YouTube and ad blockers

[Farmduck]

Regular YT watchers who use ad blockers will know that a few months ago, YT decided to stop showing videos to users with ad blockers enabled. It started out as a mild threat. At first I would just click on a few vids, the message came up but the vid played then, after the second or third time, the message stopped and it was just business as usual.

Then they stepped up to their next level and eventually I decided to disable the ad blocker. The results are amazing. I probably watched 20-30 vids yesterday and I got one ad on one video. I have heard YTers complain about the endless overload of ads on YT for ages and that is what I expected. But I get maybe one or two ads per day. I watch almost entirely G-rated content - is there anything else on YT - so it's not because of the unsuitable content I watch.

On my recommended page, maybe one in every 6 slots is an ad but those aren't the problem since they are nearly always only in the top 2 lines and they don't autoplay.

I think it comes down to who and where I am. Most English-language YT is US-based so I would assume that the advertisers and products are also US-based. When you buy ads on YT you specify which countries' users you want to see the ads. It would make sense to put most of your eggs in the biggest market so perhaps Australia is well down the order.

Secondly, I assume that most ads are targeted at 18-35s. I watch quite a few music theory and lesson vids so this might suggest that even music labels and musical instrument companies don't see YT as fertile ground. They may advertise heavily on current hits by big artists but I never watch those. Also my previous comment about most of those music industries being US-based and, given shipping costs for instruments, there wouldn't be much point in US guitar shops targetting Australian buyers. Even though I have bought 2 guitars from a US company in the last couple of years and one from Japan, Google Adsense would have no way of knowing this.

Maybe time zones play into it. Perhaps you can specify the peak times you want your ads to run. Just a guess on my part.

The other possibility is that Google Adsense knows so much about me that they've decided I'm not worth advertising at or to. The only Google site I use is Maps. I never use their browsers or search engine so maybe they thought, "over 65! don't waste time on this one." I can't think of any info they would have as to my financial capacity or purchase history.

Perhaps there's a sweet spot where you can set up a fake identity and avoid all ads. Location: Tadjikistan. Occupation: retired peasant. Annual income: $US500

Am I the only one who gets so few ads?

[Vambo]

For me in the UK the ads seem to have become far more frequent and run longer before I can skip them?

 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Vambo said:

For me in the UK the ads seem to have become far more frequent and run longer before I can skip them?

 

Exactly this for me.

Most videos now have at least two ads before the start, with the first running in full, and the second being skippable.

[JohnM]

Same for me. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

And me. 

[Farmduck]

Are all these ads for UK-based companies or products?

To those who are getting more ads: are any of you 18-35 or big Google users who would have lots of biographical info attached to some Google a/c?

I also don't watch many big channels, like over 1 million subs. (except Meidas Touch and MSNBC and CNN) Is there a particular genre that draws a lot of ads?

[Yorks Tim]

3 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

And me. 

And me.

So I am now trialing the subscription offer and may continue when the free period ends. Have given up BT Sport and Netflix and have been using YT instead so it may well be good vaue in my case. 

[Yorks Tim]

2 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

Are all these ads for UK-based companies or products?

To those who are getting more ads: are any of you 18-35 or big Google users who would have lots of biographical info attached to some Google a/c?

I also don't watch many big channels, like over 1 million subs. (except Meidas Touch and MSNBC and CNN) Is there a particular genre that draws a lot of ads?

I'm well over your age range but al-in with Google - Chrome / Gmail / Android etc.

I'm pretty good at ignoring ads when they pop up though so can't really say who they are for or what they ae selling.  

[Vambo]

12 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

Are all these ads for UK-based companies or products?

To those who are getting more ads: are any of you 18-35 or big Google users who would have lots of biographical info attached to some Google a/c?

I also don't watch many big channels, like over 1 million subs. (except Meidas Touch and MSNBC and CNN) Is there a particular genre that draws a lot of ads?

I'm 56. As for Google I do use it quite often. I don't watch any big channels in fact most of the ones I watch are small and UK based.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

42 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

Are all these ads for UK-based companies or products?

To those who are getting more ads: are any of you 18-35 or big Google users who would have lots of biographical info attached to some Google a/c?

I also don't watch many big channels, like over 1 million subs. (except Meidas Touch and MSNBC and CNN) Is there a particular genre that draws a lot of ads?

I couldn't tell you what the ads are for because I ignore them. 

I am in that age range but don't use Google as much as some. I have an android phone but use opera as my Web browser and barely ever use my Gmail. 

I am subscribed to a couple of big history channels with 2million and 1 million subscribers, and also Stephen Hendry's channel which has about 250,000 subscribers but in contrast I also subscribe to a non-league football club with 131 subscribers and a couple of much smaller history channels. So really a mix of both. 

[gingerjon]

56 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

Are all these ads for UK-based companies or products?

To those who are getting more ads: are any of you 18-35 or big Google users who would have lots of biographical info attached to some Google a/c?

I also don't watch many big channels, like over 1 million subs. (except Meidas Touch and MSNBC and CNN) Is there a particular genre that draws a lot of ads?

It's the same when I use the work laptop to watch a news report or somesuch on YT - and thanks to them being very paranoid, that machine is about as locked down as possible.

[Farmduck]

Looking at all the replies I was hoping there would be a more obvious pattern jumping out but all I can see is that maybe the UK is more fertile ground for advertisers than Australia.

I wonder if the video having its own ad reads in it affects anything. I watch Patrick Boyle, who I would have thought was a good choice for advertisers - 650K subs finance channel where presumably many of his viewers would have disposable income - and he does his own ad reads so maybe that affects it.

[Futtocks]

YouTube are having a big push for subs, so adverts are more rife and users are being threatened about using ad-blockers.

As for my YT homepage, the first video (top left) was always an advert, but now I'm getting sponsored videos scattered among videos from followed accounts and  recommendations. Looking at it right now, about 1 in 6 thumbnails are sponsored. They're pretty random, as I haven't set any ad preferences on my account.

And still no advertiser has twigged that they should concentrate their eye-catching graphics and buzzwords at the bottom right of the screen, where we all keep an eye on, waiting for the "Skip" link to appear.

Edited January 8 by Futtocks

[graveyard johnny]

I was only whistling the tune to "do the shake n vac and put the freshness back" in the shower the other day - next thing pop ups for new hoovers!

[Futtocks]

1 hour ago, graveyard johnny said:

I was only whistling the tune to "do the shake n vac and put the freshness back" in the shower the other day - next thing pop ups for new hoovers!

Hendon's finest.

Seriously, I Googled and they are pretty much the biggest thing to come out of my neighbourhood.

 

[hindle xiii]

Mostly for that weird Chinese Teemu (spelt incorrectly to hopefully avoid more of the adverts).

[Futtocks]

3 minutes ago, hindle xiii said:

Mostly for that weird Chinese Teemu (spelt incorrectly to hopefully avoid more of the adverts).

One of the brands linked with convict labour, in case you're tempted by any of their products.

[Bedford Roughyed]

16 hours ago, Futtocks said:

One of the brands linked with convict labour, in case you're tempted by any of their products.

And knock off copies.

[JohnM]

anyone care to write a bit of code that blocks ads by apparently letting the advertiser think their ads  are being dispalyed but are not?

[Farmduck]

This seems to work. I loaded it up today and so far, so good.

I only use a desktop though so it's no problem for me to have a browser set up just for YT. I have a dual boot system and for a while I needed 2 different browsers because of some glitchy sites on the Windows partition.

[Farmduck]

This seems to work. I loaded it up today and so far, so good.

I only use a desktop though so it's no problem for me to have a browser set up just for YT. I have a dual boot system and for a while I needed 2 different browsers because of some glitchy sites on the Windows partition.

https://librewolf.net/

[Futtocks]

I just sideloaded SmartTube on my Fire TV Stick. I'll report back after I've given it a try.

[Futtocks]

On 12/01/2024 at 17:57, Futtocks said:

I just sideloaded SmartTube on my Fire TV Stick. I'll report back after I've given it a try.

Works perfectly almost all of the time, but videos from a small number of accounts seem to be very buffering-prone.

There are so many settings in this app, there may be a fix, but I'm still learning it.

Then again Google/YouTube are constantly making changes, so apps like SmartTube have to adapt on the fly.

[Futtocks]

7 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Works perfectly almost all of the time, but videos from a small number of accounts seem to be very buffering-prone.

There are so many settings in this app, there may be a fix, but I'm still learning it.

Then again Google/YouTube are constantly making changes, so apps like SmartTube have to adapt on the fly.

Digging through the settings, I found that it defaults to the very highest resolution settings. I have gone into the settings and limited it to an upper ceiling of 1080p+HDR/60fps (pretty much my TV screen's limit anyway) and it is now running smoothly.

Edited January 13 by Futtocks

[Maximus Decimus]

I often use the phrase 'I can remember when YouTube didn't have ads and the content creators didn't get paid,' to show how old I am.

The ads per se aren't the problem for me, but the percentage of them that are basically scams. I find it a bit of a contradiction that YT will demonetise videos very easily (for saying the word holocaust too often for instance) but allows so many openly fraudulent advertisers.

It's usually scams about how to make loads of money, or for some reason I get bombarded with fake fitness gurus and obviously pretend YouTubers playing mobile games that are actually amazing!

I actually watched one all the way through today about a tiny heater that you put into your plug socket and heats the whole house for a fraction of your energy bills. I'm pretty sure that it made the claim that it creates more energy than it uses.

As for Temu (I'm shopping like a billionaire...), they bombarded me with this but I basically ignored it as a total fraud. I was surprised to find it was a thriving website.