this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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So they are cracking down on Adblockers and increasing the price of Premium as well.
I wish there was an alt platform that we could use, because even the FBI recommends using an Adblockers (and TBH what sane person would roll without one?)
I recommend Invidious.
Peertube, odysee
YouTube do not care if you buy the products or not, they care that they can tell the customer that you have seen it.
This made me think!
Would someone who was enjoying Internet services all the way from infancy (with no ad-blocking devices/apps), think that the amount of ads we have nowadays was the norm and that there was nothing weird or absurd about it?
I think they would be disgusted with it. I personally remember the Internet from the Dual Up days, and the amount of ads now is absolutely egregious.
https://grayjay.app/
The FBI does not recommend using adblockers so that you can avoid ads on YouTube. That's just 🤦♂️ worthy.
Every adblocker I know of can be disabled on specific sites.
I know this is an unpopular opinion here, but Google is within their rights to show ads or make you pay. It costs more than it probably should, and they serve more ads than they should, but their platform is unique and expensive to run; most uploads do not make them money.
More like just get off my lawn. Constant bitching and moaning about completely optional services and spending a few dollars to use them is getting to me.
Yes, Lemmy is free, yes the Internet is historically free (because of ad driven content), but Christ things actually do cost money folks and services have a right to charge what people are willing to pay.
If you don't like it... Don't use YouTube, seek out an alternative, build an alternative, tell your creators you'll only watch them on PeerTube (which probably won't work because they want to make money) or floatplane or whatever.
This isn't some crusade for Google. I'm just sick of this crap being in my feed and all these comments. This isn't "technology", it's one service charging money 🙄
I don't have anything nice to say to you, so I'm just going to leave it at that.
For everybody else, consider how venture capitalism allowed for an otherwise completely non-viable product to come into existence. This isn't a monopoly, it's a product that could not exist any other way because of the expense of running it the way that it's run.
You're totally welcome to take your business elsewhere and it's totally possible to live without YouTube. The fact is for most people (perhaps up until this point) there hasn't been a significant motivation to create an actual alternative and get funding for it (or enough wrong with YouTube that people will actually pay what it costs to run a "YouTube without ads"). Rumble exists because the right wing wanted a similar service where they could talk without Google's moderation policies.
I'm not endorsing Rumble, but alternatives can be started if the funds are put in place to do so and there's a market for it. Like Lemmy, people just have to use the alternative over the existing dominant option (in this case Reddit).
PeerTube is an option as well of course, but I don't see it taking off due to the expense and the inability for big creators to monetize on it. Floatplane has a better chance in that respect.
That's not how I intended the phrasing here.
No one doubts Google is not entitled to money. The level of ads is excessive, and to be fair, we are served too many ads in our daily lives as-is, constantly, billboards, radio, Cable TV (to which you pay for the priviledge of watching ads), Gas Pumps, ect. It's everywhere and nauseating, and I'm starting to personally doubt the efficacy of them. People have become numb to them.
But they go on a crusade against Adblockers since the amount / type of ads is excessive, and then raise premium pricing : "The Solution".
It's almost like they have a monopoly and the moves as of recent are anti-consumer.
The FBI recommends an ad-blocker actually because of malicious.... Google Search, yes that same pesky Google, not filtering out dangerous websites in their search results under the "Suggested" part of the search (these sites spoof their web addresses and hope you click on them to deliver a malware payload on your system.)
That one drives me especially crazy. I just want to pump my gas in peace.
I mean they do in a sense... But also complaining as a non-paying customer that you should have to pay is going to get you nowhere.
(Edit: I'm going to leave this part in, you were just asking for an alternative. My memory has blended other comments and a general "ugh" feeling in all these threads. So, this really isn't aimed at you)
If you really want to make a change, stop using YouTube, create content elsewhere, try and convince the creators you watch to upload elsewhere. The thing is, most creators that are big enough for the average person to be watching are doing it because it makes them money, and Google is the best place to get that check. You could try floatplane, but my guess is it's going to be more (not less) expensive than Google and/or might not have people you want to watch on it.
Google considered making 4k premium only because it's so expensive. Linus tech tips did a nice video showing how 4k disrupts YouTube's business model and imposes much higher costs. Instead of doing that, they're raising prices and blocking ads. A more altruistic Google could reduce the ads once the adblockers are working, I kinda doubt they will, but it's still a possibility.
The days of "free YouTube" (like so many other free Internet things) are over, it was a great deal. It's not as great of a deal now. Maybe someone can actually afford to put up a fight now that it's actually got to make money, maybe not. It's still (IMO) a pretty dang good deal for all the content you get, and premium helps support the creators you're watching (at least according to Linus) by a "significant" amount vs ad supported views.
Yeah you're right on this one. I actually misremembered the reason, so I'll take the facepalm for myself. Still, I haven't used YouTube with ads in a while, but I remember YouTube ads being more like TV ads/a bit more reliable (and a bit too repetitive).
Fine but enforce some monopoly undercut pricing on YouTube.
I'm not sure what you're advocating for here. Government regulation to cap the price?