Show HN: ZeroAds – AI removes podcast ads and gives you a clean RSS | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: ZeroAds – AI removes podcast ads and gives you a clean RSS

zeroads.ai

4 pointsfxuniverse15 comments

Built ZeroAds to stop manually skipping podcast ads. Paste any public RSS, we transcribe (Whisper), detect sponsor reads, cut with FFmpeg, and publish a clean RSS you can add to Apple Podcasts/Overcast/Pocket Casts. Typical run time: ~5 min for a 60-min episode on current infra. Accuracy is ~90%+ on host reads/dynamic insertions in our tests. Hard cases: ad-like mentions blended with content. Founding price: $5.99/mo (covers infra + a creator compensation pool). Would love feedback on edge cases, false positives, and pricing.

Open articleView on HN

Hey HN - I built ZeroAds because I was tired of skipping minutes of ads while driving and working out.

What it does

• Subscribe to shows in ZeroAds (paste a public RSS). • We transcribe the episode (Whisper) and detect sponsor reads/insertions. • We cut those spans with FFmpeg and publish a clean RSS you can add to Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, etc.

Tech

• OpenSaaS stack (React + Node + Stripe), Python flask microservice, Postgres (Neon), Fly.io • Whisper for transcription; an LLM pass over timestamps to classify segments; surgical splices with FFmpeg • Typical run time: ~5 minutes for a 60-minute episode on current infra

Accuracy & limits

• ~90%+ on host-reads/dynamic insertions/network promos in our tests • Hard cases: sponsor shoutouts blended into content, very short bumpers, or poor audio • We bias toward avoiding content loss over aggressive cutting

Pricing

• Founding members: $5.99/mo (planned $7.99). Covers API/hosting and a creator compensation pool.

Privacy

• Server-side processing only; no user data sharing; works from publicly available RSS/audio.

Looking for feedback on

• False positives you’d worry about • Specific shows/episodes we should test • Whether pricing feels fair for the value/costs • What would make setup clearer/faster

Happy to dig into technical details and take tough questions - thanks!

> Is this legal?

>> Absolutely. You're processing publicly available RSS feeds for personal use, which is protected under fair use. We also share revenue with creators based on your listening, so they're fairly compensated.

I dont think you can hide behind "it is publicly available, so I can take it and sell it". That's not fair use. You're redistributing it, and specific licenses come into play.

This is an interesting idea indeed, but not sure whether you'd be able to make a sustainable business out of this.

We're not sure either, but there's only one way to find out!

Also, there's existing competition (AdBlock Podcast) not to mention every ad blocker for every other platform. Yes some parties may not be happy, but we're solving the out-of-control ads situation for the end user.

Ad Blockers are free, yeah? Do they charge money? The moment money comes in, different incentives kick in.

You can do this as a passion, a hobby, or on principle. But the moment you want to make money, you'll be judged differently.

Interesting idea, and good job for getting ahead of the obvious criticism and doing a rev share.

However, this wont work. If there's an ad for Coca Cola, the whole reason why Coca Cola is paying the podcast host is so that the message would get to the listener. If anything, the money should be shared with Coca Cola, and not the podcast host - who has been paid already (for sponsored spots).

And at that point, it just becomes user paying Coca Cola directly, with you in the middle.

It is an inefficient system.

Not really concerned with how Coca Cola makes their money. It's about the host who might be concerned with ad revenue loss if enough people use our clean feeds to make a dent in their listener metrics.

> Not really concerned with how Coca Cola makes their money

That's a naive way of thinking. If Coca Cola see their sales are not going up ("ads are not effective"), they'll stop sponsoring podcasts, leading you to do less work, leading to people stopping to use your product.

And since you intend to make money out of this, you'll have strong incentive to keep this charade going. :)

If we're ever in a world where podcast hosts and advertisers need to rethink their business model, we've already won. Popular podcasts average 15% ads to content ratio. Worse than Cable TV. Listeners should have a way out.

> If we're ever in a world where podcast hosts and advertisers need to rethink their business model, we've already won.

Who's we? Nobody makes things for charity. Even you, who built something out of passion, is charging users for the product. You're here 'advertising' and spreading the word.

It is marketing, and it is the same thing that Coca Cola and others are doing as well. No need to get all judgemental.

The incentives are also not aligned here. You make money if there's more ads in the podcasts. In a world where there's no ads, your company wont exist.

So at some point, you'll have to start prioritizing making money ("proving your worth to users") and will start to make sure there are more ads in the podcasts, so that you can remove them.

And that is a lose-lose scenario. You will end up directly contributing to more ads in the podcast. This is called a second order effect.

In a world with no cancer, oncologists won't exist. Should they stop what they're doing now?

I know this is a flippant response, so I'll side step that and address the issue you're getting at.

You make money by solving an inefficiency.

"Payments on the web is hard. We'll make it easy" -> Stripe.

"It is hard to get a taxi" -> Uber.

"The legal system is hard to navigate" -> Lawyers.

---

If your value prop is, people dont like listening to ads. The right approach is to offer subscriptions to ad-free podcasts. Buy our service for $x / mo and get ad free podcasts. But that wont be "ad blocking"

That's exactly what we offer - ad free feeds.

You dont offer anything :)

I cant copy/paste your website and rehost it on my domain (and remove ads or whatever) and claim that I'm doing everyone a favor. There's a word for it - and it is called stealing.

Sell the software, not the service, or sell the software as a subscription. U gonna get shut down as a service.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com