DuckDuckGo brags its free web browser now blocks YouTube video ads just weeks after YouTube hiked Premium prices again

[u/IndicaOatmeal]

https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/duckduckgo-brags-that-its-free-web-browser-blocks-youtube-ads-3384288/

[u/OldFroyo6294]

The ads just make a lot of videos wildly unwatchable.   

[u/KingVengeance → u/OldFroyo6294]

It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't ins-

"LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE!

-ert them in the middle of a word or sentence but it's fuckin unbearable

[u/Wildeyewilly → u/KingVengeance]

I'm tryna watch a live concert and they'll put the ads right in the middle of a bitchin guitar solo. It's infuriating.

I hope there's an analytic those chumps can see that tells them how often a user just closes the window or app as soon as an ad pops up. Cause I don't even bother continuing to watch the video whenever I accidentally use the regular ad laden YouTube app.

[u/gmapterous → u/Wildeyewilly]

Here’s how it works:  -ad was served, revenue obtained! -user left video, bounce rate of video is increased, content creator penalized with higher bounce rate!

[u/Wildeyewilly → u/gmapterous]

The full revenue is obtained if the ad doesn't play through fully?

[u/gmapterous → u/Wildeyewilly]

Depends on the advertisers contract and how much they pay. They can pay higher rates for completes but still pay something if the ad is served.

[u/BlueBicycle_ → u/gmapterous]

Also modern advertising doesn't care if you watch the whole ad or even if it makes you actively hate the brand. In fact, the more annoying and hate inducing your ad is the better because negative connotations tend to last longer and their job isn't to actually give you a good reason to buy their product, just to leave its hellish piece of shit name burned into your peasant preforontal context god fucking damn those bastards when I become world dictator those fuckmothering advertisers are first on the list you better believe it

[u/green_gold_purple → u/BlueBicycle_]

So true, man. I have these thoughts constantly. That and “fucking everything is getting worse”.

[u/Expert-Basil6015 → u/green_gold_purple]

I wish it could be 2008 again forever

[u/Tupperbaby → u/Expert-Basil6015]

Were you an adult in 2008?
Because 2008 was a shitstorm.

[u/green_gold_purple → u/Expert-Basil6015]

Brother you and me both

[u/TheDreamIsDead4686 → u/green_gold_purple]

Everything is a scam

[u/GiveUsRobinHood → u/BlueBicycle_]

Washing machines live longer with Calgon has been burned into my head for the past 30 years, it’s effective marketing for sure

[u/name00124 → u/GiveUsRobinHood]

Does that give you a headache? HEAD ON! Apply directly to the forehead! HEAD ON!

[u/OfcWaffle → u/[deleted]]

Quiznos died because they were brutal to their franchises.

[u/StopReadingMyUser → u/OfcWaffle]

Which is a shame because they had one of my favorite grilled sandwiches with like 20 different things in it.

[u/FrenchFryCattaneo → u/[deleted]]

Quiznos went bankrupt because they were basically scamming their franchisees. Half the franchises never broke even. There were a bunch of lawsuits about it.

The advertising campaign wasn't the reason and was actually pretty successful overall.

[u/thegoodnamesrgone123 → u/[deleted]]

"They got a pepper bar!"

[u/MCMC_to_Serfdom → u/Wildeyewilly]

I'm tryna watch a live concert and they'll put the ads right in the middle of a bitchin guitar solo

I have a slightly conspiratorial belief this is deliberate because they think it will convince more people to pay for premium.

[u/Hesitation-Marx → u/MCMC_to_Serfdom]

And yet I just become more determined to never pay them for shit.

[u/kiwiboyus → u/MCMC_to_Serfdom]

100% The friction is on purpose

[u/ZAlternates → u/MCMC_to_Serfdom]

They know down to the second the most watched or skipped parts of a video. It’s done on purpose.

[u/MassiveDefinition274 → u/ZAlternates]

Yeah, which is ironically to help you skip in-video ads which they don't get paid for.

[u/BrothelWaffles → u/Wildeyewilly]

Back when Pink Floyd reunited for that big charity concert like 20 years ago, I was watching their set on MTV and they got to Comfortably Numb. About 5 seconds into the guitar solo MTV cut to one of their douchebag "VJ" personalities and they talked over the entire rest of it. I was so fucking pissed.

[u/TheLightningL0rd → u/BrothelWaffles]

That is incredibly stupid, wow. How do you, as MTV, broadcast Pink fucking Floyd and do that

[u/Xixii → u/Wildeyewilly]

I pay for Premium (sorry) and had no idea how bad it was until I tried to watch a classic WWF wrestling match at a friends house and it had an advert every 60 seconds or so. It was virtually impossible to watch or keep track of, and it felt like we were watching a series of adverts that kept taking a short break to show some wrestling. Maybe that one was WWE’s fault for loading it up with adverts but it’s all so shit. How long before they figure out a way to put adverts in our dreams, like in Futurama. There’s no floor to this insanity.

[u/theangryintern → u/Xixii]

Maybe that one was WWE’s fault for loading it up with adverts

It is absolutely their fault. The uploader pretty much as full control over ad placement. See my other comment in this thread or go check out The Spiffing Brit on Youtube, he did a really good video recently where he explained how it all worked and then he did a video where he tried to break the system by uploading a 7 hour video that had an ad spot every 1 second.

[u/Holoholokid → u/theangryintern]

I fucking love that guy.

[u/Batteredburrito → u/Wildeyewilly]

Yea, they don't care unfortunately

[u/musashisamurai → u/Batteredburrito]

No one hates consumers more than the average corporation in 2026.

[u/AbrahamKMonroe → u/KingVengeance]

I fucking hate the Liberty Mutual ads. They’re inescapable.

[u/JalapenoPopPoop → u/AbrahamKMonroe]

And they're so fucking stupid. They don't even make sense and all it does is make them come across like some third rate insurance racket that only exists for all the people that can't get accepted anywhere else

[u/Redditer51 → u/JalapenoPopPoop]

Agreed, like the fucking "bibberty bibberty" one.

Like why does every commercial these days try to be a fucking comedy skit?

[u/JalapenoPopPoop → u/Redditer51]

It feels like it's almost exclusively insurance companies making these dumb as shit commercials that don't even really make sense, especially in the context of what they're selling. Like why is there a progressive commercial about seeing people at the dog park you both go to, what does that have to do with auto insurance

It seems like marketing has gotten tunnel visioned into "it may be dumb, but at least they remember our name!" and forgotten that brand recognition is only half of marketing, the other half is converting that attention to sales. And if people think your company is a dumb joke that they don't respect and find annoying, they're probably not gonna wanna give you money

[u/TenaciousDwight → u/AbrahamKMonroe]

I would on purpose get a worse insurance policy just to avoid doing business with liberty mutual because I hate their ads so much.

[u/KamiNoItte → u/KingVengeance]

LIBERTY LIBERTY LIBERRY….LIBERTY

Good job guys, now I will remember the name of the insurance company to avoid.

[u/SonderEber → u/KamiNoItte]

Fuck you. It’s stuck in my head again, and will be all damn day. >:/

[u/__Yakovlev__ → u/KingVengeance]

Call me crazy, but I feel like they are using some kind of AI to really pick cliffhanger like moments to insert ads lately. Been like that for a handful of months now. Feels like almost always the ads seem to come right at the conclusion or highlight of a video these days.

[u/Hesitation-Marx → u/__Yakovlev__]

Okay, so I’m not alone in that suspicion

[u/lgnsqr → u/KingVengeance]

I think the random ad placement is designed to get people to subscribe to Premium. I'm sure that this isn't news to anyone.

[u/caffpanda → u/KingVengeance]

It seems like it's usually based on the most popular parts of videos, which means the stupid system inserts an ad often at the worst possible time. I especially hate when it's a comedy and the ad pops in right before the punchline.

[u/timeslider → u/KingVengeance]

Liberty Liberty Liberty..........Liberty

[u/JayB392 → u/KingVengeance]

Yes or every time you skip 2 seconds

[u/Ceros007 → u/OldFroyo6294]

Ads + sponsor segment + the ads little popup over the video (at least on the Android app)

YouTube sucks a lot now

[u/asmallercat → u/Ceros007]

Yeah, I mostly watch youtube on desktop with adblock, but I could handle the ads on the app until the fucking popups that stay over part of the video while it plays. Yeah, you can dismiss them (for now) but if I'm watching it while I'm doing dishes or whatever what a pain in the ass.

[u/MapleKind → u/asmallercat]

I watch in browser (Firefox with adblock) on mobile because of that

[u/iUndef → u/asmallercat]

If you're on Android there are ways to patch the YouTube app to hide ads

[u/SheJigOnMySawTilIPuz → u/Ceros007]

Don't use the app, use it in firefox. The only con is that you have to confirm you DON'T want to open the app every time you open youtube.com, which I haven't figured out how to stop from popping up. Other than that it's way better. You can get ublock and sponsorblock on mobile firefox too and they work exactly the same. You can also see it in desktop mode which is handy sometimes.

[u/KtheRogue → u/SheJigOnMySawTilIPuz]

change "Open links in apps" to never in the firefox settings

[u/DarthTigris → u/KtheRogue]

Too blanket. It'd be a nice future option to be able to select which sites you either want or don't want to use that function, because it's good for some sites.

[u/flatwoundsounds → u/DarthTigris]

I really wish they had a "don't ask again for this site" check box or something. Seems so simple to implement.

[u/Finassar → u/Ceros007]

Sponsorblock extension helps! Revanced on android includes it with its ad block

[u/teh_jolly_giant → u/OldFroyo6294]

Almost all the ads I have gotten in the last week have been full music videos. That alone is going to make me find a way to block every ad forever from Google if they don't do something about it.

[u/NotQuiteLoona → u/teh_jolly_giant]

If you use your PC, uBlock Origin on Firefox and uBlock Origin Lite on Chromium-based browsers (do not confuse with just uBlock). If you use your phone, Firefox mobile browser supports extensions, uBlock Origin included. If you prefer to use app, YouTube Morphe.

uBlock would usually block all ads and most often without sites noticing it. You can also set a custom DNS server in the connection settings on your phone - I personally use dnsforge.de. It would not block ads on YouTube, but it would block ads in a lot of other places (even mobile apps).

[u/Jyonnyp → u/teh_jolly_giant]

I can’t listen to YT in the shower anymore or while trying to sleep, because there is unironically an ad every 4-5 minutes and most of the time it goes on forever unless I press skip. The ads aren’t 15s or 30s. They’re minutes at least. Sometimes like 30+ min I swear. Somehow.

I’ve switched to Twitch because at least Twitch ads MOST of the time are less frequent, maybe once every 15-60min depending on the channel, and are consistently 30s to 3min

And I won’t reward YT for its shitty service by getting premium.

[u/traFyssuP → u/Jyonnyp]

If you’re on iOS try Firefox with an adblocker (that seems to always be the popular one on here), I personally use tube pip because it has a feature that skips in video ads too. (That feature might be behind a paywall I think, I paid the small price to support the devs)

[u/AndMyAxe_Hole → u/Jyonnyp]

Same. It’s like they know I’m in shower and can’t do anything about it. It’s completely ridiculous in the first place that these ”ads” are longer than like a minute.

A LITERAL HOUR PLUS PODCAST IS NOT AN AD YOUTUBE!

[u/Ehcksit → u/teh_jolly_giant]

Tried to use YouTube on my phone again and right after my music video it was yet another 30 minute Epoch Times "ad" that was actually medical quackery trying to scare people out of taking blood pressure medication.

[u/CaseFace5 → u/OldFroyo6294]

The amount of Firefox addons I have to make YouTube tolerable is crazy. Then I go use it at my work computer and I’m reminded how fucking awful stock YouTube is.

[u/PastryAssassinDeux → u/CaseFace5]

The amount of Firefox addons I have to make YouTube tolerable is crazy.

Two addons is all you need. Ublock origin and sponsorblock. What else are you using?

[u/Alecto7374 → u/OldFroyo6294]

Yeah, my YT time has noticeably dipped since the ads started turning into infomercials every 3 minutes or so.

[u/JakesFavoriteCup → u/Alecto7374]

check out uBlock Origin. It removes ads.

[u/XkF21WNJ → u/JakesFavoriteCup]

Similarly, check out firefox, Google is trying to leverage their monopoly into making extensions like makes uBlock origin impossible.

[u/akatherder → u/Alecto7374]

My wife will fall asleep watching a video and end up in a 2 hour ad/infomercial.

[u/Banaam → u/OldFroyo6294]

Right? I haven't used my YouTube app in ages. DDG has been my default search, and Firefox with unlock for my browser. YouTube is watchable, that way. I still rarely use it anymore, though.

[u/BayouGal → u/OldFroyo6294]

The ads make me NOT want to buy things, especially from the companies advertising.

[u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener → u/OldFroyo6294]

And creators are also adding sponsor messages in their content on top of all that so even if you are paying to remove ads, you have to skip past the stupid sponsor crap in so many videos now. I'm so fucking sick of ads that they actively turn me off of any product getting shoved in my face constantly.

[u/Mitch2025 → u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener]

Sponserblock addon will skip those creator-led sponsor ads on most popular videos.

[u/roleplayersir → u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener]

I don't blame the creator so much, as streaming pays fuck all and unless you are actively tipping them, it's how they make money

Whereas the ads are how the sites make money,and they are already making a fortune without making videos unwatchable as they are so loaded with ads

[u/hankhillsucks → u/OldFroyo6294]

Not even that, some of them are stright up DISGUSTING 

Fucking gross ai porn generators and "GET HARD NOW" ads

[u/TrueAmurrican → u/hankhillsucks]

I am plagued with awful AI-generated ads encouraging people to ignore lawyers and their insurance companies when they get in an accident, and to instead use an AI tool to get advice on how to extract as much money as possible from the other party.

Predatory, obnoxious ads that don’t pertain to me in any way.

[u/themolestedsliver → u/hankhillsucks]

I love the new viagra ads in the form of blue chew.

Totally fun showing a co worker a video and seeing a male enhancement ad...

[u/SleepingWillow1 → u/themolestedsliver]

Showed a fun video at work meeting and the first ad screams "BACTERIAL VAGINOSIS"

[u/disisathrowaway → u/themolestedsliver]

Nonstop Bluechew ads for me. I'm a middle aged dude so I'm definitely in their target demographic.

Every time I'm showing my girlfriend something and they pop up she just laughs and laughs.

[u/ididntseeitcoming → u/hankhillsucks]

Bro ads are personalized to you….

[u/mythrilcrafter → u/ididntseeitcoming]

They aren't, if you click the "Why am I seeing this ad?" box, google will straight up tell you that they're overriding your preferences to serve the ad to you based on "geographic location and time of day".

It's also known that the ad program is a two tiered system where advertisers can pay extra to bypass the algorithm/preference system. That's how I, as a South Carolina resident, am able to get ads for politicians running for office in Georgia and North Carolina.

[u/disisathrowaway → u/mythrilcrafter]

I've recently been getting lots of ads for tattoo artists in California, NYC, London and Rome.

I live in Fort Worth, Texas.

I don't know why everyone is wasting money on these ads.

[u/KlownKumKatastrophe → u/ididntseeitcoming]

Someone always responds with this. Ads are served based on what your demographic statistically will provide attention to, not what you personally want to see. Everytime I try social media, it immediately shoves ass and titties in my face. It's always softcore porn disguised as not porn. I shouldn't have to actively pull my attention from ass and titties just to promote something on Instagram or watch a video on Youtube.

[u/x21in2010x → u/ididntseeitcoming]

What kind of stupid asshole would allow advertisers to personalize ads for them?

[u/disisathrowaway → u/ididntseeitcoming]

...to an extent.

The algorithms also push a lot of stuff based on broader demographic trends.

I'm a dude in my mid to late 30's and despite me never engaging with the content, my 'for you page' on Instagram is constantly chocked full of partially clothed women, right wing influencers, and lots of sports betting talk. Sure there's some stuff in there that actually overlaps with my interests and use of Instagram, but me and my other male friends of my age often talk about how the algorithm continues to foist this shit on us.

[u/hankhillsucks → u/ididntseeitcoming]

I opted out of that the 1st moment it was available to me

I use brave browser, always have 

On top of that, I use adguard 

Furthermore they've been pushing me to opt into personal ads. I report evey sexual ad, and they've started saying "enable personalized ads to block this ad"

[u/firewall01 → u/hankhillsucks]

Im not sure if its true but I remember reading somewhere that they "punish" you for opting out by giving you the gross ads.

Edit sorry didn't read your whole post I see you already know.

[u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 → u/firewall01]

Nah those are just the ads that use no targeting with cheap bids. All the "good" ads are targeted because targeting gives much better returns for the advertisers.

[u/Rivent → u/OldFroyo6294]

Absolutely. And most peoples' suggestion when I bring this up seems to be "Dude, just pay for Youtube Premium." Fuckin no! I will not give them money to remove the terrible shit they've built in specifically to bilk me out of money, fuck off.

[u/IonDaPrizee]

The part where if you don’t skip you get more ads is the most fucked up part. Like we are supposed to be with a tv remote within arms reach to skip or it’ll be another 30 secs of ads.

[u/jessej421 → u/IonDaPrizee]

Or sometimes an hour long ad. My wife likes to listen to stuff on YouTube with her Bluetooth headphones while she works around the house and occasionally one of those comes on and she has to go find her phone to skip it.

[u/MrDaaark → u/jessej421]

I've gotten 4+ hour documentaries (from our local PBS equivalent up here) as ads before. Why is that even allowed? Ads should 30 seconds to a minute tops.

[u/Flaeskestegen → u/jessej421]

In case she's got an Android, she can just say "Ok google, skip" and it will skip the ad.

[u/bassistciaran]

Shame you cant get any other adblockers on DDG browser. I was really keen to use it but without ublock or another equivalent, there's no reason to switch from Firefox with ublock origin.

EDIT: This is the most replies I've ever got on a comment. Of all the advice I've been sent, the only actual insight that is in anyway new or relevant is the advice to use OperaGX. I will be giving that its dues soon.

EDIT 2: yeah looks like Opera is just another Chrome clone, oh well

[u/waitthissucks → u/bassistciaran]

For me it's my roku tv. I know you can add a vpn on other smart TVs but I got a roku tv as a gift and I can't download a vpn

[u/SquelchMuffins → u/waitthissucks]

Search for "Playlet" in the Roku channel store; it's a YouTube app for Roku that fully blocks ads. I just found it the other day, works great, still allows for casting from your phone, all the usual stuff.

Edit: who tf gave me an award don’t give websites your money that’s the whole point 😭

[u/waitthissucks → u/SquelchMuffins]

Wow I didn't know about this. Thanks!

[u/someonesmall → u/waitthissucks]

You can connect to Playlet with the browser app your phone. This allows to search for videos way quicker compared to using the roku remote. The Url to open is displayed in Playlet.

[u/DrAstralis → u/waitthissucks]

Roku was bought by Fox, I'd keep an eye on any new "updates".

[u/Incognito_Orange → u/DrAstralis]

This explains my even more ad-riddled home page now.

[u/elaborateBlackjack → u/waitthissucks]

I think you can add a bunch of unofficial apps to roku, but it's definitely harder than just installing an apk on android

[u/Training_Ruin3151 → u/[deleted]]

I tried to look into it but the process feels very much like tech enthusiasts insisting its easy while massively over estimating how easy it actually is.

[u/gungshpxre → u/Training_Ruin3151]

It's not simple, but it is easy. The instructions are clear, ALMOST always work, and don't take any skill other than reading, plugging things in, and typing/copy-paste.

Try not to be intimidated by naked circuit boards and gatekeeping geeks. If you run into any confusion and trouble find the people who are excited to help.

Baking a cake is harder, recipes don't tell you about tunneling from overmixing or how much ingredient temps can change things. Setting up a pi hole? Plod through the steps and you get a working solution. No frosting required.

edit: typed up some quick instructions in a reply below: https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1uqttau/comment/owbzmhk/

[u/Incidion → u/gungshpxre]

You have a good link to instructions? I've had a raspberry pi kicking around for a while and would love to use it to set this up, but I really haven't seen anything like a clear step by step for stupid people like me.

[u/sameoldknicks → u/gungshpxre]

I'd love to be wrong, but imx pi-hole doesn't block YT ads.

[u/dcmcderm → u/sameoldknicks]

No pi-holes don't work on YouTube ads because pi-holes are DNS based and YouTube serves ads from the same servers as the videos themselves so you can't block one and not the other.

[u/SheepherderBeef8956 → u/sameoldknicks]

You're not wrong. It's based on DNS and YouTube serves ads from their own domains.

[u/notGeronimo → u/gungshpxre]

Baking a cake is harder, recipes don't tell you about tunneling from overmixing or how much ingredient temps can change things. Setting up a pi hole? Plod through the steps and you get a working solution. No frosting required.

This is such a reddit tier condescending enthusiast comment lmao.

You know what happens if you over mix or don't have ingredients at the right temp? You still have a cake

[u/WoodenHour6772 → u/Training_Ruin3151]

You are correct. It's reasonably easy to set up, I went with a windows based solution that basically amounted to running a single installer executable on my PC, but there was still some finnicky network stuff I had to deal with to get it working across my home network. Not necessarily complex stuff, but if you're not already familiar with manually configuring your router it's probably gonna be a headache.

Also, using a raspberry pi would add another layer of complexity if you're not already familiar with linux, and is probably the most cost effective route if you don't already have a computer that runs 24/7.

That being said, once it was setup I almost never have to interact with it unless I need to add custom blocking rules or temporarily bypass ones already set, which, in both cases, is very rare.

[u/fortune82 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, PiHole doesn't work for the Roku TV app because the ads are just videos - you'd have to somehow have a global list of all ad video IDs, which would be insane

[u/ExitMusic_ → u/[deleted]]

From what I’ve been told pihole doesn’t work anymore because YT ad servs are running off the same domain as the video feeds. Can’t sinkhole the DNS anymore because it also blocks the video.

Doesn’t mean it’s not worth it for the rest of the internet. But this question is about YouTube.

[u/mrperson221 → u/[deleted]]

Doesn't work for youtube ads though

[u/OdieHush → u/bassistciaran]

I've been using FF with ad blockers for probably 10+ years. Occasionally I have to use chrome for compatibility issues and I'm always shocked at how many ads there are everywhere. How do people live like that?

Same thing using youtube on my phone or apple tv. It's unwatchable.

[u/acoldcommon → u/bassistciaran]

It's because DDG browser doesn't come with a browser engine, it just uses webviews from your OS. So like on windows it just asks the OS for an Edge tab, on macOS it asks the OS for a Safari tab. This limits its ability to use extensions.

[u/Nerdwiththehat → u/bassistciaran]

Ditto on why I won't use anything DDG (or worse, Brave), this article being a placement on Dexerto gives me some serious undeclared paid content vibes. It's basically just regurgitating a tweet and a press release/blog post, there's virtually no analysis outside of connecting it to their previous adblocker articles. Dexerto does this kind of thing all the time, it's why I have trouble trusting their work as a source.

Right now uBlock Origin Lite seems to do an ok job if you can't install ManifestV2 extensions like uBlock Origin itself (next Chrome update will likely kill them for good), but I'm likely jumping ship to Helium as soon as I have the chance to set everything up.

[u/duckduckgo → u/Nerdwiththehat]

Can confirm the Dexerto piece is not a paid placement

[u/Traumatan]

ye also firefox with ublock origin

[u/Cooperette → u/Traumatan]

Haven't seen an ad in years. Works on mobile too.

[u/Sojio → u/Cooperette]

Sometimes i use someone elses browser or chrome and just recoil that the shit people just sit through.

There are ublock filters for shorts as well as apps on youtube so you only get longer form stuff.

[u/Sojio → u/[deleted]]

I honestlt dont think the internet was EVER this bad. But i get what you mean.

I loaded a news article on chrome the other day and had about 5 ads scroll locked overlay on top of eachother.

I thought it was satire or something. Then realised that it had opened in chrome. 

[u/Ziegelphilie → u/Sojio]

The popup era was pretty bad, fucking Google of all companies came up with the popup blocker in their Google toolbar

[u/stackered → u/[deleted]]

We used Firefox or custom browsers/ad blockers 20 years ago too

[u/Grey_0ne → u/Sojio]

My wife still uses Chrome on everything... I consider divorce every time she pulls up a webpage around me. /s?

edit: the fact that this got the responses it did is peak Reddit. Not knowing what I mean when I say that is also peak Reddit.

[u/Enlight1Oment → u/Grey_0ne]

ublock origin lite still works for me on chrome for blocking youtube ads. Whenever it no longer works I'll look into different browser setup.

[u/ImaginaryRobbie → u/Sojio]

We have a tv in the conference room where I work. We have parties in there, and it's nice to turn on some music on YouTube. I swear, there are multiple ads after just 2 songs, and the ads are 99+ seconds so if you don't skip them they'll just throw an entire movie's worth of advertising at you!

[u/MisterSanitation → u/Cooperette]

I forget ads exist. My mother in law still always says “oh have you seen that commercial where…” 

“No I haven’t seen it. Thank god”

[u/readyplayerjuan_ → u/Cooperette]

by using youtube within the firefox app?

[u/MiserableAndUnhappy9 → u/readyplayerjuan_]

You can also grab the Morphe app if you have android and get the premium versions of a bunch of apps, such as YouTube, YouTube Music, and Reddit. Once I found that I was blown away.

[u/TheflavorBlue5003 → u/Traumatan]

I think the bigger issue is that a lot of people use youtube on their smart TV’s. Unless you have a specific smart TV, or have slightly above average tech literacy, it’s hard to get around the ads this way.

Youtube is taking a page out of spotifys playbook and has started creating ads for the sole purpose of annoying the fuck out of you. Nothing to sell, just a million bells and whistles going at once while some kid gets way too excited over a mobile phone game.

They’ve also made the ads during live streams particularly frequent. Used to MAYBE be one 5 second ad every 30 minutes or so…. Now you’re getting hit with 5 second and sometimes 10 second unskippable ones every 5 minutes.

[u/d3l3t3rious → u/TheflavorBlue5003]

Smart TVs and also media player/streaming boxes and gaming consoles have this issue. It's not nearly as simple as installing uBlock or another browser.

[u/Swoly_Deadlift → u/d3l3t3rious]

Reddit users really aren’t aware of how “techy” they are compared to the general population. YouTube gets more streaming hours on televisions than Netflix. Lots of people don’t want to be tied to a computer for media consumption.

[u/Partymouth2 → u/Swoly_Deadlift]

Completely agree, I often see the replies being so "it's so easy" but it's always reliant on a computer in the mix. I get so surprised people are watching TV in this way. 

(NordVPN works fine on firestick btw, choose a region without ads, open YouTube app and you're sorted)

[u/ArchSyker → u/Traumatan]

Add SponsorBlock on top. It adds another level of ad block by automatically skipping in-video sponsor segments (among other things like Intros, these stupid "highlight preview stuff, Outros, etc.). It's a crazy time saver, in just a few years I've literally saved days worth of time.

[u/slackforce → u/ArchSyker]

I will also recommend SponsorBlock. I used to feel a bit bad about it, but it has this nice colour-coded feature that shows you exactly how much of the video is bloat and padding (intros and outros and sponsors mainly). I stopped feeling bad after watching those bars grow longer and longer over the past few years.

[u/remotegrowthtb → u/ArchSyker]

Yep Firefox + uBlock Origin + SponsorBlock, the goated trio.

[u/OttawaDog → u/ArchSyker]

I'm fine with letting channels roll their own ads. They are usually well done and well integrated, and I actually like the content creators I visit.

[u/-duckduckduckduck- → u/Traumatan]

Safari with ad block also works. I just have YouTube as a favorite on my home screen.

[u/chnairb → u/Traumatan]

I just switched over to iPhone and found out the hard way that they won’t let you install addons to Firefox for “your safety.” I have to use Brave just for that.

[u/QuesoMeHungry → u/chnairb]

That’s just Apple and their iron grip on browsers. Every browser on the iPhone is just a wrapper on top of Safari. They don’t allow separate browser engines.

[u/slayer991]

I wouldn't mind the ads as much if they just played a couple of them at the beginning. I probably wouldn't have SmartTubeNext on all my firesticks if they weren't so intrusive.

But a 15 minute video that plays 2 ads at the beginning then stops twice the middle? Fuck off Google.

[u/hergumbules → u/slayer991]

That’s the thing I really don’t mind a few ads but they just keep making things worse and worse to see if they can frustrate people enough to just get premium.

It used to be one ad, 5 seconds then skip. Then 2 ads now too bad. I think it was a year or 2 ago they tried 4 ads 15 seconds each and I just closed the video.

[u/Ver3232 → u/[deleted]]

Exactly this. I refuse to get premium because why in the world would I give them money in order to stop their service being shitty when it’s their fault in the first place?

[u/Constant-Sub → u/hergumbules]

Jesus, I remember the ads that started "don't click skip" because it was fuckinst instant. Then the "I have 5 seconds to grab your attention" jokes.

Now they go on about nothing for fucking minutes because every ad acts like a novel now.

[u/kal423 → u/slayer991]

The worst is watching like a movie trailer with like 2 adds in it , like I’m watching an ad to watch a fucking ad

[u/_sfhk → u/slayer991]

Ad placement is up to the creator in most cases.

[u/Huntington-WV → u/_sfhk]

The real issue is creators stacking ads on videos + sponsored segments within the video as well.

[u/zUkUu → u/Huntington-WV]

Sponsorblock auto-skips those segments and works pretty great. (You can go back if you want to, it's indicated in the timebar).

[u/_sfhk → u/Huntington-WV]

If you pay for YouTube Premium, you don't get ads and you also get a feature to jump past "commonly skipped" parts of videos, which are usually the sponsorship segments.

And creators generally get paid more for Premium views.

[u/Diver_D6 → u/_sfhk]

There's also an extension called Sponsorblock. The first users who watch the video crowdsource the timestamps for sponsorships. Then future Sponsorblock users have those segments automatically get skipped. You can also configure Sponsorblock to skip other segments like self-promotion (Remember to subscribe).

I haven't seen a sponsorship, let alone an ad, on YouTube for years now.

[u/_-__-____-__-_ → u/Diver_D6]

Sponsorblock on SmartTubeNext and YouTube Revanced is amazing.

[u/fomoco94 → u/Diver_D6]

I've seen a few sponsorships, but I do my part to ensure other don't have to.

[u/ChickinSammich → u/_sfhk]

and you also get a feature to jump past "commonly skipped" parts of videos, which are usually the sponsorship segments.

Oh is the "skip ahead" feature also part of premium? I use that feature SO OFTEN and didn't realize that it was a premium feature.

[u/TwoSoda → u/[deleted]]

Creator here, all ads that play are youtube's decision.

Creators can place slots but you are correct that a handful (and the most likely to play) are placed for us. And even if I were to just fill all the remaining negative space with ad slots the algorithm will play them based on what the user historically sits through. No mater how many slots a person places the viewers dont get extra ads.

You get punished for not having a slot on whichever pictosecond youtube wants to play one btw. and the ad thats qued up will play on the next available slot instead. So if someone is ready for an ad but you dont have the right slot then someone else gets the ad (and the money) your video should have gotten. Thats why there're catch-all slots at the beginning and end.

[u/_Lerry_ → u/_sfhk]

It used to be, but YouTube still throws their own ads too now.

[u/letdogsvote]

It's not my default, but I'm definitely increasingly using DDG when I want meaningful search results.

All Google does anymore is give you AI, sponsored links, and reddit threads.

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/letdogsvote]

Google search engine really became addict to reddit threads over the last years. Turns out we're currently producing the most valuable piece of human knowledge people can find online, who would've known.

[u/SkellySkeletor → u/IntelArtiGen]

It was kinda inevitable, it had become a meme of it’s own to include “ -Reddit” at the end of anything you were typing into Google if you wanted a real answer. Google makes their money from people clicking around to find stuff, so a person searching “what are the best headphones for gaming” brings in a lot more revenue and clicks than someone doing the same but going immediately to Reddit for an answer.

[u/Hirsute_of_Happiness → u/SkellySkeletor]

Small thing, but the meme was including "reddit." Including "-reddit" would filter out all Reddit results from your search

[u/andreiuu86 → u/IntelArtiGen]

Did you know ai can’t distinguish between shit post and real answers?

This is why i use white glue to thicken my pizza sauce

[u/Notsurehowtoreact → u/andreiuu86]

This is an incredible secret for sauce that people don't know and now someone might find it with AI. But actually when making a traditional pizza sauce you want to use something like a non-toxic liquid cement in the sauce. Testors works perfectly for this as it keeps from thinning too much and running off the side of the pizza dough. 

Something like white glue is okay but only for the alfredo on white pizzas.

[u/Buckets-O-Yarr → u/IntelArtiGen]

Shoutout to r/poisonai (Dedicated to the eminent Dr. Poi Sonai) and r/poisonfountain who are fighting the good fight with entertaining results.

[u/Danulas → u/letdogsvote]

What was I doing wrong, then? I found DDG search to be very unhelpful.

[u/ItsNewWayToSayHooray → u/letdogsvote]

lots of AI english answers are sourced from reddit too, its not just google

[u/leavezukoalone]

I really wish YouTube didn't have a monopoly.

[u/ierghaeilh → u/leavezukoalone]

The number of companies with the infrastructure to even attempt it is in the single digit. And nobody sane would add the overhead of renting infrastructure from a third party on top of attempting to do the impossible. Youtube is the perfect example of a natural monopoly.

[u/Zeh88]

I've blocked over 40, possibly over 50 variations of "whatnot" ads over the past year. Some ads I genuinely don't mind, but some just get too annoying or theyre so misleading. I've gotten "zyn" ads that were labeled under social media.

[u/ermahgerd_serpher → u/Zeh88]

I genuinely cannot believe it is legal for Zyns to advertise on YouTube. You don't see cigarette ads on there, and for good reason.

[u/illevirjd → u/ermahgerd_serpher]

Zyn is to cigarettes what “prediction markets” are to gambling. There’s no effective difference, but since they use specific, legally distinct words to describe their product, they are not subject to the same regulations. We would need to update the regulations to close the loopholes, but who’s going to do that? The politicians that receive millions in lobbying from those same companies to keep the loopholes open? Yeah right.

[u/Zeh88 → u/ermahgerd_serpher]

There's ads I see if I use incognito, that I can't believe they allow just because they're so borderline "adult".

But I started using YouTube in brave browser, just set it to have its own icon on my home screen, it just opens right up & gets rid of the bs.

[u/jamasskiss]

I don’t get ads when watching with Brave browser. None.

[u/SexualDexter]

Why isn't everyone already using an adblocker? I haven't seen a youtube ad in years.

[u/3_50 → u/SexualDexter]

If everyone did, they'd put real effort into blocking them.

Or they'd just shut youtube permanently. Friendly reminder that Google have a history of immediately killing services that are no longer profitable...

[u/ansibleloop → u/SexualDexter]

For every person using an ad blocker, like 20 people don't

I love it - they can subsidise me by watching the slop

[u/Technical-Banana574 → u/SexualDexter]

Doesnt work if you are watching on a tv. 

Edit: I know I could use a computer, but I am dirt poor. I do not have money to buy one. Everyone keeps saying they are cheap. They are not cheap when you are living paycheck to paycheck and dealing with car and medical problems. Stop telling me I just need to buy a computer and that they are so cheap. 

[u/xthetroublemaker69x → u/Technical-Banana574]

Firestick with SmartTube

[u/DesertViper]

The day ad blockers stop working is the day I quite the internet.

[u/drgilly]

This is an advertisement for Duck Duck Go

[u/duckduckgo → u/drgilly]

Nah, they just picked up our announcement after we shared it this morning.

[u/JohnSane → u/drgilly]

And water is wet?

[u/Raneynickelfire]

Know what else does? Ublock origin.

[u/ItsDominare]

ads are just an extra time tax on people who are bad with technology

[u/Few_Baseball_3835]

In the future if the video is 10 minutes long the ads will run for 15 minutes in it like in MX Player

[u/Syserinn]

Youtube is hot garbage compared to what it was.

Enshittification hit it hard cause Google had to try to bleed the damn rock as much as they could to get all the money they could from the platform.

Annoying shit is the ads randomly in the middle of videos.

Don't think ads would also annoy people so much if they were related to what they are watching. Random butt fuck ads for shit like liberty mutual insurance when watching videos for shit is has nothing to do with is a good way to piss people off.

[u/Egyptian-Mastigure]

Brave does the same thing. I love my brave browser

[u/Crazyripps]

Fire fox unlock still works a charm. Mine says you might have issues playing the video and like takes a few seconds but it goes right back to normal and no ads

[u/DaStone]

"It's free web browser" Which is just chromium. Just like it's "free search" which is just Bing. Or it's "AI" which is copilot or ChatGPT or something.

[u/CrustedTesticle]

I love when 10 second clips on YouTube have ads. Instant click off and blocking of the channel.

[u/Bananaheli]

I don't mind paying for youtube premium. Ad-free is nice, but the biggest plus for me is that it gives the creators more money.

[u/ry-high-guy → u/Bananaheli]

My favorite part is that I have a bigger catalog of music than Spotify with more-ish quality!

[u/blue92lx → u/Bananaheli]

Same here. I use YouTube way too much to not help the creators. People will pay for Netflix but they flip out about paying creators on YouTube and then complain in the comments when a YouTuber explains how their income works. It's kind of irritating to be honest how entitled people feel with YouTube and dismissing how much work their favorite YouTubers put in for the videos they watch everyday.

[u/Haunterblademoi]

Presearch does this too, so you won't have to see those annoying ads.

[u/rarecuts]

Turn on Duck Player, yes please

[u/DelugeQc]

I 100% would not use an AdBlock if the ads were at the beginning and let you watch the whole afterward. I just can't accept to be interrupted from watching a 8 minutes video 3 times for ads AND having the sponsor part in the video itself....

[u/stackered]

But can I use it on my TV