Why would I pay for premium if it doesn't remove the ads? It's like they don't do market research and just make shit up.
this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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"Premium lite"? What is this doublespeak?
All the people saying "I'll just stop using it, no big loss," are you only using YouTube for fun? Have you never needed to pass a class, prep for a job, work on a house, learn a skill using it?
It is such a large repository of human knowledge that is so far not widely replicated anywhere else. I rely on it for learning skills to provide for my family, as far as learning other useful abilities.
For example, YouTube taught me how to service my own vehicles. I have a specific set of old 90s Volvo cars, and there is a youtuber (Robert DIY) who does an excellent job documenting how to do maintenance on them. I have done my best to archive everything he posts, but he is just an example, as there are countless other informative tutorials and how-tos posted on YouTube.
As of now, Google has their grips on an enormous amount of practically useful data, and they know it. It's beyond fucked, and to act like it is inconsequential or ignorable is very short sighted.
What pisses me off most is that the way the internet works now is that ten years ago, someone who wanted to share about how to service your 90s Volvo that would have written it on a web page with a few photos that would have been quicker, cheaper and easier to write, quicker and easier to read, and cost next to nothing to host.
But because Google control fucking everything, that same person is now heavily incentivized to make it a pointlessly long video instead, that took days to make and edit, and is harder to use while working, and if they don't do that then they ain't getting anywhere near the top of the search results and you weren't going to find it anyway.
It sucks and I can't wait for people to wake up and tell Google to fuck off and stop ruining the internet.
To keep using walled gardens like Youtube, Reddit or Discord in an effort to share and preserve knowledge is just a losing proposition. The sooner we stop using them, the less of a headache it will be when the companies behind these gardens decide it's finally time to cash out and start to charge for access.
The knowledge you grow in a walled garden doesn't belong to you.
You are absolutely right!
Knowledge is power - Google has tons of it. Not only on YouTube, but also the data they collect about every user, every click and interaction, etc.
I think the Tech-Giants have way too much power and even have some sort of monopoly. Like you said: No one has or even can recreate something like YouTube. Same with (for example) Microsoft. Even though FreeBSD, Linux Distros, OpenBSD, … gain popularity, they are nowhere near Microsoft’s Windows (or any other Product). And if you look at schools, businesses or governments, they (for some ungodly reason) use and pay for Microsoft products. Children get hooked on their Products in school!
Something has to change, I honestly don’t know what exactly, but these monopolies destroy our freedom! Maybe it would be better, if our countries had politicians, that do their work, not care about some “make America great again” shit.
It reminds me of Reddit (human solutions/ideas for random problems and interests), except the costs of storing and serving video are probably really high with a large userbase. (I wonder exactly how high, though. I'm sure it's hard to put a single unit price per GB/hour or whatnot, but still . . .) It's unfortunate that so many people have put so much work into sharing their knowledge but have basically experienced vendor lock-in.
Just recently I found old reddit and forum threads and a few YouTube videos that helped me and a buddy fix her car. The solution(s) was provided by just enthusiasts and random people helping others in their spare time by documenting stuff. Although there's also a lot of unhelpful threads and videos out there too, lol.
remember when paying removed ads? crazy i know. no subs ever.
The ads will continue until morale improves.
I still use an ad blocker. They can fuck themselves in the ass. I’ll never stop.
I've recently been getting warning notices on Firefox that "AdBlockers are not allowed on YouTube!" I laugh and continue on.
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Firefox and UBlock origine.
Youtube has ads? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Wait. I pay for YouTube with my time, the most important resource I have access to. There’s a level where you pay money and STILL SEE ADS?
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I keep noticing people in this thread recommending UBlock Origin, with others replying that they eventually got a popup to turn off their adblocker.
This is usually followed by replies mentioning they just click X (or add a UBlock filter on the popup), and go on with watching Youtube. No problem, right?
According to Ublock Origin's Redd*t Post, that is just the first warning stage; eventually the presentation of their anti-adblock message becomes more intrusive until you receive the "The in-player message. Playback is stopped."
I should know. I get that message on any Youtube video (while logged in), and it doesn't go away for several hours.
That said, my workaround (extremely hacky) was to find the RSS feeds for all of my channel subscriptions, and then add them to FreshRSS. That section of my RSS feed essentially acts like a Youtube subscription page, but not tied to an actual account.
On my computer: I watch them in a private browser Firefox profile I've dedicated solely to Youtube (and has all of the extensions already installed, of course).
On Android: I watch them using NewPipe.
Edit: In addition, I store my "watch later" links using Linkding, which was easy to setup. While I do see reply suggestions on how to get rid of the popup, I think it's better (for the long term) to have an independent way to consume Youtube. While Youtube currently implements a 4 stage system, they could always add another stage or make the current one more strict.
I think my approach requires more set up work (and probably introduces more friction) compared to reply suggestions, but overall is more resistant to future updates to Youtube's nagging system.
Even quicker fix: logout.
Admittedly i'm not a huge youtube watcher, but since logging out there's not a single damned nag when i run a marathon
i dont log in, for the purposes of google gathering more data about you. and also i would get in the habit of commenting on videos, which i dont do anymore.
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Ublock orgins on Firefox has worked for me so far on both pc and mobile. No warnings.
I do also have umatrix on pc, but I can't really recommend it for everyone since it requires some setup on every web page which most people would find too annoying.
Previously I had the warnings until uBlock killed them. Only one has made it through in recent times, we'll see how things keep going.
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YouTube became shittier, what's new.
Youtube ads? I have no clue what you're talking about...
Why has no one heard of FREETUBE!?!?!?
FreeTube is fantastic. I only discovered the concept of YouTube front ends relatively recently and I am not a normie, so the likelihood of normies knowing about front ends is practically zero. Most people think that the only ways to access YouTube content are to go to the website or use the app.
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No time like the present to begin creating a European alternative, given the geopolitics of the times.
Please support peertube, it's kind of like the Lemmy of streaming videos in that it's a federated collection of providers.
A list of instances: https://joinpeertube.org/instances
e.g. peertube.tv
I'm self-hosting Invidious... I get a nice, free YouTube experience without ever visiting YouTube.
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YouTube has so many ads now it's ridiculous. Yesterday YouTube threatened me with the popup even though I have UBlock on Firefox. I've seen 10 ads on a 20 minute video. As if the un-skipabble 2 minute long ads that pause when you switch tabs wasn't bad enough, YouTube is now putting ads in their Premium.
YouTube is in dire need of a big competitor and fast.
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UBlockOrigim
Well, I'm still happy that my grandfathered $7.99 plan from the GPM days still holds up, fully ad-free.
Watch your card on file. I had the whole enchalada once and loved using the music app and no ads. Card expired for one payment, sub cancelled, and I fixed it immediately. They wouldn't give it back to me, and refused to refund the larger payment for just Youtube.
They will always want you to watch more ads. Doesn't matter that you literally pay them not to. Manipulating your purchase habits is more profitable than your subscription is because your tolerance for ads sets the amount they can sell.
get ublock or revanced
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