Google Ramps Up Crackdown on YouTube Ad-Blocking, Targets Third-Party Apps
Google Ramps Up Crackdown on YouTube Ad-Blocking, Targets Third-Party Apps
Google just announced that it is intensifying its fight against adblockers on YouTube and specifically against third-party YouTube apps.
Google warns users of these apps that their experience may deteriorate soon. They may "experience buffering issues" or see errors such as "the following content is not available on this app" when trying to watch videos.
Similar to Google Search, ads have become insufferable for many users of the service. There are too many of them, they may break the viewing experience, and they may show inappropriate content.
YouTube Premium is expensive. What weights more for some users is that its functionality is severely limited when compared to third-party apps.
The cat and mouse game continues.
For those looking to avoid ads or improve privacy, here are some options for free, open source, privacy-friendly frontends to YouTube without advertisements:
You're viewing a single thread.
Lol good luck Google. No way im watching YouTube with ads.
Then don't.
Yeah let me fork over my rapidly disappearing regular people money for a service which used to be free, whose price will only keep going up, and whose features will only keep disappearing to be locked behind a higher tier of paid subscription, thus giving me less and less, for more and more payment. You meet me over there. Let me just grab my little red wig and honk my nose a few times first and I'll be right over.
The service was never fucking free you goober it always had ads. Since the moment it expanded beyond a couple dozen 240p videos, it had ads. You know what they did though? Tried to pay the people you watch so they could make a living giving you content. But yes throw a fucking tantrum that you have to pay the website so they can stay running and pay the people so they can earn that "regular people money" you ignorant fuckwit. YouTube still, to this day, doesn't make a profit and still comes at an expense to Google/Alphabet.
You've been comfortable in that red wig and nose for way too long already.
Yes, I'm the "ignorant fuckwit" who is "throwing a tantrum". Read above and behold me being immature, for the crime of calling out the poor little giant corporation who reportedly generated $31.5 BILLION dollars last year. Clearly they're just trying to keep the lights on, and not kowtowing to investors whose sole, stated goal, is to buy low, and cash out when line goes up. I'm the fuckwit for pointing out that this shouldn't be the system we're all just okay with accepting. Clearly.
31.5 billion in revenue, 32 billion in expenses?
You're a dipshit for even glancing at revenue without knowing expenses. Fuck off, fuckwit. You're bitching without having a key fucking piece of info that would support your whining. 31.5 billion in PROFITS is worrying. Shut the fuck up, fuckwit.
No need for that tone old bean!
Youtube Premium offers a fraction of the benefits of something like Newpipe.
Does it even have content you can only see with Premium like Red did?
YouTube Red content can only be seen with Premium, but not only does Premium not have new exclusive content, Premium features don't work with member videos if you're paying for channel membership
Does it even pay the people you watch? No.. wait.. it just freeloads off YouTube by piping that content to their site.
it just freeloads
I watch a number of creators that YT has demonetized so I'm not worried about it.
YT can clearly see what people want in these apps. They simply need to provide the exact same functionality and set a price. They won't though because they want control and data as well.
Sure, that's fair critique. Them not implementing the features people turn to third party apps for. Absolutely.
What I can't make sense of are the people who want control, privacy, content, and not to pay a dime. YouTube could do this better, sure, but let that be the criticism not the mere fact they have the audacity to kick off people who provide nothing and take everything.
To be clear I wouldn't give them my money even if they did offer all the same features.
So you're just outing yourself as being among the freeloaders they're trying to kick off.
Okay then?
There's multiple issues with this but a lot of them come down to: it's Google.
They will charge. They have heaps of money, they will enzhittify. They will kill and recommend a new less capable app.
They're Google and I'm moving away from them hard.
I do use YT a lot, and for now I pay. But give me a little time and that won't be as true.
I don't care if it's Google, Amazon, or fucking Walmart. If the product makes sense as it is right now and the price is on par with other services, I'll pay for it if it makes sense for me.
I'm not going to avoid something or complain about shit that hasn't even happened yet. If you don't like the corporations and want to avoid supporting them, fine, but I'm exhausted with people giving bullshit answers as to why xyz isn't fair.
I was simply explaining why I'm bailing on them.
Google graveyard has happened. YT makes them a lot of money, so it's not likely destined there. But, like search, they will eventually make it more about $ extraction than value for the customer.
It hasn't happened yet. Early adopters and early leavers shape things.
Ads don't support YouTube. Actually if you have premium that does a better job supporting both YouTube and the creators because they get paid more per view with premium than they would with ads. That's why google pushes premium so hard and is bundling it with the services it thinks it can get away with.
What you're describing has basically already happened and the ads are getting worse because they just don't provide enough income.
Just 10mins ago I was thinking how great the digital age started. I liked that when I bought something I can store it anywhere, play/listen (don’t remember if digital movies was a thing) it without any internet connection etc. Then we got Netflix and eventually Spotify and we got even more options, do you want to pay a reasonable price a month and watch/play essentially anything or do you want to keep your stuff forever and pay more? But then other companies wanted that piece of pie and started their own services, neutered existing services, raise prices often, got more aggressive with drm and other limitations. My point is, when things start and they seem good in this tech world of ours, just think a bit outside of the box about how bad it can get, because believe me, you are likely correct with that. When this digital age started, people were fearful too, and most of their fears came true.
Thing is, what you're describing is a logical fallacy. That because things got worse they're going to continue to get worse. The slippery slope fallacy.
Yes, you used to have dozens and even hundreds of songs that nobody could take away from you. You were your own server. However, now that we have a service like Spotify where you can listen to most of the world's music, not be required to store it, not have to buy each album, each track, but instead pay $15 and listen to anything, anytime, make nearly unlimited playlists of nearly unlimited tracks.. it doesn't make me miss the old days. I don't feel nostalgia for the days when my disk walkman skipped because I walked too fast or the headphones on my head were $3 and I couldn't even hear the lyrics properly. Now we have lossless compression, headphones that would cost thousands just a few years ago being only a couple hundred, devices that don't skip, don't lag, don't buffer, but instead of you fronting the cost all at once you make payment plans. You take for granted the things we dreamt of and demand improvement, not stagnation, and god forbid a decline.
You can still live in the past. Download and store entire discographies from any of the dozens of pirate sites, force them onto your device, then play them as if we still lived in 2009. But the artist doesn't see a dime for that. The pirate site doesn't see a nickel. So you either support the people who make things you like in a system you don't, or you fuck them over to try and stick it to the system itself. Thing is, I think the system will survive even when the things you like, don't.
Sorry, I think I worded it poorly. I was saying that Netflix and Spotify were good, but Netflix got a bit neutered after other companies came in. Spotify is still amazing though.
I think the only problem with Netflix is that they funnel money into the wrong shows. They'd rather launch 180 new series than fund 18 really good ones. Other companies, like Disney, making new platforms to host their own content definitely hurt Netflix but I think it still has enough value to warrant buying.
I took your comment as idolizing the past and gesturing to a grim future.
But that doesn't get rid of the ads, it just get rid of some. Sponsorblock would still be needed. Why pay a huge amount for something ineffective?
To. Support. The. Creators. I. Watch.
Use sponsorblock then, I sure as hell do. My main goal is to get rid of as many problems as possible and creators not getting paid enough is on that list.
So I buy premium. I participate in the system because a tantrum doesn't fix it.
To. Support. The. Creators. I. Watch.
Did you ask those creators how much money they get? Loads of them make way more from inserting advertisements themselves.
It's also telling that you're saying it's about supporting those creators while responding negatively towards the person who blocks ads and gives money directly.
when I like a creator I give them a dollar instead of giving google a dollar so they can give a penny of it to the person who actually makes the thing I want
Hard pass. I donate to good creators who provide me hours of content by buying them a coffee or supporting on Patreon.
Then may your videos be riddled with ads, sponsors, and one day throttled buffering speeds.
Ah, so pay for premium to support creators, but if you support creators in another way then that's bad because... reasons.
.. Because the site you fucking watch them on needs to pay bills? Why are you all so selectively stupid on this point?
YouTube can burn.
They generate more money than whole countries and you want to give them more? I don't have to pay them shit for them to make money off of me from my browsing history alone.
I would rather speed forward the enshittification to the point that all creators decide to strike and hop over collectively to another, kinder, video hosting site.
In the meantime Google benefits from my viewing data/history and sells that over and over. They're making money hand over fist and then when you pay them for a "premium" experience you're just handing them more. You're already a cash cow for them with just using the site. Screw that noise.
Give directly to the creator.
If it was fairly priced then maybe, but as of now yt premium just isn't a good opntion
$15 a month is on par with other subscriptions, part of that money goes to the people you watch so they can get paid for what they do, I don't see what's unfair about this pricing. Yes, the features they give are lackluster and could easily be done by third party apps before they killed them but I pay for premium so the people who do YouTube as a job can make a living.
Because YouTube is well known for actually paying their creators..... A lot of the creators I watch get a lot of their videos demonotized for nothing really, so I'd have to become a channel member to support them, at wich point I might as well just completly switch to their patreon. And just because it's on par with other stupid subscriptions, doesn't make it fair. There are a ton of useless perks to me I'd have to pay for. Doest Premium still come with YT music? Yeah that kinda shit. I you use all the stuff, fair, but I certainly wont, so no the price is not fair for me
Did you really come in here with a mini youtube premium go back to reddit.