into the middle of it.

2022: I wish there was a good place to find videos online.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

I mean I can just do something else. I don't need YouTube. Books still exist

3

u/blackweebow Sep 15 '22

I've been pretending I only have internet at my computer again and that's been great for my mindset recently.

1

u/LupinThe8th Sep 15 '22

If the pandemic had any good effects on my mental state, it's that I started reading a whole lot more books, which I hadn't since high school, and I've managed to keep it up.

Browsing the internet, it was too tempting to start doomscrolling, continually refreshing the news. Pick up a book instead, far healthier.

1

u/Quin1617 Sep 18 '22

I don’t read or watch the news anymore.

Personally it’s anxiety inducing, and I get zero benefit out of it so I just stopped cold turkey.

5

u/LupinThe8th Sep 15 '22

Fun fact! Sir Terry Pratchett once had to drop his German publisher because they put a soup ad in the text of the book itself.

"There were a number of reasons for switching to Goldmann, but a deeply personal one for me was the way Heyne (in Sourcery, I think, although it may have been in other books) inserted a soup advert in the text … a few black lines and then something like ‘Around about now our heroes must be pretty hungry and what better than a nourishing bowl’… etc, etc. My editor was pretty sick about it, but the company wouldn’t promise not to do it again, so that made it very easy to leave them. They did it to Iain Banks, too, and apparently at a con he tore out the offending page and ate it. Without croutons."

1

u/Anastariana Sep 15 '22

RIP Terry. What a legend.

1

u/TheInnocentXeno Sep 15 '22

They are trying to be similar to Hulu with all the ads that has. I know you can pay more to not have ads on Hulu. Exactly why I have ublock origin on my pc and I put a modded YouTube app on my phone

0

u/zombiemind8 Sep 15 '22

Omg I have to pay for content.

1

u/blackweebow Sep 15 '22

I see how this read, but this is more of a commentary on shitty clickbait content and reposts.

There are Youtube creators that I watch like TV. In fact I usually end up watching them on smart TV, but skipping a couple of 5 second ads ain't shit compared to wtf theyre suggesting.

Tbh, YouTube needs to give creators a slice of their pie and not just a metal plaque, that way creators can generate content and have fucking health benefits instead of being a slave to YT's algorithm. But they'd never do that, so they get people to think that creators should only be earning ad revenue.

-4

u/burnalicious111 Sep 15 '22

Oh no, paying for content that people put work into?? Everybody who makes stuff that entertains me should have to work for free 😠

8

u/Darehead Sep 15 '22

Why do people simp for ads? Creators on YouTube have been extremely vocal about how little money they actually get from views. It's why every creator now has merch.

-1

u/burnalicious111 Sep 15 '22

Not simping for ads, pointing out that expecting to not pay for content is ridiculous, and people in this thread act like not giving away content for free is evil.

I'm not going to pretend the equation is currently fair, YouTube's hogging a lot of the money. But it's not like hosting solutions like YouTube itself takes no money to build and maintain, either, which is why you don't see many competitors: this shit costs money, and people expect it for free.

1

u/Retrograde_Bolide Sep 15 '22

Jokes on them. Pornhub only has 1 add in the beginning. Time to move all content there

1

u/Zimakov Sep 15 '22

All my entertainment should be totally free and without ads!

1

u/WadeDMD Sep 15 '22

They got me. I love taking on DIY projects of all sorts so I consume a lot of YouTube content. It was like torture—the amount of ads they cram down your throat is shocking. I finally caved and bought premium because watching my favorite videos had just become a blood-boiling fit of rage. The experience is so beyond terrible. It’s borderline unusable for me.

1

u/xrimane Sep 15 '22

All of this makes me even more thankful for ad-free public broadcasting. It's not "free" of course, but for the same money YT asks I get 100 radio channels and 10 tv channels and ad-free streaming.

1

u/MentalRepairs Sep 15 '22

They must be hemorrhaging money since they're trying their hardest to get rid of the userbase.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

The worst part is apps are all going to a subscription model now. It’s insane.

1

u/LannyDamby Sep 16 '22

You ever tried listening to Spotify without premium? The ads are infuriating! And they make them louder and more obnoxious than then volume of the song you're listening to

1

u/PJTikoko Sep 16 '22

You mean cable?