okay the adderall is kicking in so, sorry if this is a massive wall of text, but since you asked, adblockers are great, I never use the web without one when I can, but ads are only one part of why i pay for YouTube.
here are all my reasons:
easy adless YouTube on non-android smart TV
YouTube music (dont have to pay for Spotify)
auto background video downloading to save on mobile data when I leave the house
supports more creators (albeit in smaller amounts) than I could ever afford to support via patreon or merch (and supports them directly proportionally to how much I watch thier content, so I never risk paying a creator that ive lost interest in or forgetting to add a creator’s patreon)
I would never try to convince someone else to pay for YouTube, it’s defintily not for everyone, especially when a decent adblocker will satisfy most people. But for some people like me, it just makes sense, and I don’t understand why some people get so mad to learn I’m paying for it.
Google is a gross company for sure, hell except for YouTube ive pretty much completly degoogled my life. I can use Plex for movies and shows, Proton for mail and calandar, magic earth for GPS, Firefox and DDG for search, etc. but there isnt a good replacement for YouTube especially since its one of my main hobbies. peertube and other video hosting sites really just dont compare for my usecase
ofc I think its shitty that theyre trialing showing ads to premium users in Germany, but honestly that would barely affect me if it was happening where I live. I use adblockers everywhere except my TV, so most of the time it’d be impossible for me to see an ad whether YouTube tried to serve me one or not.
if you were genuinly asking what people who pay for YouTube have to say about this, I hope that answered your question
I appreciate your nuanced answer. That’s something a lot of “why not just pay for YouTube premium” guys don’t
You raised good points and if you’re happy to pay for the convenience, I’m not going to fight you on that.
While I don’t fully agree with paying for a service that doesn’t listen to their customers(bring back dislikes), I can still see where you’re coming from.
thanks, I appreciate your response too. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I wrote it lol but this response was a pleasant surprise
I will admit that I never really engaged with likes/dislikes, so while I was annoyed on a conceptual level when they removed dislikes it didnt really affect me. I might feel differently about paying youtube if that wasn’t the case.
I wasn’t aware when I wrote this that there were so many people who respond to simple complaints about ads with “just buy premium”, that was a total blindspot for me. Most comments ive seen about it (before reading comments on this thread, dear god) were more similar to mine, albeit more brief.
at risk of overgeneralizing, I think anyone who pays for YouTube /just/ for the ads (while watching mostly on PC or android), is probably an idiot. adblock is trivial to set up on those platforms and will likely soon prove to be more effective at preventing ads than paying for YouTube. its upsetting the sheer amount of people that will give money to evil corporations just to avoid having to think at all about what theyre consuming, and if thats really the loud majority of people who pay for YouTube then I can defintily understand the negative interactions ive had in the past.
this has been an enlightening discussion for me, thanks for that!
okay the adderall is kicking in so, sorry if this is a massive wall of text, but since you asked, adblockers are great, I never use the web without one when I can, but ads are only one part of why i pay for YouTube.
here are all my reasons:
I would never try to convince someone else to pay for YouTube, it’s defintily not for everyone, especially when a decent adblocker will satisfy most people. But for some people like me, it just makes sense, and I don’t understand why some people get so mad to learn I’m paying for it.
Google is a gross company for sure, hell except for YouTube ive pretty much completly degoogled my life. I can use Plex for movies and shows, Proton for mail and calandar, magic earth for GPS, Firefox and DDG for search, etc. but there isnt a good replacement for YouTube especially since its one of my main hobbies. peertube and other video hosting sites really just dont compare for my usecase
ofc I think its shitty that theyre trialing showing ads to premium users in Germany, but honestly that would barely affect me if it was happening where I live. I use adblockers everywhere except my TV, so most of the time it’d be impossible for me to see an ad whether YouTube tried to serve me one or not.
if you were genuinly asking what people who pay for YouTube have to say about this, I hope that answered your question
I appreciate your nuanced answer. That’s something a lot of “why not just pay for YouTube premium” guys don’t
You raised good points and if you’re happy to pay for the convenience, I’m not going to fight you on that.
While I don’t fully agree with paying for a service that doesn’t listen to their customers(bring back dislikes), I can still see where you’re coming from.
edit: sorry for the wall of text again lol
thanks, I appreciate your response too. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I wrote it lol but this response was a pleasant surprise
I will admit that I never really engaged with likes/dislikes, so while I was annoyed on a conceptual level when they removed dislikes it didnt really affect me. I might feel differently about paying youtube if that wasn’t the case.
I wasn’t aware when I wrote this that there were so many people who respond to simple complaints about ads with “just buy premium”, that was a total blindspot for me. Most comments ive seen about it (before reading comments on this thread, dear god) were more similar to mine, albeit more brief.
at risk of overgeneralizing, I think anyone who pays for YouTube /just/ for the ads (while watching mostly on PC or android), is probably an idiot. adblock is trivial to set up on those platforms and will likely soon prove to be more effective at preventing ads than paying for YouTube. its upsetting the sheer amount of people that will give money to evil corporations just to avoid having to think at all about what theyre consuming, and if thats really the loud majority of people who pay for YouTube then I can defintily understand the negative interactions ive had in the past.
this has been an enlightening discussion for me, thanks for that!