this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

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.

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[–] [email protected] 316 points 2 years ago (5 children)

While some paid ad blockers seem to work, the vast majority of tools don’t seem to do the trick.

What a bunch of FUD. Firefox and uBlock Origin still work on Youtube just fine.

[–] [email protected] 74 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago (4 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Yeah but uBlock Origin still works on Chrome too

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Maybe they mean the vast majority of tools on Edge and Chrome? Plus this approach may or may not preserve dollars for creators

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[–] [email protected] 109 points 2 years ago (2 children)

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!

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Google will give up eventually. They're definitely burning more money than they would gain from winning the battle

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (10 children)

I don't doubt they make tonnes of revenue from ads however you have to remember how small the share of adblocker users are. So the extra money from fighting the adblock user base is a clear gamble. Especially as those types of users are the ones who are more likely to avoid YouTube completely if they can't bypass ads.

Someone in Google would have done the research because it's not a simple case of war profit = adblockusers * ad revenue per user

I strongly believe they'll stop once they hit a certain threshold/target of "reduction of adblock users". They won't go on like this forever.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I don't think they've gone all in yet.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 80 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 75 points 2 years ago

I said it was novel. I didn't say it was good.

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 2 years ago (3 children)

What the fuck is wrong with this shit article?

The crackdown on ad blockers has been quite effective

No, it hasn't. What's up with the doublespeak?

While some paid ad blockers seem to work, the vast majority of tools don’t seem to do the trick.

Patently false. uBlock hasn't had a single hickup.

Fuck whoever wrote this garbage.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 years ago

Let them believe they've won.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago

They all pretend ublock origin don't exist, they only talk about the old stupid for profit AdBlock that let's "good ads" through.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (11 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 years ago (5 children)

uBlock Origin works just fine. I use Firefox btw

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago

I watched two hours of Rocky & Bullwinkle uninterrupted the other day thanks to FireFox and uBlock Origin

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 2 years ago (4 children)

In before Ads are recorded at 1/16th the speed in order to play at the correct speed with one of those extensions.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 years ago (10 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

The "Look at what they need to do to have a fraction of our power" Invincible meme comes to mind.

Pathetic to be satisfied with sped-up annoyances when they can be easily skipped altogether with a browser not controlled by the ad company.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 years ago (2 children)

uBlock Origin is still working just fine for me.

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[–] decisivelyhoodnoises 31 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Awesome, now you get only subconscious messages flashed in your eyes.

What else are people going to do to avoid installing Firefox?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Awesome, now you get only subconscious messages flashed in your eyes.

Blipverts. If I recall correctly, they had some bad side effects on sensitive people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blipvert

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Some people have to use it for work. Including me, although I don't have this problem because I don't use it for YouTube.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (4 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

It's cool and all but it's still that annoying break when you are trying to enjoy a video or learn something.

This will take you out of the flow also.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I must be an anomaly but... Ublock still works perfectly fine for me on chrome lol

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

You aren't. I also use Firefox and ublock origin (but sometimes have to use chrome for work).

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Use Freetube on the desktop and Newpipe (or the Sponsorblock version) on mobile (Android). No issues or ads

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I use FreeTube but hadn't heard of Newpipe before. Thanks for the recommendation!

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Between uBlock and Sponsor Block I've had absolutely no interruption in service and it's the exact same experience that I've had for years

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

That’s not novel, that’s fukn slick. Take that, Google. 🤣

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