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Youtube Adblock Reckoning as a service problem? (startrek.website)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/technology

72 comments fedilink hide all child comments

At the end of the day, its pretty clear to me that Youtube is going to lose the war on adblocking. Either by hook or by crook those that want to use Adblockers are going to keep doing it no matter what.

And to be clear, I am not trying to equate Adblocking to video piracy. To me, the fact that I choose to go to the bathroom during a commercial of a tv show doesn't constitute piracy and Adblocks just automate that process for me on Youtube. I would also never click on an ad purposefully, no matter what it is for.

With all that being said, I am a hopeless cause and I don't think that anything will convince me to buy YouTube premium, but I also used to think that about MP3s.

My real question to anyone reading this is, as the devil's advocate, what could YouTube do with ads or otherwise that would solve the "service problem" of "YouTube piracy"? And furthermore, is there any situaton where you would do anything other than block all Youtube Ads immdediately and with extreme prejudice?

This is an old article but this is Gabe Newell describing video game piracy as a service problem and why he believes that in case anyone is unfamiliar with it.

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It may be too late to turn this ship around, but there are a few things that, at least for me, would make YouTube ads less of a problem:

Vet all the ads. Do not allow links to malware sites, scams, or low-quality merchandise and services to be on the platform.
Make the ads less annoying. Don't stick them into weird spots on a video.
Stop tracking me and trying to display targeted ads. I value my privacy, and like OP, I am never going to click an ad.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

they make too much money off of each of these for google to consider doing any of them, other than maybe improving insertion algorithms so placement is in 'better' spots.. but 'better' for you and the viewing experience and 'better' for them and click-thru rates are likely different outcomes.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

too much money

That's the rub. There's a LOT of money on the table.

[–] calypsopub 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I guess? I don't get how they make ANY money since nobody clicks on ads.

[–] ilinamorato 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

More people than you think do
They can correlate ad buys with sales pretty effectively, so even if you don't click, if you make a purchase later, they can still see that the ad had an effect.

[–] Daft_ish 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The biggest thing for many ads is brand recognition. It helps the early stages of businesses just trying to get their name out there. It also helps larger businesses stay relevant vs all the competition.

Like, I would never use mail chimp but I know mail chimp is a thing because of advertising. If someone asked me I would rep for them because it was funny for all of 2 seconds.

[–] ilinamorato 1 points 1 year ago

Oh absolutely. It's much harder to put a dollar amount on that, but it's a substantial effect.