12mo ago

YouTube: 5 ads the norm now?

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.

157 comments

Geez, so many entitled people in this thread. If Google didn't get their yearly revenue growth, their poor execs wouldn't be able to afford their 3rd yacht! Stop being selfish and subscribe to premium already! /s
- Yeah yeah, can't afford rent and food, whatever. Have you tried not being poor? Give Google their money you selfish pricks
  
  Wasn't that something Paris Hilton said? 😆 "Have they, like, tried not being poor?" I may have added the "like". But it's very plausible it was there!
- What about the content creators? I don't care about Google, but I want the people who make the things I enjoy to get paid.
  Sure, you can subscribe to patreons, but you can't subscribe to everyone's, and frankly, 99% of people don't subscribe to any.
  I guess we can all just say ha doesn't matter I got mine and try to not think about it. I guess that is the plan.
  
  It's not your responsibility to make up for Google's shortcomings. They're a ~5 trillion dollar company now. They could easily change their payment structure if they wanted to, but they don't because their shareholders are more important. If a company with >10^8 times more net worth than you isn't going to bother, then don't make it your responsibility.
  It's sad, but unfortunately, the creators made a deal with the devil, and it's not regular people's responsibility to get them out.
  And don't forget, there was a time when nobody made any money for posting things on youtube - it was just a site for sharing things people found novel and interesting, with no expectation of remuneration whatsoever. I would even argue that it was a much better time to be there than it is now - back before they had recommendation algorithms pushing people to all kinds of deplorable content and pushing the biddings of far-right dictators. Rewarding Google for this kind of behavior only makes it worse.
  
  The majority of people that uploaded their video on youtube never see those ads money because they don't meet the criteria to receive ad revenue, and those that do, get so little and earn most of their income from other sources (endorsements, paid review, etc). Those minority who blocked ads don't really affect content creator's bottom line in a meaningful way. Subscription is another matter though because it pays higher rates, though still pretty low compared to other income stream.
  
  If you truly care about a creator you can buy their some of their merch. The profit from that will out-value watching every one of their videos with ads for the foreseeable future.

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.
  
  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.
- ‘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.
- The same here. I know ublock Origin still works with the update but I just stopped and I am streaming my own content.

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

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!
- Also, if you watch a video you like, do yourself a favor and download it. Save it. Archive it. It's only a matter of time before they either take it down or derank it because they want to push you to some other more profitable video stream. Bonus points because it doesn't give them analytics information on it when you go back to watch it again, or watch a specific part again.
  I've started doing this for all kinds of content - technical videos, music, funny clips, games, etc.
- 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?

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

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

Firefox mobile has ad block and sponsor block now
Revanced for now until that gets shut down
- Newpipe is also an alternative to consider
- Why would it get shut down?
  
  Vanced got shut down, thats why there's Revanced.
  Of course Google is going to do everything in their power to hit it. They're well within their rights to disable accounts associated with these apps, too, btw, they just haven't yet. It's always an option if they feel like it though.

I have a theory that they want you to get so annoyed that you suck it up and pay for premium.
Instead, I decreased my YouTube consumption, turned on my adblocker for low-quality content, or content from an unmonetized creator, or content showing something technically illegal (game OSTs or a motorcycle review involving going 2x the speed limit), and donated to some patreons and purchased a year of Nebula.

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.

ReVanced 👍. Or any other app that gets rid of them.

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.
- Is that EeOneGuy? I haven't heard about the guy leading the Russian-speaking YouTube.

Dunno, I haven’t watch a single add in the past 5 years or so.

Won't someone think of the trickle down economics?? How will creators get paid!!
- They creators already moved to patreon since YT doesn't pay off.

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 😂

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.

5+ ads each being 3-5 min long.
I was in India and the ads were straight up music videos.....

You guys get ads?

Ad blocking for 20+ years (on PC and mobile). Ads are cancer. Ditched TV crap with 15-30 minute ads decades ago. Life is good.

I'm in Morocco, I keep getting actual music videos as my ads now. And they're all from the lamest artists that always appear on the radio anyway.

I'm watching YouTube on my LG TV quite often. It's not unbearable yet. There's never more than 2 ads. Never more than 30 seconds in total, otherwise it's always skippable. Skippable ads now and then.
It's not great, but not terrible. I'm based in the EU for context.

I use revanced and ublock origin and I haven't seen ads in an entire year, I completely forgot how bad it is

If you're very bothered by the ads, instead of an adblocker you can try out an Ad-blocking DNS. Personally, I use noads.libredns.gr
This will allow them to see all your data though, so I recommend using this method with a reputable VPN.
- dns-based blockers do not work on youtube. google delivers ads from the same hostnames as the content.
- Pihole doesn’t work on YouTube so this won’t either.
  YouTube serves ads from their own domain, can’t be blocked this way.
- It allows who to see what data?
  
  Presumably they mean it allows the DNS provider to see your internet traffic, but I don't believe that's wholly accurate. I believe at most they'd be able to log timestamps of what domains you visited.
- Never heard of LibreOps and checked them out; they seem legit. Thanks for the information, I will try them out!
- Nope. DNS blocking will cover about 90% of ads, not YouTube or IMDb though, probably some others too. They're served from same domain.

I stream through Roku (great for plex but no way to block ads on YouTube) and the ads got so bad I paid for premium.
I hate it because I’m reinforcing their shitty business choices but it was like being bullied everyday. YouTube is all I really use for entertainment aside from plex so that’s been one silver lining.
- Call me insane but I pay for youtube premium. People have NO problem paying for netflix/hulu/amazon/HBO and whatever else but theres a large amount of people who wont even consider paying for Youtube( presumably because the adblocking options are relatively easy to install and use, especially on desktop)
  Youtube premium and it is BY FAR the best value in entertainment for me. I watch videos on it multiple hours a day sometimes (in the background while Im doing housework or whatever) No ads for me or my kids, more money to creators, Its like $12/month or something and with that I also get a music service thats - for me - better than spotify/apple/napster or anything else really.
  Theres a reason theres no completely free tier on the other services, and its because supporting things with ads alone takes lots and lots of ads. If you arent paying a dime for the service its tough to take your complaints seriously about how many ads there are, becaus you are getting the content FREE, thus you pay with your time and attention
  
  Call me insane but people have NO problem paying for netflix/hulu/amazon/HBO and whatever else but theres a large amount of people who wont even consider paying for Youtube
  Because Netflix/Hulu/HBO/etc hosts TV shows that are expensive to make. YouTube hosts various types of content that is produced on shoestring budgets compared to TV shows.
  Just because someone would pay to watch The Boys or Game of Thrones doesn't mean they'd pay to watch Let's Plays.
  
  I've been paying for premium for a while now as I get a ton of value out of it as well, and want to support creators. I watch youtube pretty much exclusively these days, besides the occasional (heh) piracy.
  That being said - I am absolutely at the point where I am considering backing up all my subs and switching fully to newpipe. I already use revanced just to deal with their absolute nightmare of a UI - YT, I don't EVER want to see your fucking shorts. Having to hear about them continually making it worse for everyone else makes me want to just leave for another platform.. but sadly 99% of long form content is exclusively hosted on youtube, so there isn't much of a choice.
  
  Main issue is logging in with my main Google account. I don't want my google data to be accessible in the house from the speaker or the tv or the tablet.
  I could pay more by buying YouTube family (or whatever they call it today) and share it with a burner account but that would be ridiculous.
  Also, I don't want to even consider supporting them when they're pushing their TikTok clone down my throat. Until the TikTok clone is baked in their app with their shitty videos mixed with regular content, then I'm forced to use alternative clients that remove all the short videos from my view.
  That TikTok shit bothers me more than 1 minute of ads.
  
  I think one of the moral (?) objections to paying for YouTube versus paying for streaming services is that a streaming service actually creates (some) original content whereas YouTube merely hosts other people’s content. YouTube is only a facilitator and (ironically) not a creator. All of its content (both original and unoriginal) is produced by money that isn’t YouTube's. They take zero risk and expect maximum returns.
- If you run a pihole, you can have it block youtube ads network-wide.
  
  Did you try it?
  From a technical point of view, YouTube ads are YouTube videos. So from a DNS point of view, you can't block one but still continue to watch the other
  
  No you can’t, unless you block all of YouTube network wide.
  
  Not on a tv you can’t. They host ads on the same domain the videos are on, so blocking ads blocks the actual content as well.

I run AdGuard on my iPhone and don’t see ads at all. No idea how it’s so effective, but it is.
Also have an old model/iOS version though. Idk if it’s no longer possible.
- Works for me as long as I’m on safari.

Seems users get used to that shit and they don't think its too bad. I'm also shocked that people can get used to it, but it was the same in the 80s with cable TV having tons of ads. People actually thought it was fine to wait during 7 minute ad breaks several times through a TV show or movie. Because they increased the ads slowly, just like YouTube does.

easy fix: don't use the app on your phone.
instead use youtube via your browser with adblock (for instance safari + adblock pro) and create a shortcut on your homescreen. you can use youtube just like in the app, you won't have any ads and you also can play videos with your screen turned off
- This is exactly what I do also, but it's worth admitting that it's not the same as the app. For one, I have to take care to open videos in new tabs, otherwise when I'm done and try to go back to my list, it starts me back at the top of the page rather than where I left off.
- GrayJay or NewPipe for phones.
  
  na don't need no app

No idea. I’ve almost completely stopped using the site. I won’t use it on my ps5 for the exact reason you mentioned.

Haven't had more than 2 ads per ad break yet but have seen the frequency go up on some videos. Some videos have only a beginning ad while some have 2 or 3+ ad breaks. The extremely popular youtubers usually get the 3+ ads from my experience.
The ad duration also went up to 20-30 seconds with 10 seconds sprinkled in. It doesn't matter if I back out of videos anymore, it seems that the beginning ads are fixed to whatever duration they are. All of this happened when they rolled out the buggy circle timer.
I have no doubt that this will get even worse next year. It's just on the tv I use the youtube app, so if push comes to shove I will go back to fully using newpipe.

I got a VPN and got YouTube premium for like $2.50 on an Ukraine server.
I would just try ublock but I watch in my tv a lot too

Worst case scenario you end up with a vacant piece of screen real estate with a failed to load asset.

PiHole for fucks sake. And stop buying shit from companies that proceed to force shit upon you unlubed and unwarned.
- PiHole doesn't block YouTube ads because they're served from the same server as the content in the video.
  uBlock is the real answer.
  
  There's no uBlock for PlayStation as far as I know. I don't think there is a solution other than "subscribe to premium" or "don't watch YouTube on your console".
- Does PiHole work on YouTube ads? That’s just a DNS based blocker, I thought YouTube ads came from the same domain as the regular videos and they couldn’t be blocked via DNS.
  I ask because I watch YouTube a lot on my AppleTV app, which I pipe through NextDNS which supports ad blacklist files. No YouTube ads are blocked there for me
- This isn't helpful if you're doing something like visiting relatives.
  Edit: For those curious, here are my personal ways I AdBlock for myself...
  TV - get an android TV device like a Chromecast and install SmartTube Next
  Phone - install YouTube Vanced; unfortunately not available on iPhones
  Web browser - Use uBlock Origin
  When I'm out visiting others and not using my own devices though the ads piss me off still lol
  
  Given that this post is about YouTube on PlayStation the solution there is ... don't watch YouTube on PlayStation.
  
  Is Vanced working again? I thought it went under a few years ago.
- I don't typically stream videos on my gaming console.

Bruh, Adblock. Vanced.
There are ways.
- You lack reading comprehension
  
  I always wondered but, do pi-holes work on consoles/smart TVs?
- Bruh. PlayStation.
  No AdBlock, no vanced. There are no ways.
  
  Pihole. It's a hardware device that plugs into your router and blocks traffic to known advert domains.
  It works network-wide, so this works even on non-standard platforms like Playstation.
  Like the above poster said, there are ways. Just not the ones they suggested.
  
  My dude are you browsing Lemmy on your PlayStation?
  Grab a chromecast HDMI stick and just stream it from your phone. There are ways.

157 comments