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Comment by bastawhiz | Hacker News Reader

Maybe this is a hot take, but I'm perfectly happy to pay for YouTube premium. It supports the creators that I watch and I don't see ads. I'd like to think that it also covers my usage of the service. For the value I get from YouTube (and YouTube Music) it seems like a no brainer.

YouTube and the people making videos on YouTube are ad supported. If you don't want to pay, it seems awfully entitled to then complain that you can't get unlimited ad-free content, regardless of whether that's been possible historically.

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> I'm perfectly happy to pay for YouTube premium. It supports the creators that I watch and I don't see ads.

When I'm on TikTok, I get ads and yet... they feel completely unobtrusive. I also find myself actually watching ads on TikTok - they're relatable, fit into my interests, etc.. It's interesting too that a real effort at putting together a great looking ad is made.

For example... I will see low-end ADs on TikTok re: vitamins. Not interested but... wow! They are fantastically made (AI generated: both visuals and audio).

In contrast, when I'm on Youtube, the ads are obnoxious and have little to do with my interests. They may be political, they may be related to big pharma pushing pills that I have no interest in. There is little effort at even producing anything entertaining.

Also, if I click on a 2 minute video, I start off with a couple of ads and I might even see an ad in the middle. I might also see the creator start off with a sponsor AD at the start or at some point in the middle.

One site takes the user experience into consideration (TikTok). The other (YT) is a warzone.

I can no longer access the original article (they blocked my VPN...) but I recall reading it was a laughable $14 a month. I'm laughing all the way to the alternatives...

That may be because you're blocking YouTube from using your personal data to target ads, whereas TikTok is extremely aggressive about harvesting your personal data with no opt-out.

> That may be because you're blocking YouTube from using your personal data to target ads, whereas TikTok is extremely aggressive about harvesting your personal data with no opt-out.

I have always gotten ads from YT (whether I opt in or not). Google is extremely aggressively at harvesting data too. The entire ecosystem is the wild west of privacy violations.

Google itself is literally known for that - it's their entire business model:-)

On the Desktop, it gets better with my choice of browsers and a couple of ad-blockers (uBlock and Sponsorblock). On Android, they remain extremely annoying.

As for TikTok... the constant warnings from Main Stream Media have me concerned. So I use a dedicated tablet. No contacts, Fake name, devoid of much except the TikTok app, 3rd-party browser and built-in apps.

I am certain that even on this dedicated throwaway tablet, Google knows it's me and is (aggressively) collecting data. It's what they do:-)

I mean, I'm not sure what you're upset about. You can pay to make the experience better. I do, and it's quite pleasant. Nearly all of your complaints are addressed by paying roughly the same amount you'd pay for Netflix, plus you get Google's first party music service with your subscription (which still allows you to upload your own music files).

> I recall reading it was a laughable $14 a month. I'm laughing all the way to the alternatives...

I spend less on YouTube than I spend on two trips to Starbucks. YouTube premium costs less than unlimited Kagi searches. The cost per hour of utility (in addition to supporting the creators you're consuming the content from) overwhelmingly pays for itself in single digits of hours.

> I mean, I'm not sure what you're upset about.

Oops... sorry if my tone was overly aggressively. I'm usually careful about that.

Unlimited kagi searches are 10 usd a month so thats demonstrably false.

Netflix is also a premium streaming service, with premium content. YouTube is not.

Except for the ‘this video has been sponsored by…’ as soon as the content creator gets remotely popular. Am I paying for the removal of ads or not.

Nothing has changed about those ads one way or the other

Besides, these are easy to scroll forward through

I just use the Sponsorblock extension

This is up to the creators, not YouTube.

YouTube demonetizes for socio-political reasons forcing creators to seek alternative advertising, so no, it is up to YouTube, not the creators.

If that was true then more popular creators who already get enough money wouldn't add sponsored segments, and creators who don't get many videos demonetized wouldn't add it either.

But there is no limit to greed so people add them anyway, only way youtube could stop that would be to ban such segments and remove videos with them from the platform.

Me too, my most used subscription service I think. Feel better about supporting YouTube creators than my Netflix or Spotify

With 13,99 I can support 13,99 creators on Patreon or other platforms. Why paying Google?

I agree, as long as these creators serve you the visitors without relying on YouTube infrastructure

By the same logic I can support people in desperate need in a third world country. But presumably if you cared about the people you want to support, you'd be supporting them regardless and if you didn't care you wouldn't support them. So either there are YouTube creators you're enjoying and should support or they are elsewhere and you should support them there instead. Simple.

My hot take is google evil and I'm not giving them money if I can help it.

But you're perfectly comfortable using their service and also not paying the content creators you're consuming from?

There are a lot of ways to pay content creators, generally.

And not a lot of ways to consume their content

They're basically squatting on a giant pie of network effect rents. If you want to pay "creators," there are much more direct methods.

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