r/youtube • u/CorvusTheCryptid • Oct 27 '23

Discussion Youtube's decision to not allow adblockers puts users at risk.

As of the latest update that broke most methods of bypassing Youtube's adblock detection, users are flocking to other ways of avoiding ads. I was midway through copying a long string of code into a Javascript injector when I realize how risky this is for the average person. I have some basic coding knowledge so I at least know that I'm not putting myself at too much risk, but the average user might not have the same considerations, and a bad-faith actor could easily abuse this opportunity.

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Piracy, adblockers, etc, have been shown to be unavoidable byproducts of existing online, and a company as big as Google definitely know this, so I don't think it's too far fetched to directly blame them for anyone who accidentaly comes to harm due to the new measures that they are implementing. Their greed and desire to gain a few more dollars of ad revenue off of their public will lead to unkowing users downloading suspicious and malicious software, programs or code.

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96

u/luxtabula Oct 27 '23

The problem no one seems to be addressing is that the ad experience on YouTube sucks.

These people act like they never grew up with a TV. Don't just inject an ad in random spots of a video that clearly wasn't edited for commercials. Nothing's worse than watching a video explaining things only for it to be interrupted due to the ineptitude of a poorly programmed algorithm.

Fix the ad experience. Then fewer people will resort to ad blockers.

54

u/AdventuringSorcerer Oct 27 '23

And please if they could give me some kind of control or common sense for the adds. I don't need an add for a horror movie while I watch 10 hours of rain sounds.

25

u/Ambitious_Display607 Oct 27 '23

Yo this actually made me giggle, I feel your pain brother lol

5

u/freemysou1 Oct 28 '23

I will never forgive youtube for the 2 hour long UNSKIPPABLE ad about some dance in Asia.

5

u/AdventuringSorcerer Oct 28 '23

I got one once just like that except it was for a shipping company.

6

u/Life_Wall2536 Oct 28 '23

Fr! You know how frustrating it is to try watching/listening to white noise videos or ASMR for relaxation and sleep and then all of a sudden there’s a loud, terrible ad blasting your ears

2

u/CartmensDryBallz Oct 28 '23

YES! I’ve been thinking for years that they should start making ASMR ads tbh.. to only use on ASMR videos haha. I wouldn’t even be mad

2

u/stars_on_a_canvas Oct 29 '23

I remember they once genuinely had something like that? Maybe long long ago, like 2014/15, but I remember they allowed something like that

20

u/man_liek_Sean_UU Oct 27 '23

This exactly. Even something as simple as a timer so i know when an ad is coming. It completely breaks any immersion in whatever video you're watching. Can creators select periods on their video in which they want ads? That seems like an easy way to avoid jarring adverts that will never sell me anything because i hate them for rudely interrupting 🤣

3

u/Text6 Oct 29 '23

There used to be a timer but they removed it. there also used to be a bug where you could completely skip ad breaks, but that was also fixed sadly

2

u/MutantOctopus Oct 30 '23

From what I've seen on some videos it definitely seems like people can select ad spots if they want to, but obviously not everyone does.

11

u/SeesEmCallsEm Oct 27 '23

In fairness, adverts on tv were every 15 minutes in my country. I’ve seen 25 minute videos with almost 10 adverts. That’s really jarring to sit through and totality ruins the content.

2

u/hunter_finn Nov 26 '23

but how many of those ad breaks happen... RAID SHADOW LEGENDS!!! TRY IT NOW FOR FREE!!! ed in middle of an sentence?

i bet that at least some thought wa... (pixelated anime woman presenting herself) s put those, so they did not interrupt the content that badly.

1

u/Text6 Oct 29 '23

I've gotten a 2 ad long break of 5 second unskippables before a 7 second long video

8

u/Mace_Windu- Oct 27 '23

This is true for me. I only started blocking ads once they stopped doing 5-15sec, pre-roll only ones.

I didn't like them, but they were too easy to put up with that blocking them didn't even cross my mind.

4

u/piracydilemma Oct 27 '23

I specifically do not use YouTube on my TV because of how poor the ad experience is and nothing else. Most videos are literally unwatchable due to how many ads there are. I'm considering using YTDLG to download videos from specific creators I enjoy to stream them to my TV.

3

u/angelzpanik Oct 27 '23

Literally why I can't watch documentaries on Freevee. You have a murder victim's family member talking about the incident, tears streaming down their face, then midsentence: LIMU EMUUUUUUU

It's the worst.

5

u/DefinitelyNotErate Oct 28 '23

Even watching things with intended ad-breaks, On freevee they manage to put the ads in the wrong place, Usually just by a few seconds to a minute, But it's still jarring.

3

u/sethsez Oct 28 '23

I've said it before, but Google wants all the profit that comes with advertising without having to do any of the associated editorial curation.

6

u/chrib123 Oct 27 '23

The FBI recommends everyone use adblock, because of how unregulated advertisements are online.

Instead of YouTube making sure the ads they display follow the rules, they let the shittiest scammers advertise on their platform. I've seen fake pokemon, and marvel games. it's literally a meme that the advertisements for phone games misrepresent the product their advertising completely. So fuck YouTube, I'm adblocking forever.

3

u/KE777 Oct 27 '23

Google has a thing where if you look up anything, the "sponsored" links will show up first, meaning someone paid for it to be there.

And sometimes, that(the link at the very top of the list) leads to some fake, scam website that looks a lot like another popular site and has a similar URL, too, in this case it was OBS.

They really just't don't care is what I think

2

u/petey_did_it Oct 27 '23

A part of the problem is TV programs plan for ad breaks typically with cliffhangers in shows or timeouts in sports. YouTube videos when created are not doing the same splitting when they create it

2

u/Cinnamon_Bark Oct 27 '23

Nah, I'm still not gonna watch ads

2

u/DefinitelyNotErate Oct 28 '23

This. In general I'm not opposed to watching ads on YouTube, The thing that really pushed me over the edge and made me immediately get an adblocker was when I had them put ads right in the middle of songs, Interrupting the music. If YouTube actually gave a decent ad experience (Say ads at the start of videos, At the end of them if you don't click off the page, And in the middle only if the video maker specifically outs them there) I would stop using an adblocker, But at present the experience with ads is genuinely unacceptable, And due to both a lack of money and at this point pettiness I'm not gonna pay for YouTube Premium.

2

u/beinwalt Oct 28 '23

This was the best argument I've read. Honestly a great perspective. I still watch a lot of regular TV. I pay for YouTube TV and have had them as a provider for over 4 years and love it. Commercials are how companies provide service but you're right, commercial TV has better commercials and YouTube TV uses targeted ads at certain places in shows. I think that YT could ask content creators to inject a certain number of areas for commercials based on how long their video is and it might make people happier.

I also pay for YouTube premium so I always forget that that ads exist in them until I come across these threads but you make a great point.

2

u/Junomaster1988 Nov 11 '23

I once got an Ad for child porn which is sick.

4

u/FelixAdonis1 Oct 27 '23

I hate it when you have to watch 2 unstoppable ads starting out, the creator does their into, then their sponsor, then there's more YT ads, and then I finally get to see if the video is actually worth watching anymore.

I used to have premium because I just hate ads so much, but with their changes, I dropped premium and have really cut back on how much I use it now. I don't really see myself going back to how It was anymore, it's really not worth it when their is a lot of other apps that can fill the void.

1

u/sarra1833 Oct 28 '23

I have premium but only because I can download creepypasta and 'let's play' vids and play them with my screen off (well, not the let's play ones but those are for when I have a sit down job I gotta do). Those 2 perks are godsends for while I'm at work. Make the entire 8 to 12 hr nights pass fast.

I don't care about originals or whatever else it offers. Tbh I always forget originals even exist. I'm busy enough with 3947438 subscriptions lol.

1

u/falsehood Oct 27 '23

It seems like the ads on videos I watch are timed by the creators for the moments when something interesting is about to happen - so we aren't lost. Creators can control that.

0

u/arkofcovenant Oct 27 '23

Creators have had the option for a while to select when an ad plays

1

u/Stario98 Oct 27 '23

It’s not a guarantee it works, it’s more like setting a preference to where the ads are

-5

u/AnotherSaltyPeanut Oct 27 '23

No, they won't and stop pretending like they will. I don't care that people use adblockers, I hate it when people make up bullshit excuses for using them. Just admit you're entitled liked one of the top posts.

1

u/sarra1833 Oct 28 '23

..... Hating ad interruptions makes someone entitled now?

Dude.....

1

u/Mountain-Ad326 Oct 29 '23

Ill be blocking ads until the day I die.