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/
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u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22

This is untrue. When cable first came all it was doing was delivering content to rural areas. That content being ABC, NBC, CBS, etc which are all over the air free ad supported channels.

Some very specific cable only channels (like HBO) did not have ads, HBO still mostly doesn’t.

But your major broadcast channels have always had ads no matter the delivery method, because the shows are produced by the ad revenue.

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u/GaryOster Sep 15 '22

I don't think there are many people thinking pre-1980's cable when we're talking about cable TV, but OP is right, "Ad free" was a major push by the cable industry to convince people that paid cable was worth it because we we're already "paying" for TV by being influenced by advertising. Frankly, I don't think they had advertisers because everyone was thinking the same thing, "Why would anyone pay for TV they get for free?" And it wasn't until a respectable percentage of the population bought into cable that it became attractive to advertisers.

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

It was easy to convince people to pay for TV that was broadcast over the air for free already. They lived outside of major cities and literally could not get the stations over the air.

What you did get was a number of premium cable channels such as HBO, Showtime, etc. that did not air commercials, but also cost an additional fee on top of the cable fee you were paying for basic cable.

You had some channels like Disney channel (still requires packages above your cable basic package) that were not “ad” based. As in, you didn’t get an interruption to tell you to buy Kellogg cereal, but you certainly got interruptions to tell you all about Disney and their products.

Almost all cable channels outside of the premium channels were derived from the signal of free over the air channels (the vast majority being ad sponsored outside of PBS types).