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YouTube runs experiment addressing users with ad blocker

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SiliconWizard:

--- Quote from: Bud on October 17, 2023, 03:54:50 am ---
--- Quote from: hans on October 16, 2023, 10:22:27 pm ---The people that go into so much effort to block ads is fairly small. I don't want to make it out to be <1%, but its not going to be that massive many-dozens-of-percents chunk either I expect.

--- End quote ---
If that is the case, then why Youtube gets in so much effort (which almost feels desperate) to fight ad blockers off.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, I have no clue about the real figures. Absolutely zero. It's very likely more than 1%, but I don't know. I'd say more like in the order of 25%-30%.
Yes, even on mobile devices using ad blockers is not too hard. Only if you use the YT mobile app, you can't block anything, but if you use a web browser to watch YT, then you can block most ads on mobile phones and tablets too.

But even if that was just a couple %, that means that's roughly a couple % shaved off their revenue, hence their growth. Any % matters for the shareholders.
They probably have considerable pressure, not just from their shareholders, but from their clients (the people who buy ad space) as well, to curb ad blocking altogether. And they don't want to risk losing clients. That may be the main reason, rather than being just excessively "greedy".

And yes, their clients don't give a damn about users' privacy and tranquility, they just pay to shove as much ad content as possible up yours, and if YT can't quite deliver that, they'll get angry. Nice world really.

ataradov:
It is just a low hanging fruit. I've been a part of some limited adblocker block test many years ago (2016 or something like that). All of a sudden adblockers stopped working and I tried to see if anyone else has that problem, and I found a few people complaining on the forums, but the only answers were "works for me". I could not stand the ads, so I paid for  YouTube Red and have been paying since then.

So, if a simple nudge can generate some revenue, why not?

hans:

--- Quote from: Bud on October 17, 2023, 03:54:50 am ---
--- Quote from: hans on October 16, 2023, 10:22:27 pm ---The people that go into so much effort to block ads is fairly small. I don't want to make it out to be <1%, but its not going to be that massive many-dozens-of-percents chunk either I expect.

--- End quote ---
If that is the case, then why Youtube gets in so much effort (which almost feels desperate) to fight ad blockers off.

--- End quote ---

Because they can get away with it. Just look at how the false DMCA claims have rolled; it has been going on for years from obvious copyright trolls, and the content creators+viewers combined don't have enough force to do anything about it.

This will likely be a similar battle. A popup urging to stop adblocking is a pretty mild measure. If it then blocks playback, its mediocre at best. Technologically I think this attempt will fail, as the JS runs client-side and can be manipulated (in FF). Alternative players exist (even mpv or VLC) that just grab the right videostream from YT's APIs. Such battle would continue unless they go into extreme measures like paywalling the whole platform or require logging in and banning accounts that dont adblock and somehow fail to spoof being a legit YT client.

The market share for adblocks for sure wont be <=1%. But I don't think it's more than 30-40% either. Ofcourse it will differ per content category, as I'm sure it would be fairly high for tech YT channels (maybe surpassing 50% there), however its perhaps an all-time low for channels that post cartoons for kids or mainstream music. (Guess which market is bigger) People will put those videos on with their phone, tablet or TV and don't always have the option to install adblockers.

Hypothetically if the overall adblock percentage is say >10% or more, then I'm sure advertisers and shareholders want to see those numbers go down. Probably in a similar fallacy as 1 pirated copy=1 missed sale. That's not how that works as consumer opportunism and platform choice is ignored. For exactly why in this point in time they start.. I don't know.. YT is corporate so somehow higher up must have given a 'GO' sign to roll these measures out.

tom66:
I think the false DMCA claims are another matter.  It's a simple case of verifying a claim being expensive, with a high consequence (lawsuit for damages) applying if they get a false negative, and a low consequence if they get a false positive (losing out on a little ad revenue).  So their policy is to err more on believing that the DMCA claim is legitimate.  DMCA and copyright law in general needs to be reformed to prevent this.  It's absurd that copyright law could apply for more than 150 years.  It should be more like a patent.  You should be able to remix original Star Wars now; Disney/Lucasfilm/etc have made plenty from it.

madires:
It becomes even more insane when you realize that you're paying for being bothered by ads. >:D Meanwhile ads have a reversed impact on me. When they bother me too much I'll remember to not buy that product or service.

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