The moment I get ads in my Youtube Premium, it’s done with Youtube Premium, and done with Youtube.
…or else it gets the hose again???
I don’t think I specifically posted about it on lemmy but yeah, I also concluded youtube would be going further ‘pay to win’ around this time 2 years ago.
Twitch will keep getting more and more monetized / ad heavy as well, until it just gets shutdown.
I’ll be amazed if it still exists by the end of 2026.
Fuckingcapitalists
They even said it was a mistake when someone said they got ads before and it went viral. Google is evil.
Do? No! Evil!
Tbf it was already very telling when they removed that slogan
Part 1: All of history from corporations becoming a thing to present day.
Part 2: The results of heartless corporate policy for the foreseeable future.
All of history from corporations becoming a thing to present day.
Corporations are people. The problem is that people are selfish greedy assholes.
They are diversifying their plans to enhance user experience or some bullshit
The guy who took this screenshot and posted it to Redditnl likely has Premium Lite, which still shows ads on music videos. The title of the video is probably cut out to hide it.
I think you are right. And the OP look like they are in Germany where they are testing these plans. https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/17/24272930/youtube-cheaper-premium-lite-subscription-limited-ads
Premium Lite is hilarious branding. “Oh, it’s high quality, but like, less. Quality Lite”
It’s like when they sell a medium pizza but no small. Bitch, you can’t have “medium” if you don’t have a small and large to compare it to!
Actually I don’t know if it’s like that at all…
Basically the point is that you don’t have to pay for the music side of Premium if you already have a different music subscription, which I think is nice. The branding is a little silly though.
Worse experience than with just ublock origin AND you get to pay for it. Imagine being this much of a sucker
“All animals are born equal, but some are born more equal than others”
You could also recreate this by using revanced to change the banner to yt premium but forgetting to apply the ad block patch
Me on my home lab Invidious instance: What are “ads”?
I’ve had some hideous collection of ABP, ublock, and some extension that hides all shorts all on chrome and I’ve somehow completely dodged all the drama in the past year. I’ve never had to manually update or fiddle with any settings. I’ve seen all the crap everyone else is getting, and I constantly think its right around the corner, but nothing. Sometimes the page loads funny and just shows a black rectangle, and i think welp they finally got to me, but an immediate refresh always fixes it. Maybe one day I’ll have to deal with it
I’ve dodged nearly everything with only Firefox + Ublock + Ghostery. The most I ever got was maybe one warning page on YouTube and never seen anything about it again.
Alright where are all the YouTube premium apologetics that keep appearing everytime someone discusses any sort of Ad-blocker?! What do you guys have to say now?!
I have yt premium because my view counts as 1000x an ad supported view does.
I still end up using yt-dlp because playback in firefox is ass.
I’m continuing apologising for premium exclusively because it pays creators more, and more consistently. I never go on the internet without all the adblocks possible, the sight of an add makes me irrationally angry. I’m still paying for premium
most creators have patreons or sell merch. youtube doesn’t get a cut from that so you can support more directly!
If i paid money to every the patreon of every content creator that I want to support, it’d be a lot more money than youtube premium. Better believe ill be cancelling premium the very first ad I see though.
You throwing $12 a month or whatever towards patreons is strictly better than throwing $12 a month towards premium if what you care about is the creators getting paid
They’re lying to themselves. Probably some small part of them cares about supporting creators, but it’s not their main motivation.
I used to be in the same boat as OP, but since trying to degoogle I (obvioisly) stopped buying Premium and instead buy into Patreon of select creators. If there was some sort of degoogled Youtube Premium that would go towards support of people I watch, I’d much rather opt for that (obviously a very theoretical proposition) - I can support only so many via Patreon, even if all would have a 1$ tier.
Of course, when buying Premium part of my motivation was my comfort. It was comfortable support via Premium or uncomfortable support via ads. Patreon is fine but you can’t feasibly pay for one for every creator who’s video you watched
Doesn’t Patreon then take a cut? What’s the difference? (Fee % might, haven’t checked to be fair)
I’m supporting one creator via Patreon and got merch from another one (and have tried channel memberships), however this doesn’t really scale.
- merch is only really great when one needs whatever is offered anyways
- Patreon is nice, but requires explicit effort and regular payments for each channel
So from that perspective, having creators being payed more per-view is actually a nice, convenient effect and will cover channels that might otherwise get nothing. I’d like to have something like this for the general internet - pay some monthly fee, no more ads and websites, news sites etc all get some share (that is ultimatively more than what the ads would’ve given them in the first place).
These are screenshots and don’t prove anything.
I have a youtube premium account. Used to just use u-block but my computer is non-functional and I now primarily consume media on my ipad so I got a subscription. So far I have not had any ads. Working on getting a new pc and coming back to the light
You can download Firefox and install Ublock on the mobile app, then just go to YouTube.com. That’s how I usually do it on my android phone anyway; I assume it works for iOS too
No no no no, you’re supposed to use the app on mobile devices. There are no browser pages in mobile Ba Sing Se /s
It does, I use adblocks, Untrap, DeArrow, and SponsorBlock on iOS safari, and I don’t see shit other than the video itself.
I would absolutely love to do this but I am nearly tech illiterate. I use firefox already and poked around on ublock origin’s site but I dont know how to install extensions or whatever on ipad and I didnt see anything obvious in the settings on firefox. Any recommendations?
Last time I tried, I couldn’t install add-ons on Firefox on the iPad. Because Firefox on iPad is just safari with a coat of paint.
All browsers on iPad and iPhone are just safari with a coat of paint to be fair.
No ads so far here but I definitely will cancel Premium if I start seeing ads. That’s literally the only thing I’m paying for.
As long as it have good value to me I will use it. The same as with other services.
The thing is I don’t mostly mind paying for having YouTube without ads, but I would prefer if it didn’t have anything to do with Google in the first place.
I would prefer it not be owned by Google as well, though that wouldn’t really change the economics of the situation.
Same. No ads yet but will cancel and delete if they start showing up.
Been slowly moving over to Nebula anyway.
Uhh I don’t care who doesn’t pay for YTP or just blocks them, seems like an odd thing to care about?
I do have grandfathered $7/mo GPM (YTM) which comes with free YTP and I’ve yet to see ads at all. I don’t even get ads on my linked gaming YT account. This kinda seems like misinformation?
If you think paying $10+ for Spotify instead of $7 YTM+YTP then yes, you are a fucking idiot.
I had GPM and never got YTP. Switched o Tidal becuse YTM keeps repeating songs. I’ve had a song go 6 times in sequence.
So, shitty product, shitty support (see blackmail video claims), shitty creator compensation. Goodbye Google.
okay the adderall is kicking in so, sorry if this is a massive wall of text, but since you asked, adblockers are great, I never use the web without one when I can, but ads are only one part of why i pay for YouTube.
here are all my reasons:
- easy adless YouTube on non-android smart TV
- YouTube music (dont have to pay for Spotify)
- auto background video downloading to save on mobile data when I leave the house
- supports more creators (albeit in smaller amounts) than I could ever afford to support via patreon or merch (and supports them directly proportionally to how much I watch thier content, so I never risk paying a creator that ive lost interest in or forgetting to add a creator’s patreon)
I would never try to convince someone else to pay for YouTube, it’s defintily not for everyone, especially when a decent adblocker will satisfy most people. But for some people like me, it just makes sense, and I don’t understand why some people get so mad to learn I’m paying for it.
Google is a gross company for sure, hell except for YouTube ive pretty much completly degoogled my life. I can use Plex for movies and shows, Proton for mail and calandar, magic earth for GPS, Firefox and DDG for search, etc. but there isnt a good replacement for YouTube especially since its one of my main hobbies. peertube and other video hosting sites really just dont compare for my usecase
ofc I think its shitty that theyre trialing showing ads to premium users in Germany, but honestly that would barely affect me if it was happening where I live. I use adblockers everywhere except my TV, so most of the time it’d be impossible for me to see an ad whether YouTube tried to serve me one or not.
if you were genuinly asking what people who pay for YouTube have to say about this, I hope that answered your question
I appreciate your nuanced answer. That’s something a lot of “why not just pay for YouTube premium” guys don’t
You raised good points and if you’re happy to pay for the convenience, I’m not going to fight you on that.
While I don’t fully agree with paying for a service that doesn’t listen to their customers(bring back dislikes), I can still see where you’re coming from.
edit: sorry for the wall of text again lol
thanks, I appreciate your response too. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I wrote it lol but this response was a pleasant surprise
I will admit that I never really engaged with likes/dislikes, so while I was annoyed on a conceptual level when they removed dislikes it didnt really affect me. I might feel differently about paying youtube if that wasn’t the case.
I wasn’t aware when I wrote this that there were so many people who respond to simple complaints about ads with “just buy premium”, that was a total blindspot for me. Most comments ive seen about it (before reading comments on this thread, dear god) were more similar to mine, albeit more brief.
at risk of overgeneralizing, I think anyone who pays for YouTube /just/ for the ads (while watching mostly on PC or android), is probably an idiot. adblock is trivial to set up on those platforms and will likely soon prove to be more effective at preventing ads than paying for YouTube. its upsetting the sheer amount of people that will give money to evil corporations just to avoid having to think at all about what theyre consuming, and if thats really the loud majority of people who pay for YouTube then I can defintily understand the negative interactions ive had in the past.
this has been an enlightening discussion for me, thanks for that!
I heard tell from a Gen Xer who said cable TV used to not have ads.
Our national tv channel is lawfully barred from running commercials.
They just changed the definition of ads they run to “messages of commercial importance” or some dumb shit like that. And just like that, ads on the national channel are suddenly a-ok
PBS here has ads. They are short, but there are ads nonetheless. This is over and above the ads for their own shows that will be on the channel at a later date.
And some people argue against the death penalty. Argh.
Mixed truth. They carried broadcast networks that always had ads. Fox, NBC, ABC all had ads.
Comcast would even overwrite one or two of the network ads with their own ads. A commercial break would start, some life insurance BS would start playing audio compressed all to hell so it’s twice as loud, at the end, you’d catch 5 seconds of some toy commercial and then one or two other regular network commercials.Premium channels like HBO didn’t have ‘ads,’ but they did have station identification and self-promotion for what’s coming to the platform in the near future. They wouldn’t break the movies up, though, only in between. A few standouts didn’t start with ads like Nickelodeon, but eventually got them.
Saturday cartoons on USA and TNT certainly had ads from day one.
You’re lying. I can’t imagine this so it must be false!
Fun thing, I don’t want to get YouTube Premium because YouTube has a huge bunch of bugs and glitches and crap UI design and since they’re the only service in the niche there’s been no indication they’ll ever fix their shit.
I didn’t care about YouTube Music, so losing ads on stock YouTube apps was literally the only reason I was even considering getting Premium.
But if it doesn’t even do the one job…?
VPN to a country with a lower cost, and sign up there. It used to be Turkey and India, where you could get a Family Plan for like $2/mo - but they’ve cracked down a bit on it.
We use YT for so much in our ‘household’ that it made sense to pool together and get Premium, and honestly it feels good having ~5 people who consume a tonne of content ad-free for nearly no cost while still supporting our preferred content creators.
They’ve brought the hammer down on this. I was happily ‘traveling to Ukraine’ with my Apple TV to watch YouTube without ads for the equivalent of around £3 a month for over a year. Last month they canned our Premium.
I use yt-dlp to download my subs into a Plex folder now. Fuck ‘em.
So they reduced their revenue from you from £3 to 0. Smooth move Google.
That’s fine, at least they just increased the family plan pricing by 60%. Oh, wait.
Yeah, 20€ instead of 13 for me
People who use premium should organize to vow to publicly shame and boycott any company putting adds in their premium plan.
Like anti commercials.
Premium doesn’t mean private
Yeah, the daymy I see an ad is the day I cancel my subscription
Premium+ coming in 2026 for truly ad-free experience. Premium++ coming in 2028 for truly truly ad-free experience. Premium+++ coming in 2030 for truly truly truly ad-free experience.
I for see Premium Deluxe this coming 2028.
Ad revenue is like crack to corporations. I think Google needs an intervention.
Needs euthanization
I can’t wait until computers and compression algorithms advance to the point where YouTube competitors become commercially viable!
Just kidding, YT will probably just blackmail their content creators into only posting on their platform and nowhere else to maintain their monopoly.
can’t wait until computers and compression algorithms advance to the point where YouTube competitors become commercially viable
hell just going back to regular cable is now viable for me, I might see less ads!
#re-attachingTheCord
Premium# coming in 2032 for truly truly truly ad-free experience.
Premium#+ coming in 2034 for truly truly truly ad-free experience.
…
Is it a slow rollout or a experimental update thing? I don’t have it on mine.
Only in Germany in a test of a lower Premium plan so far.
Thanks for the info!
What’s the point of paying for YouTube Premium if you get ads anyway?
You get amazing features like: background play (which is more of an annoyance), remember where i left off (which doesnt work whatsoever, even 5 years after it was first released), download video’s to watch offline (you need to remember to download them first or hope that YouTube’s recommendation algoritm didnt pick videos you’ve already wachted) oh, and you can get a slightly higher bitrate for 1080p. So basically it loses all value.
And YouTube music which honestly seems to do the heavy lifting on the value equation.
As if there weren’t other ways to download videos from YouTube…
I’d recommend downloading from sources that don’t compress a much/badly as YouTube does ;)
Hehehe what do you mean? I have no idea what you’re talking about. 👀
Me neither laughs nervously
So… Basically NewPipe but paid and with ads? Brb, going to setup a monthly 14€ donation to the NewPipe team.
I remember when background play was for everyone.
Yea, but your “download” f**ing expires! So it’s useless when you go somewhere with no internet.
wait, what? does it download as some proprietary format and not a normal video file then?
yep.
Executive bonuses, of course. Won’t you think of the poor millionaires?
/s
I guess YouTube music?
Other features I guess. Like the bullcrap “are you still watching” that pops up every three videos, music maybe. I’m thinking of some waiting room TV thing, but then again you don’t want ads in that usecase either.
I actualy almost don’t get any are you still watching on my pc since like summer 🤷
I get it on mobile. I think it does it with playlists. I launch some music for background noise and it stops after a while.
Well, you get to pay for YouTube and see ads!
Ads inform you of products you might not otherwise know about! What a deal!
That’s be a great if it weren’t for the fact that like 95% of the ads I get shown aren’t remotely relevant.
It’s like gatcha games or diapers. At least the Lexus and Jaguar ads are flattering cuz they think I’m fancy even though I don’t make enough to ever afford one.
What if it was a diaper gatcha game?
Pretty sure that’s what diapers are
Dude - what!? Can I pay someone to show me these products I would have to pay for? Let’s be real, just watching what I want when I want just isn’t engaging enough for me.
The other replies are incorrect, the lower tier premium actually has no ads on most videos. When you subscribe, they explicitly let you know music videos will play ads, probably so this plan is not eating away profits of YouTube music.
