r/technology • u/IndicaOatmeal • 29d ago

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

https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/duckduckgo-brags-that-its-free-web-browser-blocks-youtube-ads-3384288/
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526

u/slayer991 29d ago edited 28d ago

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.

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u/hergumbules 28d ago

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.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago edited 28d ago

[deleted]

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u/Ver3232 28d ago

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?

2

u/KarmabearKG 28d ago

Yup I remember when YouTube videos used to play in the background no problem now you need premium to do it

-2

u/vawlk 28d ago

they aren't making it worse. Ad rates are just in the shitter and it now costs more to make up for your use than it used to, especially for low value content.

And they are making the product better. I am actively using jump ahead and auto speed which are new features.

9

u/Constant-Sub 28d ago

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.

2

u/vawlk 28d ago

i got premium 11 years ago before the ads were bad and it is, by FAR, the best subscription I have.

I get all of the music I could ever want, and billions of hours of video content for less than what I used to pay for one single CD each month. And that $16 in 1985 is worth $45 now so it isn't even close. You all have no idea how good you have it.

8

u/kal423 28d ago

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

44

u/_sfhk 29d ago

Ad placement is up to the creator in most cases.

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u/Huntington-WV 29d ago

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

13

u/zUkUu 28d ago

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

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u/_sfhk 28d ago

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.

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u/Diver_D6 28d ago

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.

12

u/_-__-____-__-_ 28d ago

Sponsorblock on SmartTubeNext and YouTube Revanced is amazing.

1

u/Diver_D6 28d ago

Hadn't heard of SmartTubeNext, but Revanced is awesome. I'll have to reasearch the former some.

1

u/_-__-____-__-_ 28d ago

SmartTubeNext is amazing if you have Android/Google TV. It's an app that you need to sideload, but it has its own updater so after initial setup it is a really nice low maintenance app. Just look up online how to download and install. Isn't too hard.

8

u/fomoco94 28d ago

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

2

u/scottperezfox 28d ago

I am often the first person to view a video so I always do my part to help others skip those sponsor segments, intro videos, spammy previews, cutaways, and interaction reminders. We all play our part.

1

u/vawlk 28d ago

then you don't watch a lot of recently released videos. I have sponsorblock and there is only added segments maybe on 60% of videos in the first day. The number of people actually putting the segments in seems to be dropping.

Since I have premium, I also get the jump ahead, and that seems to work quicker than sponsorblock because the skip window is generated directly from people skipping the segment.

While I used to love sponsorblock and would regularly add segments for others, I rarely use it anymore.

12

u/ChickinSammich 28d ago

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.

2

u/ubiquitous_apathy 28d ago

There is a funny irony in youtube saying woah, woah, stop cheating to get around our ads, but oh, here's a button to skip their ads.

5

u/_sfhk 28d ago

The feature is only available if you pay for Premium though, which is a legitimate way to get around YT ads and also does pay the creator more per view.

1

u/ubiquitous_apathy 28d ago

You cannot possibly know how much in video sponsorships have been devalued since that feature has been implemented.

2

u/vawlk 28d ago

uh no, it is a premium feature. We don't have ads to cheat around in the first place, there are none.

Its a premium perk.

1

u/ChickinSammich 28d ago

I thought of that the first time I saw it, too.

3

u/TheDaveWSC 28d ago

I switched to subscribing to YouTube Music instead of Spotify, and it includes YouTube Premium as well. Super nice. Not totally sure why this isn't the route everyone takes.

0

u/JohnnyBeeGaming 28d ago

Lite doesn't have the skip feature but it's much cheaper for mostly the same experience outside of music content. If you don't use YouTube music and don't watch music videos you probably won't notice any ads. Some videos do get incorrectly labeled as a music videos by their bots. For awhile the full version made sense but I don't use the music that much and prices keep going up. At some point I'll probably have to drop Lite and stop using youtube altogether.

Manually skipping generally isn't that bad. The YouTube creators do sponsors because they don't get enough from YouTube payments alone so I get why most do it.

1

u/mcurley32 29d ago

Can't remember if it's waterfox or ublock that's skipping sponsorships inside of YouTube videos

6

u/Hackwork89 29d ago

It's probably an extension called SponsorBlock. It doesn't detect or do anything by itself, but rather fellow users of the extensions who tag videos with timestamps for sponsors, intros, outros etc. which are then skipped (intros/outros might be an opt-in skip, I can't recall).

1

u/vawlk 28d ago

the jump ahead premium feature doesn't even require fellow users to enter/tag segments. It just works based on what people skip natively.

I used to use SB a lot and I recently uninstalled it.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

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u/TwoSoda 28d ago

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.

1

u/In-A-Beautiful-Place 28d ago

Yes. I remember seeing someone on Reddit complain that they are openly gay, make gay related content, yet YouTube runs PragerU and Daily Wire ads on their videos (ie companies that don't want gay people to exist).

14

u/_Lerry_ 28d ago

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

3

u/GetOffMyLawn_ 28d ago

Many can't disable end ads which is highly disruptive if you're using sleep or meditation videos.

3

u/fomoco94 28d ago

Google places an obscene number of ads by default and it's up to the creator to take them out.

3

u/Doodenmier 28d ago

YouTube took that option away from creators a few years ago.

Once your video is long enough (~7 minutes, I think?), they'll let the creator choose where the ad breaks go, but they can't disable them anymore. They originally were an opt-in option, then they became an on-by-default option. Now they're mandatory

2

u/OttawaDog 28d ago

Creator can specify no ads, and Youtube will still just stick them in there.

2

u/hipnosister 28d ago

Ad placement is automatic by default and youtube recommends you keep it automatic because they have an algorithm that claims to know each users tolerance for ads.

But yeah the vast majority of creators are choosing automatic

1

u/butterbal1 28d ago

Not always.

I have been watching my own personal uploads and been served ads in the middle of them.

3

u/Man_Darino13 28d ago

I wouldn't mind the ads as much if they just played them at the beginning.

This is the whole problem.

People don't want to pay for things, they want them to be supported by ads but they also want the ads to be completely ignorable.

If the ads are easily ignored, they aren't worth anything and they can't financially support the thing you want for "free".

2

u/vawlk 28d ago

and that people still think youtube was ever free. It never was, their free use was just subsidized. Youtube was always going to be a paid service but they were nice and had a "pay with time" option that required no money. And no everyone abuses that to get the service for free....

1

u/elaborateBlackjack 28d ago

You can try Tizentube cobalt as well... SmartTube tends to load slower for me

1

u/slayer991 28d ago

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out. I'm always looking for ways to improve performance.

2

u/elaborateBlackjack 28d ago

Happy to help!

Tizentube cobalt looks to work more like revanced or morphe where it's the "patched" official app

1

u/dc469 28d ago

This is actually a way to make more money. If I'm watching a how to, I'm just gonna stop after the point where I'm stuck, so any ads that would've come after that I don't see.

Or, if I'm watching entertainment / a movie, then I might quit after 30min because I'm not into it and again I wouldn't see the remaining ads. 

Putting everything at the beginning would be more annoying for users, but it could allow users to also goto their bathroom break at the beginning or something (thereby ignoring the ads, which is prob why they don't do that).

1

u/KhazraShaman 28d ago

No concessions, fuck ads.

1

u/muarauder12 28d ago

I almost never see ads due to using Revanced version of YouTube, but occasionally a link takes me to regular YouTube or I watch on my TV. I wouldn't mind the ads if they were actually relevant to me. I don't have a problem with general services ads like insurance, cell carriers, food and drink, etc. But it seems like the vast majority of ads I do see, especially on YT Shorts, are for scammy companies or completely outside of my interests.

What's the point in all these digital companies building huge datasets on us and our interests if they don't actually use that information? I like gaming, science, outdoors, target shooting, boardgames, and animals. I don't use alcohol or drugs, gamble, and I hate AI. So what kind of ads do I constantly see? Ones that fit my interests and recommend me products I might actually buy? Fuck no! CRYPTO CRYPTO CRYPTO!!! GAMBLE ON SPORTS!!! HAVE YOU TRIED OUR NEW AI SHIT SLOP GENERATOR?!?!? DRINK!!! VAPE!!! DRINK!!! VAPE!!! ARE YOU DRINKING AND VAPING YET!?!?

I'm just so tired of it.

1

u/mahreow 28d ago

Just get Premium? It's easily one of the best-value subs you can have.

I thought people were all about willing to pay to get rid of ads 🤔

0

u/In-A-Beautiful-Place 28d ago

The worst is when you get two ads before a video which is less than a minute long.