YouTube’s plan backfires, people are installing better ad blockers::People are installing and uninstalling ad blockers in record high numbers as a result of YouTube’s anti-ad blocking efforts.
I used to use AdBlock Plus. I like it specifically because of the Acceptable Ads policy where it allows through ads that are unobtrusive. Because I believe in supporting sites that want to fund themselves, as long as they do it in a way that isn’t obnoxious.
But unfortunately ABP hasn’t gotten around YouTube’s new adblock-wall. So I’ve switched to uBlock Origin in the meantime. Which unfortunately doesn’t do acceptable ads. So well done Google, you’ve now forced me into a position where I’m blocking more ads than I was before. Very smart.
Don’t you have to click an ad to actually support a website like that? Did you ever click? I wouldn’t, but maybe they pay for impressions as well
In theory an ad blocker could retrieve the ads in the background and simply not display them… I’m not sure any actually do currently, but if advertisers are silly enough to pay simply through network traffic it’s an option.
There’s a Firefox addon that clicks all of the ads in the background in an attempt to pollute the info pool on what you actually want and also to cost people the click on their ad campaign
What’s the point of whitelisting sites you want to support? Unless you’re committing to engaging with ads and purchasing services from ads, you’re not helping them at all. The only way seeing an ad is beneficial is if you click on it, which tells the advertising company their ad is working and it’s worth their while to pay to have an ad on whatever site you’re browsing…
The only way seeing an ad is beneficial is if you click on it
This is not really true anymore, though it once was. Most web ads are served on a “cost per impression” basis, not “cost per click”. Even classic AdSense is moving to CPM rather than CPC, and Google AdX (which serves big brand ads) already was, as with the old DoubleClick.
The impressions of the ads helps, though. If the ad isn’t even shown, there’s not even the possibility of the impression or the engagement.
That said, there is only one site on all of the internet that I’ve decided to whitelist and that is only because I trust the site’s developers not to sell out and allow invasive ads.
What you’re describing is Cost Per Click. While still in use with some advertisers, most have shifted towards Cost Per Impression (CPM). CPM has a much lower cost per impression, (typically paid per thousand impressions) but it usually balances out because you’re not wholly reliant on clicks to generate revenue. If only 1/1000 people actually click the ad to begin with, then the cost will be the same.
The benefit to CPM is that you’re able to spread your advertising much farther, since you’re able to essentially purchase a thousand ad slots at a time, regardless of how many clicks they receive. And sites prefer it because it allows them to focus on site traffic, rather than focusing on driving users towards ads.
At risk of sounding like a broken record: “I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.”
I’m sure Google isn’t surprised either. And if they get everyone moving to the same fewer and fewer ad blockers, they have fewer and fewer to work against.
Yeah but then more will just pop up, it’s a losing battle trying to prevent the online community from doing something, just ask drm devs
Another extension of mine was fucking with youtube and preventing it from playing. Spent ages trying to figure out what was happening. The entire time I just kept saying “Fuck you” outloud. The only thing this adblock stuff is doing is giving me the drive to look further into it.
Honestly if they just said fuck it and added a banner ad I wouldn’t have fought this hard against it. Even one or two image ads somewhere. But this? Fuck right off. I’m not sitting through 30 seconds of ads for a 20 second video. Something that is happening way too damn often lately.
This isn’t “backfiring” though. People who were already blocking ads are the only ones doing this. If there’s even a small portion of people who gave up and just started watching ads/got premium, that means YouTube won. The only way this could really be considered to have backfired is if people were stopping using YouTube entirely, which isn’t really happening.
I block ads. I was considering YouTube premium under a friend recommendation that it was good value, to replace my Spotify subscription. That was a few months back. With this crack down and the raise in prices, premium is no longer an option and my friend asked me to explain adblocking, since she is about to cancel her subscription.
A lot of my mother’s friends, people in the 70s and 80s, are moving to ad blocking due to this. These people are really hearing about ad blocking for the first time through this. From this being in the news they are not only being told this is a possibility, but names of a number of products that do it. Most of them have slowly begun to use YT for a number of reasons over the past 10 years, and have all hated the ads, but other than buying premium, they assumed getting around ads required some level of technical expertise, or access to an “underground” scene to accomplish it.
A lot of them have been switching browsers, looking up ad blocking tools, and using them. In the past few months most of them went from using YT to look up occasional tutorials and media from their youth that is hard to find now, to using it as frequently as they do other streaming services. I know YT isn’t really targeting aging boomers, but if I am seeing this many people, in this demographic, doing this,I can only imagine it’s happening elsewhere.
Often times companies going on campaigns like this only bring more attention to the fact that it can be done and is easy to do.
Yeah, I feel like tons of people hearing about this and looking up ad blockers is going to be miles more of a problem for Google than the minority of people using ad block previously. This is a problem Google is unlikely to solve ENTIRELY and it seems that the attention that this has brought to the fact that ad blockers exist is likely bigger than any other gains they’ve made along the way.
The only way this could really be considered to have backfired is if people were stopping using YouTube entirely, which isn’t really happening.
I wouldn’t even call that backfiring. If those people were using ad block, how much were they contributing to YT anyway? Watching videos doesn’t get Google anything besides server costs unless they manage to sell an ad to that user. You could argue usage statistics help them, but they have no competition to way that against either so even that is moot.
I’m just one dude sitting on the toilet and I could have predicted that.
