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Youtube Defeats Adblockers

Why have they suddenly taken the hump at adblockers? I've been using them for years and listening to youtube for yrs, it's only this week they've gotten huffy about it for me. I'm just hitting the X as well atm. If I have to start paying I'll just not use it, I own most of the music I listen to anyhow, just means I need to find it!
 
If you could skip ads on a per video basis with micro payments, I could see that working. technically it can’t be that difficult to implement. Relatively speaking. I just presume it doesn’t suit the business model of Google. personally I’m happy to pay for a Music subscription. but I’m not on Netflix or any of the others at the moment. The skip button normally works after a while when watching on my phone anyway. Sometimes you can’t skip for about 15/20s. It’s the jarring nature of them that most annoys me.
 
Haven't seen the no adblocker screen today, perhaps they've given up? To my knowledge, I only have whatever adblocker Chrome came packaged with. Given the few static adverts google has managed to slip me over the years have included veiled arab women, ukrainian women who genuinely prefer older men and - worst of all - the latest Fifa game, I cannot begin to imagine what they are now so desperate to flog me. Donald Trump branded crystal meth most likely.
 
geminisnake said:
Why have they suddenly taken the hump at adblockers? I've been using them for years and listening to youtube for yrs, it's only this week they've gotten huffy about it for me. I'm just hitting the X as well atm. If I have to start paying I'll just not use it, I own most of the music I listen to anyhow, just means I need to find it!
Click to expand...

YouTube has never made money, and now that venture capital funding is drying up, the parent company Google/Alphabet are getting desperate. This adblock-banning thing they're trying is the corporate equivalent of them searching the sofa for spare change in order to pay the rent.
 
I must say that they seem to have a very limited pool of advertisers. Most of them are either dubbed or AI-voiced Chinese ads for items of dubious provenance.
 
existentialist said:
I must say that they seem to have a very limited pool of advertisers. Most of them are either dubbed or AI-voiced Chinese ads for items of dubious provenance.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. My phone is too old and shit to support an updated web browser that can have plugins installed, so it's the one device on which I have to suffer through advertisements when watching/listening to YouTube on it. I get adverts for Marriott hotels, Currys, AirBnB, Uber, and most recently propaganda from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
 
Had to disable the adblocker on Chrome after a warning that YT wasn't gonna work after three more videos. Fucking insufferable. Tried to watch a guy playing Stardew Valley - two ads before the video, two more four minutes later and two more three minutes after that. Closed it down, wen't to Firefox and clicked download (max 720p and doesn't work in Chrome). I think the ad revenue is likely pitiful, if anything at all, they just want us to sign up and pay a monthly subscription to avoid the hassle. Let's just wait until gmail comes with a fee...
 
Karl Masks said:
This is just bullshit. The cost of Youtube Premium is ridiculous at twenty quid a month. That's more than double most streaming services.

The alternative is having ti sthrough adverts that can last up to five minutes. Youc an't refresh the screen, you can't skip them. FFS, this is way too much. 15 seconds is one thing, but someone selling me their 'work from home' crypto/gold/premium trader service is out of order. Fuck this shit.
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I’m paying £5.50 a month in the UK and have been for about a year. Not sure why I’m getting it that much cheaper?
 
ouirdeaux said:
Can you use Adblock Browser on it? That's what I use on the phone for YouTube, with no problems. Or adverts.
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Nope, can't install any new apps/programs. My credit rating has recently improved so I'm planning on asking my provider for a new phone fairly soon anyway.

Magnus McGinty said:
I bet the same folk who balk at ad blockers balk at giving regular payments to the server funds here also.
Click to expand...

What do you mean? :confused: Urban doesn't have any ads (my uBlock only shows one item blocked on this very page, probably some kind of social media widget), and donations towards server costs are entirely voluntary. I've certainly never felt pressured to give any money. Even if editor felt the need to specifically ask about for a round of fundraising, then I wouldn't hold it against him. Wikipedia is way more pushy about shaking the begging bowl, yet I've still donated to them on occasion because it's a valuable resource that I often make use of, and which is worthy of my support. Unlike advertising, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with platforms and content creators asking for donations directly.
 
I want an iWatch! I've never seen the need before, but lots of trendy young Americans with false nails have changed my mind!

I'm gonna be so fucking cool 😎
 
NoXion said:
YouTube has never made money, and now that venture capital funding is drying up, the parent company Google/Alphabet are getting desperate. This adblock-banning thing they're trying is the corporate equivalent of them searching the sofa for spare change in order to pay the rent.
Click to expand...
This is a mad take.

Access to venture capital money is not an issue for Alphabet. They made $19.69 billion in profit from July to September alone.
 
Fez909 said:
This is a mad take.

Access to venture capital money is not an issue for Alphabet. They made $19.69 billion in profit from July to September alone.
Click to expand...

Alphabet makes a profit. But not YouTube. This latest nonsense over adblockers is a clear indication that Alphabet are not willing to throw money down the YouTube hole indefinitely.
 
existentialist said:
I must say that they seem to have a very limited pool of advertisers. Most of them are either dubbed or AI-voiced Chinese ads for items of dubious provenance.
Click to expand...

My most common is an ad for Foodie Minibrands which are tiny replicas of branded fast-food products e.g. Dominos pizzas, as if they’ve worked out that I have a child with a doll’s house that is insufficiently capitalist.
 
Just tried it - all three ad-blockers breaks the page. U-Block by itself beats the shit out of it and I can watch my twee Japanese videos ad free
 
existentialist said:
I must say that they seem to have a very limited pool of advertisers. Most of them are either dubbed or AI-voiced Chinese ads for items of dubious provenance.
Click to expand...

They seem to bombard you with the same adverts for a week or two, which made the few weeks I kept seeing the fucking "CLEAN YOUR EARS WITH THIS DRILL" advert really unpleasant as it was just gross.
 
Was worried they'd defeated the Firefox ad blockers earlier as nothing would load and I couldn't download either. About to watch a five hour playthrough so wasn't gonna put up with ads every three minutes. Fortunately I think they were having 'technical difficulties' and all is now right again :cool:
 
looks like adblockers are winning solidly here. I got a few 'you can't use adblocker' messages last week but they were closable and then they stopped
 
Perhaps if they moderated the ridiculously ever growing onslaught of adverts on there they wouldn't need to invest so much in advert blockers in the first place? The fact that they are doing this tells them that they know the silly amount of poorly timed adverts on there pisses their users off.

That's why I stopped watching it. Can't be bothered installing ad blockers all over the place.

I don't mind a few adverts to help their revenue stream but YouTube are the biggest piss takers of all in that respect so I just don't bother with it anymore.
 
I think you just need Ublock Origin, hard to tell for me though because I'm allergic to ads so have several blockers. They work so far.

Fair point about not bothering with youtube, although I've just discovered some really good history videos on there (particularly A History of Britain, part 1 gives a superb summary of the last million years with the various hominids arriving in Britain from the continent and intermittently being chased out again by the advancing ice).
 
I came here to post about youtube's weird behaviour and now, with this page open in another tab it seems to be working fine again! 🤣
 
DotCommunist said:
looks like adblockers are winning solidly here. I got a few 'you can't use adblocker' messages last week but they were closable and then they stopped
Click to expand...

I don't think the ad-slingers will ever win. It's such a stupid and pointless fight for YouTube to start having. Making life difficult for people who block ads is not going to endear them towards the adverts they do see. Yes, thanks to adverts I am aware that Google now make smartphones. I would rather hack my bollocks off with a rusty spoon than buy an electronic device designed by Google, though.
 
Hmm I’m using a browser on my desktop at the moment that YouTube hasn’t blocked yet. I think it begins with H. I’ll have to check tomorrow and post here.

However I did notice the other day when I re opened a page YouTube said I was using an add blocker. I hope they don’t defeat what I use as the adverts every 5 mins relent piss me off
 
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