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YouTube looks to be testing server-side ad injection to counter ad blockers (9to5google.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

240 comments fedilink hide all child comments

YouTube is testing server-side ad injection to counter ad blockers, integrating ads directly into videos to make them indistinguishable from the main content.
This new method complicates ad blocking, including tools like SponsorBlock, which now face challenges in accurately identifying and skipping sponsored segments.
The feature is currently in testing and not widely rolled out, with YouTube encouraging users to subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.

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[–] kava 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I prefer subscription models. That way I'm paying with my money and not my content. Of course with Google you're doing both.. but in principle I support it. I pay for a family plan and have some friends/ family on it.

It hate ads and to me it's easily worth the monthly fee. I looked up a YouTube video on a TV that wasn't signed in and there was like 60 seconds of ads! I've had YouTube premium / red for years I didn't realize it was getting so bad.

But yeah, I support subscription model. More sustainable and honest way for a website to make a profit. In a subscription you are the buyer and the website is the product. In a free model ad companies are the buyer and you are the product.

They have more incentive under the subscription model to create a better experience for the user. In a free they have incentive to squeeze user as much as possible. I think it's one of the main drivers of enshittification

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They have more incentive under the subscription model to create a better experience for the user.

Then how would you explain what netflix is doing to their customers?

~Anti~ ~Commercial-AI~ ~license~ ~(CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0)~

[–] kava 2 points 4 months ago

Well couple of things.

First, I said it gives more incentive. Not explicitly mandates it. So I'm not saying all subscription services are great to the consumer. I'm saying as a whole, it's probably better than the alternative.

Second, Netflix is a bit of a unique case I think. They essentially created the streaming industry back during blockbuster days. Nobody thought streaming rights had any value so they licensed them to Netflix for cheap. Netflix blew up because it had access to a very large catalog of media.

After companies realized they could make more money streaming things themselves, they stopped renewing the licenses to Netflix.

Netflix was very large because of their access to these licenses. If they lose the license, they over the long term lose their customers. So they took a gamble and invested heavily in self-made media in many different languages. Some were a success, like Stranger Things, but most were flops.

Essentially they became this large corporate behemoth and they are desperately trying to remain in their top hegemon spot. Once a company reaches that size, they are an entirely different animal. And unfortunately because of the way streaming rights works, you'll probably only see large corporate streaming sites in the foreseeable future