As we learned from the reddit app changes, the ending of Netflix account sharing, etc etc the people who will take this action are few enough not to matter. Regretfully.

Ngl, I'm torn on this because I'm honestly not sure I could stop using YouTube.

I hate ads with a burning passion, though, so we'll see which wolf wins out there.

If i can't get around this using something like SponsorBlock, I feel like I'll probably just set up some kind of pipeline to download videos and remove the ads myself (maybe using AI if it's that bad) and just serve them over Jellyfin or something. Gonna be a pain, though.

Same.

I'm excited for YouTube to end my YouTube addiction lol.

Please, Google. Do it. Dare ya.

this one? https://gist.github.com/BrockA/2625891

Can you have it replace the video screen portion with cat videos from another source during the unskippable part?

I pay for YouTube Premium. I get a lot of value from it, and streaming video isn’t cheap. I don’t think it’s reasonable for anyone to think they should provide it for free.

The problem is that user generated content still takes time. Which means money. Also, people don't want vlogs with a drywall background anymore and the number of creators who can get away with simple prop free skits are double digit, at best. So making the videos also cost money.

People make up this fantaasy land where art should be done with no compensation to be pure. Which ignores that the vast majority of art in human history was either made by the independently wealthy or as a "patron" system where... an independently wealthy person paid an artist to make them look good.

And that even extends to the modern day. People get angry about "nepo babies" but... it takes a lot of time and money to refine your music to a meaningful degree. The garage bands that get discovered playing at a local bar are VERY much the exception and almost everyone universally considers their best albums to be the first couple after they got signed by a label and could drill down and refine it.

Youtube and the like are basically the first time that "the everyperson" could make art for a living. Unfortunately... that means they need to get paid. Ads are of very questionable use. Youtube Premium is almost universally praised by any creator who is willing to talk about it. But we need some way of paying those mid tier creators who are popular enough to do it for a living but not popular enough to get 120 bucks a year from their fans to upload MAYBE one video (looking at you Michael Reeves).

(I think that's their goal, either ads or no watch)

It might take a lot more effort, but I don't think this will be the end. Google is required by law to label ads as such, giving these tools an opportunity to detect and skip them.

It's quite likely that the cost actually outweighs the gains. Adblocking really isn't all that prevalent across Internet users as a whole. I think the stats are something like 10% or lower.

Yep, can I play it at 2x speed or skip ahead? If not, then it's the ad. At the very least blank the video and mute the sound. I'll enjoy a moment to breath and consider if there's something better I should be doing.

I’ll just use I and stop using YouTube. I won’t purposefully poison my mind with ads.