Those YouTube ads everyone hates made $10.4 billion in just three months (www.pcgamer.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by ryujin470@fedia.io to c/technology@beehaw.org

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[-] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 60 points 2 weeks ago

That's absolutely unbelievable to me. I block ads on everything. I just can't handle it. For the few ad-based services that I pay for, I mute it for every commercial. Seriously, I just can't handle it.

But... clearly tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of people do watch them... which makes a massively lucrative business. I'll just never understand it.

When I need something, I look it up and get it. If i don't need something, I don't want to hear about it in any way, shape, or form.

Ugh.

10 billion. 😖

[-] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 29 points 2 weeks ago

Most people using a smartphone use the default YouTube app. And that app does not have any ability to block ads. Most people don't know they can block ads or even if they did, they don't know how.

[-] reseller_pledge609@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 2 weeks ago

I've heard of enough people wanting ads too. And people complaining that they want them back after they were blocked.

It gets harder and harder to have any faith in humanity these days.

[-] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 weeks ago

Yep. It's becoming more and more common for folks to know that they can do it, but it certainly isn't ubiquitous. It wasn't that long ago when I caught my partner listening to music on YouTube with all the ads and I blew their mind away by installing NewPipe. They just had no idea.

[-] three@lemm.ee 9 points 2 weeks ago

This is kind of a sticky situation for me. While I'm pretty tech savvy, my partner is not. I'd love to have them use NewPipe. But as a NewPipe user myself, it has been very buggy lately due to YouTube changing things. I understand why it's buggy but they would not and I think it would be more annoying than helpful.

[-] jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 weeks ago

Firefox+U-block Origin works pretty well on mobile

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago

I've had no problems with ReVanced. It's a little complicated to set up so I wouldn't blame a non-techy for not doing it, but if you can set it up for them, it works great. And it has the huge bonus of being able to connect to your YouTube account to let you do things like comment and add to playlists, to work well when switching between desktop and mobile.

[-] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 weeks ago

I use YouTube in Firefox for Android because it has ublock. That's by far the easiest way. All the other apps wouldn't work for me or don't show my recommendations.

[-] N0x0n@lemmy.ml 18 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah... I do not understand how people can cope with all those ads on YouTube. I really don't get it... It drives me crazy !

Even on radio or TV. When I see/hear one single ad, I'm out !

[-] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 weeks ago

I seem to have a visceral reaction to advertisements. It's very physical.

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[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 weeks ago

My pet peeve about ads everywhere now is on Android.

Your Android phone doesn't come with a voice recorder? Download one, with ads every time you record.

You want a different calculator? Ads!

Flashlight app? Ads!

Notepad? Ads!

And people just apparently accept ads in nearly every app, even the most basic ones.

I don't remember the Sound Recorder, or Notepad having ads. But because people are now used to ads everywhere, it's certainly coming as MS is trying to jam ads in everywhere possible in Windows too, now.

I'm so grateful for Linux. The apps I get through apt-get don't make me watch ads. Unfortunately even if based on Linux, the Android world is so infuriatingly crammed with ads.

I wish I could find a "phone" or portable device in that format, with an OS that works like "true" Linux.

[-] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 24 points 2 weeks ago

Use f-droid. The apps may not always be as polished (hell, some play store apps look like they came out of 2005), but you can filter apps by anti-features such as ads, tracking, permissions, etc.

As for what you've mentioned:

The fossify repo of apps is privacy friendly, no ads, etc.

Fossify Voice Recorder (Record anything with this Open-source and Ad-free recorder) https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fossify.voicerecorder/

[-] Lazycog@sopuli.xyz 23 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Uh, may I introduce you to F-droid, the FOSS "appstore".

Edit: adding a link and also the community:

https://f-droid.org/

!fdroid@lemmy.ml

[-] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Fortunately, you can block all those ads on Android. Check out Tracker Control: https://f-droid.org/packages/net.kollnig.missioncontrol.fdroid

TrackerControl allows you to monitor and control the widespread, ongoing, hidden data collection in mobile apps about user behaviour (tracking).

[-] N0x0n@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago

Nice tool, thank you ! However I'm bit confused

If you're interested in blocking tracking, then best download TrackerControl from here, from F-Droid, or from the IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository. If you're interested in analysing tracking and generating factual evidence of it (e.g. for research), then choose the version from Google Play. The analysis results from this version will usually be more accurate.

That's strange... Why have different versions doing different things?

[-] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago

The short answer is that the Google Play version won't actually block anything because it breaks their terms of service. So that version just tells you how many trackers and what the trackers are. I still use some of those apps and even respect them (e.g. AP News, AccuWeather), but it completely boggles my mind how they've loaded so many trackers into their applications... 🫤

Longer answer: To actually block trackers and ads, you need to use a third party source to download the app so that it's fully functional. By providing the app that way, they don't have to abide by Google Plays rules.

The link above is for the F-Droid "app store" version, which is one of the more well-known "stores." I highly recommend F-Droid. They host free and open source (FOSS) applications. For most everything you use, there is a FOSS alternative which will be ad and tracker free.

https://f-droid.org/

Want a simple ad-free calculator, go there. Want to watch YouTube ad free, go there. Want to download an ad free Lemmy client, go there. Etc etc.

Hurrah for high quality FOSS software!

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 3 points 2 weeks ago

You can also just set your private DNS to something like dns.adguard.com and block almost all ads in every app, no installs required

[-] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yep, that can work per device or per network. I'm a big fan of Tracker Control because it's going to work on any network. It's also highly customizable.

[-] reseller_pledge609@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

I'm personally using p2.freedns.controld.com for anyone looking for an alternative.

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 3 points 2 weeks ago

I actually use adblock.dns.mullvad.net, I just recommend adguard for beginners as it seems more stable (though I've not had a stability issue with mullvad for years)

[-] reseller_pledge609@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

Always good to have options. People need to find whatever works for them.

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[-] Itsamelemmy@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago

For the few ad-based services that I pay for, I mute it for every commercial. Seriously, I just can't handle it.

Why would you pay for something with ads?

[-] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago

Because I'm not privileged enough to afford it without.

[-] drspod@lemmy.ml 48 points 2 weeks ago

uBlock Origin + Firefox

[-] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 10 points 2 weeks ago

FreeTube + integrated SponsorBlock

It blocks normal ads, plus Sponsored segments and some other segments if you wish to. Its configurable. This addon is also available for Firefox. I do not use Firefox to watch YouTube anymore.

[-] drspod@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

I hadn't heard of FreeTube, thanks for the recommendation.

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[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago

That helps but still stalls out etc on occasion for me, so I use freetube 90% of the time I want to see something on youtube.

[-] TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org 17 points 2 weeks ago

I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but I don't ever mess with my Ublock Origin settings and I've never once had it break or gotten the threatening messages about adblockers on YT. I'm not sure why, but I'm not going to change anything while I've got a good thing going.

[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago

I've never gotten the warnings (yet), mainly just slow loading times or the occasional stallout.

[-] maxprime@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

What’s wild to me is that after making over 10b in a few months Google still has the gall to want to squash ad blocking. How much more money do they want? To what end?

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago

Lately, Firefox + uBlock Origin and YouTube on Linux is sometimes horribly slow for me. It uses all the CPU and chokes my computers. Sometimes it's even difficult to just seek in the video, as it's so sluggish.

It seems to vary depending on the type of ads. It's not "random" because a video that has this behavior will always do it, even if I restart FF, while others will be fine.

I thought it was my old computer at first, or that I was out of memory, but the same thing happens on my modern Ryzen.

Although I notice it less and less, so maybe it was a bug with YT + uBlock.

And it's only on my Linux computers. On Android, FF + uBlock works super well.

[-] Esca@lemmy.one 6 points 2 weeks ago

Just a shot in the dark here, but do you have ambient mode enabled? (that annoying glow light around the video). I've read from various people that it can use an insane amount of cpu on some devices. Disabling it fixed the performance issues they faced.

[-] Evkob@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago

On desktop I really like FreeTube, if you're interested in an alternative. I don't usually want apps for things that should be websites, but I use YouTube enough (and Google invests so much energy in making youtube.com a miserable experience) that it justifies having a dedicated app for it, in my case.

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[-] jarfil@beehaw.org 26 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's a scam:

Add ads
People ignore the ads
Companies still pay for the ads
Profit! 🤑
Let people pay for no ads
Profit!! 🤑🤑
Content adds product placement
Companies pay for product placement
Profit!!! 🤑🤑🤑
Make ads more obnoxious
People use more advanced ad blockers
Companies still pay extra for new ads
Profit!!!! 🤑🤑🤑🤑

...etc

[-] Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 8 points 2 weeks ago

i hope nebula stays nice and clean

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[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 26 points 2 weeks ago

everyone

youtube has ads?

[-] jdeath@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks ago

what ads?

[-] beejjorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 2 weeks ago

It's possible to dodge the deluge of ads, of course, by signing up for the YouTube Premium subscription service.

Oh yeah! That's another way to do it. I forgot.

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[-] Alice@beehaw.org 17 points 2 weeks ago

Newpipe, Pipepipe, Tubular, Revanced, a half-decent adblocker........

[-] Glent@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago

These still work? I thought youtube nuked them

[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 26 points 2 weeks ago

uBlock on firefox has literally never failed me

[-] Aggravationstation@feddit.uk 15 points 2 weeks ago

It's a cat and mouse game. Google blocks them, devs find a workaround, Google blocks them...

[-] Alice@beehaw.org 7 points 2 weeks ago

Pipepipe is still working for me, at least. Revanced worked last I checked, it's just a bitch to update, which is why I switched.

[-] 30p87@feddit.org 5 points 2 weeks ago

Official piped instances get blocked very quickly, but private, selfhosted instances (eg. piped.30p87.de/api.piped.30p87.de/proxy.piped.30p87.de) work well most of the time

[-] ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 weeks ago

Revanced still works. If yours stopped working, download the latest patches and make an updated .apk.

[-] IllNess@infosec.pub 3 points 2 weeks ago

What YouTube killed are YouTube instances by limiting the number of request per IP address.

[-] B0rax@feddit.org 10 points 2 weeks ago

And companies belief, that this spending was worth it an people spend much more than that on their products.

[-] InevitableList@beehaw.org 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

This is from Q4 when ad spending doubles in the run up to Christmas. Q1 would probably earn half as much.

Plus it was an election year so loads of money from campaign ads, too.

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this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025

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