For context I’m in the US. The last time I used YouTube without an ad blocker, there were 2 ads back to back, and way too frequently. I tried watching on my PlayStation tonight, and not only are they more frequent, they’ve increased in quantity by 150%. It’s also very common for the last ad to last 2 minutes to over an hour long. What the actual fuck, why would anyone watch YouTube without an ad blocker at this point? It’s literally unwatchable
Edit: the amount of unsolicited advice in the comments is unreal. I don’t get ads on my phone or on desktop, I’m very aware of how to block them. I simply won’t watch YouTube on my PlayStation anymore. I’m not looking for suggestions, please stop with the recommendations.
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An hour of YouTube ads is simply apocalyptic
IDK why the hell it’s allowed, but a lot of times people will buy adspace and just put an entire video in it, or worse, a company buys the adspace and puts the entire pilot to a TV show in there. I’ve seen both things happen more than once. Who in their right mind clicks on a YouTube video, sees the pilot to a show they’ve never heard of or a random clickbait video and thinks “Oh, I wanna watch this!”
The ad driven internet needs a severe correction
the first time i watched the lego movie it (the full film) was an ad played during the trailer for the second movie. and it (the movie) didn’t have ads in it.
This is wild haha I wonder if it was just someone trying to piss off the studios by popping that in there for free or something? I guess that way it’s guaranteed to never have ads for anyone, ad blocker or not.
The worst part about those is
When the ad is actually something I want to watch, there is no way to open it as a seperate video. Once I click off it’s fucking gone forever. It’s such backwards design. The few times I have interest in an ad I can’t even properly check watch it!
the first time i watched the lego movie, it (the full feature) was an ad played during the trailer for the second movie–and it didn’t have any ads in it either.
They didn’t want you to spoil the first movie, so they made sure you had the chance to see it. That’s a hundred percent something LEGO would do.
‘Sir, would you like some video with your ad?’
OP, I know exactly what you’re talking about.
I was visiting relatives this Christmas and wanted to watch some of my YouTube videos on their SmartTV. I have watched YouThe with ads on occasion throughout the years…usually when watching some video on a relative’s device or school or work computer or something. They are annoying, but mostly fairly manageable. So I started up a 20 minute vid from a youtuber I like.
I shit you not…within the first 5 fucking minutes of the video, there were 5 separate ad breaks. And each ad was going to play for minutes on end if I never hit the skip button.
Yep, you read that right. One ad per minute. I am NOT exaggerating. I counted them and watched the video timestamps.
I almost could not believe what I was seeing. My mind was fucking blown. Never have I ever experienced that egregious level of ads. It made the content I was trying to view literally unwatchable and I switched off the video.
To OP, I’d highly recommend getting an Android tv device like a modern Chromecast (not the old models…needs to run android). They are relatively inexpensive and make viewing content on TVs a sane experience. I think I maybe got mine for $40 or something. Install SmartTube Next and you’ll have no ads. Works fantastic. You set it up once and never worry about it again.
I really appreciate your response
I don’t even use my tv for a tv. I just hook up my laptop to play games. If I wanna watch movies, shows, or videos I got my jellyfin client and youtube is ad free with ubo and firefox
Zero ads is the norm for me.
Also, zero YouTube.Zero ads and all the YouTubes for me so long as that isn’t possible anymore.
iOS: Video Lite Android: Vanced Android TV: Smart Tube
Stop watching YouTube ads. Use a third party player.
And for everything it works on: just use Firefox with ublock origin!
Add SponsorBlock for in-video sponsors while you’re at it!
Oh yeah duh. I just sometimes disable it because it can be wonky and skip important pieces with how tagging works.
That takes actual money away from the actual creators though (instead of just the exec’s fat bank accounts), so use with some consideration. Don’t drain money from youtubers you enjoy.
No it doesn’t; the creators have already been paid for their sponsorship. Sponsorblock just skips it the same as you would.
Actually that’s not quite how it works from my understanding. Youtube is able to provide detailed metrics that can provide information like “how many people actually watched the sponsor segment?” and base the payouts on that. The payout will either be based on estimated views in advance (meaning if it’s lower than expected they’ll pay less next time) or they’ll pay after the video has been live for some period of time.
Where are you getting this insight from exactly?
You…don’t believe it works like that? Ultimately a sponsor isn’t going to pay much if no one watches the spot. Advertising has always involved getting as much data as possible on how your ads are doing.
I don’t have any one definitive link that will tell you “this is how it works”, but I’ve picked up a few things from the various discussions I’ve seen some youtubers have.
Congrats, you didn’t read anything I wrote!!
why would anyone watch YouTube without an ad blocker at this point
You answered your own question in the actual post I think? Or what is your question? Do you have a question? There’s a question mark in your title. Do you want tips or to just rant?
This should go in “VeryInfuriating”. I agree YouTube has become unwatchable without any kind of ad-block or cheap Premium
It’s become unwatchable with ad-block, too.
For me it still works (Germany, Linux+Firefox+ublock), but page loading takes forever, and knowing that that’s intentional just makes me not want to use it anymore. Feels like there’s a bouncer telling me to wait in line for watching a video.Have you tried this extension? https://add0n.com/useragent-switcher.html
Newpipe
Newpipe on phone
SmartTube on TV
Firefox with adblock on computer
Holy trinity of YouTube delivery.
On PC you also have Invidious and Piped
I read your edit and thought “how bad could it be?”
I started reading the comments and it was way worse than I thought.
The most upvoted comments all display a great deal of “I only read 2 words of your original post” energy.
I didn’t bother with an adblocker until recently myself because I was okay with a couple of ads or mentioning sponsors.
Then, one day, the ads just multiplied on every video. It was that sudden for me. After a couple of days, I downloaded apps for my phone and TV and it’s been wonderful.
I’ll watch YT in all its horribleness on my consoles if I’m looking for something game-related and I don’t want to get up and grab my phone.,
I really appreciate your comment, and thank you for sharing your experience
Firefox mobile has ad block and sponsor block now
Revanced for now until that gets shut down
Newpipe is also an alternative to consider
Don’t know, i don’t see any.
Same for me on Chromecast, it’s pretty much unwatchable overnight, started probably about a week ago. I’m to lazy to set up adblocking for my full network, and I was fine watching the skippable 15s ads, and the occasional longer ones, but currently I mostly get at least a full minute of ads on my TV.
Get the SmartTube app for Chromecast and you don’t need to set up anything
Neat, thank you for the hint - only recently got a ccwgtv, and I’m still not used to the fact that you’re able to install apps like this 😂
I think YouTube is dying.
Already, I see many of my favourite channels being restricted (one Ukrainian blogger) whilst the completely moronic, yet dangerous conspiracy theory/Flat-Earthers flourish.
Meanwhile, the most common thing we see is the push to sign up and pay them - yet with all the censorship (not simply censored for non-paying customers to allow the advertisements) it is not a viable option.
Thankfully I still use a Desktop - with Firefox and decent extras the actual ads are still not affecting me at all, but YouTube’s policies really are.
They are completely above the law - they don’t need to respect their own TOS (the reasons many people are blocked is more related to some secret narrative, and it goes against their own stated terms).
There is no way to appeal outside YouTube, and good luck with any idea of taking them to court for removing your income stream, or censoring a very useful source of information whilst spamming you with algorithms that treat you like Spongebob, and expect you to watch completely moronic content.
I suggest YouTube is a conspiracy to destroy the world, starting with the world population’s ability to think.
Convince me I’m wrong ;)
the reasons many people are blocked is more related to some secret narrative
Source?
There seem to be many ‘sources’. Youtube have a policy where you can show explosions, you can show guns shooting as long as you can’t see the targets - it’s clearly written. Yet several people are demonetised for showing clips related to Ukraine for a start - and YouTube doesn’t respond to requests to explain, it’s a secretive policy that doesn’t follow the written policy.
It’s also very easy to find other videos which would more clearly break the actual rules as they are written. Basically, they do have an agenda - it applies to many similar channels - and they keep very quiet about real reasons for doing so, instead quoting some bullshit rule which isn’t true, and doesn’t apply, both at the same time.
It could also be that their algorithm is shit.
iOS
Using Altstore + Sideloaded by uYouEnhanced = no ads on Youtube ads.
Safari + AdGuard extension works too
Android
Use Revanced or NewPipe.
Firefox with uBlock Origin should also work on android.
Revanced Extended.
ReVanced 👍. Or any other app that gets rid of them.
Quick PSA: they don’t currently block VPNs, so you can sign up for an account in a cheap country (I picked Nigeria) and use a foreign currency debit card (I use Revolut) to get Premium for like £1.50 a month for my entire family.
If they close that loophole then I think I’ll be done with it, the ads make it basically unusable these days.
