A super clever workaround for YouTube's crackdown on ad blockers sees YouTube ads sped up dramatically instead of blocking them.
Instead of blocking them, this extension speeds them up to x16 and also mutes the ad. Experiencing a 30 second ad in 2 seconds is pretty funny. And it works on Edge and Chrome.
Part of the reason I am not advocating for or against the extension or the source. People can judge for themselves. I thought it was funny (not a great idea but definitely an interesting implementation). For the record I use both unlock origin and Firefox, and I also run a pihole at home. I'm just putting out there that it exists.
I moved back to Firefox like 5 years ago. But saying the vast majority of tools don't seem to do the trick is a pretty true statement, since that's one browser with one app, and the browser only has a sub 10% market share.
Everyone's hating on this approach but I think it's nice that we have other options. I'm sure Ublock is going to come out on top of this cat and mouse game YouTube is playing with them, but if YouTube manages to temporarily disable Ublock I'll look into this solution. Thanks!
They give up on everything else all the time. I wonder if expanding their ad business is the one exception though. They ran out of new users and already pack videos full of ads. Forcing them on people who block them is the only thing left for them to attempt as they seek to continue perpetual growth.
I do not believe that is the case. Youtube ads are an insanely profitable business. I suspect throwing a couple dozen of FTEs on blocking ad blockers would be <1% of current revenue.
They're definitely burning more money than they would gain from winning the battle
Maybe at the moment, but I suspect part of the motivation for this is that they are trying to prevent another "adpocalypse" type boycott from their advertisers.
That's why I tried to present it without an anti-google seeming bias. I wanted people to just have the facts and not all the BS in the article. I think it's a good option for people who don't want to block ads so creators they watch benefit.
I don't know. I bet it has been pretty effective, but I also don't think I'd trust any data I'd see from Google.
But, their goal isn't to get you or me to watch ads. Hell will freeze over before I spend 30s watching an ad for a video that's barely double that. Their goal is to target the people we've installed ad blockers for: friends, parents, siblings, in-laws.
I'm not going to watch ads, and I sure as hell am not going to click on anything, but my mother in law does now. My mom does too. They now feel like an ad blocker is "too much hassle," so Google won that fight. I don't know if new people are installing, updating, or changing ad blockers enough to offset right now.
I’m not going to watch ads, and I sure as hell am not going to click on anything, but my mother in law does now. My mom does too. They now feel like an ad blocker is “too much hassle,” so Google won that fight.
Google won until the next round when, to make even more money for the shareholders, they will put so many ads in a video that also your mother and mother in law will return to use an adblocker. Or leave YT entirely
Yeah, no. I'm not willing to even have the ad for any amount of time. IMO ads should be banned, and before anyone reaponds, no i don't give a shit about the consequences of a change that substancial
Then this isn't for you. That's fine. Adblockers like ublock origin still work. So do newpipe, piped and other front end services. Firefox and other non-chromium based browsers etc. Do what you want with your devices.
(abolitionists circa 1800) IMO slavery should be banned, and before anyone responds, no I don’t give a shit about the consequences of a change that substantial.
Some things are simple and don't require a nuanced take. I'm not saying ads are anywhere near as important as slavery but the consequences are smaller too. Thinking something is an unmitigated negative and should be got rid of regardless of consequences is a legitimate position.
I have less problems with actually watching it than the fact that those ads they serve are very often times completely inappropriate and not respecting my online privacy.
I don't know man. This is actually pretty genius. Because this way creators still get paid. I wouldn't mind using such extension on Firefox. Problem is I still want to block all trackers and other nonsense...
I don't know how much anyone's subconscious is picking up in 2 seconds. Remember back in the day when people used to tell you they could study while sleeping by listening to a recording of a lecture? That didn't really work either.
I’ve been A/B testing Chrome and Firefox at work since we’ve had it drilled into us that we absolutely have to use Chrome. I haven’t had a single issue with Firefox, even with internal web apps. Your mileage may vary though.
Like actually different platforms? None really, since Google willfully ran YouTube on a loss to strangle potential competition and claim the natural monopoly for themselves.
There are privacy-respecting front-ends for YouTube tho, like piped or Invidious.
I use YouTube once every... month? Two months? This speaking as someone who would use it daily. I assume it depends on your use. For me it was music. Now I just use a music service.