• Banzai51@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      VC cash is drying up, and other investors are getting leery of the Silicon Valley funding model. Investors are demanding a path to profitability soon or right now.

  • waspentalive@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    As fill-in ads are a vector for computer viruses and other malware I for one will NOT be disabling my ad blocker unless YouTube is willing to provide a lifetime subscription to something like Life Lock and make me whole for anything lost to whatever malware arrives as a part of an ad.

    Where else can I watch sci-show, Linus-tech-tips, and all the other channels I subscribe to?

    • PeterPoopshit@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      This is why I download so many YouTube videos. This is why I have a complicated video tags and search system (I’ll put it on github eventually).

      Some day it’s going to get taken away and I’m not watching those trashy ads. I’d watch a non-obnoxious 15-30 second ad every 30 minutes but they want us to watch 2 minutes of unskippable full-r*tard annoying trash every 5 minutes and I will not cooperate with that in any way shape or form.

      I think a reasonable ad system is that thing where YouTubers do that sponsorship thing and make it part of the video then you can skip it if it sucks.

    • beatniak@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Just use newpipe. It’s youtube without the ads. Doesn’t have casting support, but it allows you to download the videos. You can also listen/download to the audio of videos, without fetching the video.

    • hugz@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      The great thing about using free open-source software is the immunity from corporate shenanigans.

      • datendefekt@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Well, all the open-source Reddit clients are pretty drastically affected by Reddit’s shenanigans.

        • hugz@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          RedReader isn’t actually. Reddit granted them an exemption, partially because it’s FOSS

    • Petri@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Damn straight - they can take my NewPipe from my cold dead hands :-)

  • nighty@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    They have really gone all out on the whole enshittification process during the past couple of years, haven’t they?

    • NotBadAndYou@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Just wait until they figure out how much more $$$$ they can make by putting all content behind microtransactions:

      Imagine a world where, instead of grappling with complex tokens and crypto jargon, you have a digital wallet connected to your Web browser. This wallet would automatically handle microtransactions as you browse and consume content, creating a seamless and simplified experience, reminiscent of exchanging tokens at a funfair or arcade

      This transition to the Great Paywall isn’t just about the monetization of content; it’s about balancing the scales and recognizing the value of content creators in the digital ecosystem. In the next chapter of the Web, users aren’t just passive consumers but active participants whose attention carries tangible value.

      • nighty@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Let’s not forget that, if we do go down the microtransaction hell of an internet path, we’d be screwing things up big-time for the coming generations…

  • dan@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Then I’m going to begin not fucking watching YouTube.

    • kadu@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      There is a federated version of YouTube…

      But storing video is a massive challenge, way harder than dealing with a Lemmy or Mastodon instance.

      • dan@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        My rational mind realises it’s such an expensive system to run that it’s reasonable for them to charge or show ads. The problem is they’ve been extremely aggressive with ads and pushing subscriptions, to the point where I’m pretty resentful of the idea. Plus they’ve neglected so many things (like allowing aggressive copyright predators and refusing to implement sensible human-based appeals processes) that they really should have dealt with and instead embraced an algorithm that I’m pretty sure is at least partially responsible for the radicalisation of large groups of people.

        I… don’t mind paying for shit. I just don’t want to give them money.

        Also: wow there’s federated video sharing? Bet that’s not cheap to run.

  • manned_meatball@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    oh boy, I wish youtube kills itself like reddit is doing right now so decentralized alternatives can become widely adopted

    • burak@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Right there with you on that one. The biggest problem is video hosting is a pain in the rear, particularly at such a grand scale. Hopefully, video hosting platforms will go niche, thus reducing bandwidth costs for each platform and “YouTube” will be the whole federation.

    • pinwurm@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      YouTube is a bit of a different animal.

      YouTube allows creators to monetize content - so there’s a sense of shared success. Channels from Tom Scott or Captain Disillusion are amazing, because their production in part relies on that revenue model.

      YouTube also understands that without paying for popular content, you won’t get the consistent cavalcade of medium content from people that want to earn a living or notoriety through YouTube. And that include anything from videos of cats falling over, blogs about life in remote places, DIY home improvement or niche guitar technique lessons.

      Meanwhile on Reddit, if a user gets thousands of upvotes and a million page views for a short story they wrote exclusively for the platform, Reddit won’t pay them a cent. The very thought is laughable.

      The other thing to consider is that the technology just doesn’t exist for there to be a viable ‘federated’ YouTube. YouTube has 800 million videos - many in HD and many are hours long. That’s a big ask in terms of storage and maintenance - even several thousand videos.

      Video compression has a long way to go before that changes. For now, it makes sense for leave that storage to the companies with resources.

      Text, however… well, all of Wikipedia can fit on around 20 gigs - 60 million odd articles. And for the record, that can pretty much fit on an iPod from 2002.

      I do wish that YouTube wasn’t a monopoly. Twitch is the only thing that’s close, and it has it’s own special lane for live streaming. Back in the old days, there was some competition - including Google Video. But that went away when Google bought YouTube. I guess there’s Vimeo, but they’ve got a very different approach.

      I mean, the Justice Department is suing Google for monopolizing ad tech - and I think we could see antitrust laws used in the next few years to breakup YouTube. Maybe the successor companies would federate - like when Bell was broken up into what became Verizon and ATT - who now directly compete for customers.

      • Link@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        The other thing to consider is that the technology just doesn’t exist for there to be a viable ‘federated’ YouTube.

        Well, Peertube exists. But I agree it is very hard to get close to the amount of videos YouTube hosts without it becoming too expensive. But that is even true for companies like Google, which is why they are pushing these changes. It seems like people need to accept that a video platform must either show ads, make you subscribe, or receive substantial donations.

        I almost can’t believe Wikipedia is only 20GB btw. Does that include all the pictures on there?

        • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          I almost can’t believe Wikipedia is only 20GB btw. Does that include all the pictures on there?

          That’s English compressed text only, decompressed text is closer to 90GB

    • Scout339@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Is there a video platform that works in the fediverse as well? Feel like if we are doing alternatives that we should use things that are all based off of similar decentralized tech.

  • ram@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    You can watch any YouTube video on Invidious, Peertube is a federated alternative to Youtube, Odysee is a blockchain based Youtube alternative that kicks back to creators and users, and many creators use Nebula as a subscription platform that directly pays them.

  • donio@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    When you have a goose that produces a reliable daily supply of golden eggs do you:

    1. keep collecting your daily egg
      or
    2. see if giving it a good kick or two gets you more eggs
  • Albert@lemmy.sysctl.io
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    1 year ago

    Just FYI for anyone reading: Invidious and Piped are great YouTube mirrors, and Piped even blocks in-video sponsor sections!

  • LostCause@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    When will companies finally understand that some people won‘t watch ads no matter what tricks they employ. I‘d rather watch no video at all than a single ad. If that is their goal, fine.

    • laxe@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      That’s likely their goal. At least some percentage of ad blocking users will disable the adblock and for those that won’t, they’ll save server costs.

      For corporations that care only about quarterly stock price this makes sense. They don’t care about the long term damage to the ecosystem (adblocking users still contribute in many ways).

  • pineapple@lemmy.pineapplemachine.com
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    1 year ago

    I actually do not understand the widespread hostility that people have toward this kind of thing. I watch a lot of content on YouTube, and I don’t want to see ads, so I pay for premium. I watch a lot of content on Twitch, and I don’t want to see ads, so I pay for turbo. Hosting a major video streaming website isn’t cheap. It’s not like these things are unreasonably priced. If you hate the ads so much, then why not pay for the service that the platform is offering you, and for the content that creators are providing on it? And if you don’t watch often enough for ad-free viewing to be worth a few bucks a month to you, then why get so worked up about having to sit through an ad every now and then?

    • LostCause@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I hate ads with a passion due to my experiences in the marketing industry and will go out of my way to never watch any. I also don’t want to pay for random internet content, especially not to companies on the stock market. (Though I do use Patreon a bit for some content creators)

      Can‘t explain it much more than that. If youtube locks me out due to that, so be it. I don‘t get worked up either, I simply state my opinion on it where I please and if I‘m not wanted I leave. That‘s about it.

    • JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I can’t speak for everyone, but I block ads and don’t pay because I hate Google. In addition to their repeated violations of user privacy, they go out of their way to disable OS features unless you pay them. Like disabling background play or PiP with Safari on iOS. Those features use the same open standards as foreground web browsers, so it literally takes extra effort to break them. Effort that could instead be used to fix the numerous problems with their platform, which they don’t. I refuse to reward that behaviour.

    • foxuin@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      And if you don’t watch often enough for ad-free viewing to be worth a few bucks a month to you, then why get so worked up about having to sit through an ad every now and then?

      There is an awkward gap where most services (not just YouTube) don’t offer reasonable pricing for consuming small amounts of content. So if you consume a lot of YouTube, the subscription price is justified. If you consume very little YouTube, you can probably suffer through some ads. But if you’re somewhere in the middle, there isn’t a great option.

      YouTube probably makes fractions of a cent off of ads on a single video it shows me, but I can’t pay fractions of a cent to watch one video.

      I’d consider this to actually be a pretty widespread problem across the internet, where it’s frustratingly difficult to buy small amounts of content for a reasonable price. It’s either the subscription or nothing for a ton of services.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I was happy paying for Premium until they doubled my subscription fee out of the blue.

      I was a day one Google Play Music All Access subscriber, supposedly grandfathered in to a lower subscription fee, but all that ended up getting me in the end was “Sorry, but it’s your turn to pay up now. We know you were supposed to be grandfathered in so we’ll give you a few extra months of your current rate after we bump up the costs for everyone else.”

      • Petri@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        And yet somehow they always get away with it… yar har yar the pirates life for me?