Seriously this was very surprising. I’ve been experimenting with GrayJay since it was announced and I largely think it’s a pretty sweet app. I know there are concerns over how it isn’t “true open source” but it’s a hell of a lot more open than ReVanced. Plus, I like the general design and philosophy of the app.
I updated the YouTube backend recently and to my surprise and delight they had added support for SponsorBlock. However, when I went to enable it, it warned me “turning this on harms creators” and made me click a box before I could continue.
Bruh, you’re literally an ad-blocking YouTube frontend. What kind of mental gymnastics does it take to be facilitating ad-blocking and then at the same time shame the end-user for using an extension which simply automates seeking ahead in videos. Are you seriously gonna tell me that even without Sponsorblock, if I skip ahead past the sponsored ad read in a video, that I’m “harming the creator”?
If I’m not buying the crap that sponsors them anyway then how does it affect the creator if I skip the section? I assume the success of the sponsor is based off referrals but again, I’m not buying their crap or using referral links.
Precisely. Basically every company that markets themselves using YouTube sponsorships is a scam anyway.
Nah, I watch a lot of videos about cars and most sponsors are legitimate businesses and some that I’ve bought from before.
VPNs and apps on the other hand…
I’m a big fan of my ridge wallet that I heard about through various YouTubers. I actually lost mine on a busy road and it got run over by a bunch of cars and when I relocated thanks to my tile tracker that I also heard about from YouTubers it was still perfectly fine other than some scratches. I swear I’m not sponsored lol .
Thing about those modern sleek more compact wallets just make me feel like I couldn’t use them because they wouldn’t fit every use case I have for my wallet. Like I guess if you only have a couple debit/credit cards plus ID and otherwise use like apple or android pay and I guess hardly ever or never use cash. I mean use in a typical everyday transaction, sure they can hold like folded up bills neatly but did everyone forget change exists? In every use of cash id have to stuff coins in some free pocket and a lot of circulating bills aren’t exactly as crisp and foldable as a stock certificate lol
I have 8 cards in mine and could probably fit another one or two . And have put a couple hundred dollars of 20s in my wallet. For change it mostly just goes in the center part of my car. Plus there is no Penny’s since I’m in Canada. Lonnie’s and quarters all go in my laundry change holder when I get home. So it works perfect for my usage atleast.
Yeah, VPNs, mobile games, subscription services…
But yeah, some smaller and more niche channels might advertise real useful products, but that’s very much in the minority
Edit: FWIW I have bought exactly one product which I learned about from a YouTube sponsorship. It was a set of Sleephones I heard about from an ASMR maker. They’ve made a huge difference for my sleep and the company that makes them is pretty good about selling replacement parts
That’s a bit of a blanket statement. The way people talk about ads and sponsorships makes it sound like you want the people making the videos you are watching to fail and stop making videos. Or do you contribute to the channels you watch another way to ensure they can keep making money ?
I use Patreon and Nebula yes. But I don’t think creators should feel entitled to people watching the ad section of their videos. And advertisers shouldn’t feel entitled to have their ads be seen.
Can already summarize the following conversation:
It is no different than “If the game is worth buying, I’ll buy it” back in the day. It is people who feel the need to ethically justify their piracy making up random and nonsensical conditions, that are often refuted by the creators themselves, as to why they can’t even be bothered to alt tab out of a game to fast forward through learning that hello fresh have DISRUPTED tv dinners.
Sponsorblock simply jumps the video ahead automatically. If you’re okay with doing it manually, you should have no objection to a simple labour-saving device in the form of a browser plugin
People are lazy and labor makes a big difference.
For example. There are some youtube channels with REALLY predatory and messed up sponsorships that I always skip. The videos are interesting enough, but I am not dealing with that. Thus, I’ll watch them on a side monitor while I work but not while I play a video game.
Contrast that with other creators where I don’t mind leaving the sponsor segment running.
And while I have never understood the rationale of it, I know there are a lot of people who will just leave a youtube playlist on while they go to sleep. Which… has potentials for subliminal advertising but also means the creator gets some free metrics saying their viewers don’t skip ads.
What that ALSO means is that channels with better skits or less shitty sponsors get watched, whereas the worse don’t. As opposed to everything getting skipped no matter what.
Jesus christ
I will skip through sponsor spots if they are really long but I also have YouTube premium because I want to support the YouTubers that I watch alot without seeing ads . I’m just always surprised by the amount of people that will put a lot of effort into making sure they don’t see any ads of any kind but will also refuse to pay anything .
Personally? I am excited for when one of these “alternate youtubes” start charging a fee. And people pay it
Like, fuck reddit for a lot of reasons. But I still find it completely insane that people were paying a third party to not view ads on reddit.
I bought sync for Reddit a few years ago but as a one time fee and it wasn’t really to get rid of ads but to support the developer. I wouldn’t pay a monthly fee . I have sync for Lemmy now but don’t pay any fees because there was no one time fee option.
Exactly, I wouldn’t be buying anything sponsored anyway, and I’d just skip ahead myself if SponsorBlock didn’t exist.
I think it depends on the deal they have made. If YouTubers only get paid when someone actually buys a product, then NordVPN pays cents to each Youtuber
Same for me, and it’s not even just about sponsors as there are many other categories. How does it help the creators to tell me for the umpteenth time to subscribe or something about a bell, when I don’t even have a google account?
Sponsorblock is a wonder, I wouldn’t watch certain channels without it anymore.