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”?

  • crunchpaste@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 months ago

    I believe this is because sponsor segments are like traditional TV ads. They don’t use trackers, they are not targeted and they respect your privacy.

    • xep@kbin.social
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      They don’t use trackers, they are not targeted and they respect your privacy.

      In that case it won’t matter to anyone that I skipped them.

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        As I’ve mentioned in another thread, I believe YouTube provides analytics on this (hence the “most replayed” parts for some videos), and I’m certain I’ve seen some creators mention sposors requiring that information before a deal is made. So it may really hurt some small youtubers that can’t rely on merchandise sales.

        That said, I personally use sponsorblock as I don’t feel like wasting my life on nordvpn ads, but I have to admit sponsor segments are a whole lot better than regular YouTube ads.

        Edit: And as I far as I know they pay much better than regular ads.

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          The most replayed section won’t count your view anyway since you’re watching through an unofficial app that doesn’t send tracking data to YouTube

        • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          It’s true that YouTube does track the most watched portions of a video, but in the case of clients like NewPipe or this one the way the video is parsed it doesn’t send the analytic data necessary, so it likely doesn’t even count views, let alone watched segments.

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          I wish there was an add-on that could fake a view for the sponsored segment for the creator but skip it for the user. I.e. every time the user skips a sponsored segment, the extension adds a view for the sponsored segment for the creator, so they get paid whilst we skip their segment.

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        They don’t use trackers,

        Well, they can see whether you watched them or not. So technically still tracked. At least in the official youtube app.

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      They don’t respect my attention and time, thought

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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        I mean, the person making the video you are watching respected your time to the point they put in 10-100x the amount of time it takes you to watch that video to make it.

        And the sponsor ad is how they afford said time commitment.

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          they put in 10-100x the amount of time it takes you to watch that video to make it.

          And show it to millions of people… So per capita… I put in more time then they did.

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            No not even close. You did not put in more time.

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            Hence why it might be hurtful to small creators. I’d love to see the numbers on that though, as the overall percentage of people using an adblocker is very low, I assume for Sponsorblock it’s significantly less.

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        I completely agree with you, and that’s the reason I block them as well. I was just trying to give an explaination for the app’s behaviour.

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        Skip it all you want but don’t act like it’s such a terrible inconvenience. Creating high quality content is a full time job and people gotta eat

        • Kir@feddit.it
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          Everytime the same argument. I don’t want to see ads never ever, period. They are useless and annoying at best, sometimes plain evil manipulation.

          I recognize the need of income for creators, and they can ask for money in the form of donation/subscription and other methods. I am paying and will pay for everything I want to support. If you decide that your way to sustain yourself is by shoving up fake opinions and useless noise in order to manipulate me into buying something, I don’t accept it. It’s as simple as that.

          • glimse@lemmy.world
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            If the creators you like choose to monetize with sponsors, you can choose not to watch them instead of complaining about it on a forum. Or go create the content you like yourself.

            I don’t like ads either and have stopped watching several channels because of how they use them.

            “Every time the same argument” is right - “my time is valuable but the creator’s time is not!”

              • glimse@lemmy.world
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                Go for it! I’m not holding that against anyone. I’m railing against the entitlement of saying it’s “not respectful of the viewer’s time” to have sponsored segments.

                Like I said elsewhere, I think that stance is ironic because it’s not respecting the creator’s time and effort. “I want you to spend hours and hours making videos for me but I don’t want you to make money from it”

                • AeroLemming@lemm.ee
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                  Yeah, I see video monetization as running on a similar model to that of free to play games. The majority of people either don’t make you any money or only very little money, but they boost your engagement and popularity metrics so that you get more ‘whales’ that do things like donating on Patreon, choosing to watch sponsors and use affiliate codes, and buying merch.

                  Ads are only the worth the actual amount of business they generate. I know that a lot of people don’t realize that even if they never intentionally buy something from an ad, the familiarity of seeing things in an ad makes them more likely to pick it over something else down the line. However, this still only works if you have any disposable income and don’t immediately hit mute, close your eyes, and count to 30 when an ad comes on. A lot of people using ad blockers would just devalue the ads themselves if they were forced to watch them. The people with the money just pay for Premium.

    • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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      It’s also under control of what the creator placed in the video. Youtube can insert commercials into your video, even if you chose not to monetize it.

    • Apollo2323@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      You are right! I used to hate on sponsors but now I understand that they are way better than targeted ads.

    • YeOldGrim@lemmy.world
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      On one hand true, on the other, a lot of those sponsorships advertise dubious things at best. I love the channels that just shill their own merch, but being entirely fair, you need to be at a certain revenue threshold to afford making said merch.

      The problem with those, 3rd party sponsorships is that they’re usually just either mobile games, F2P(P2W) MMOs, overpriced basic products or software advertised in the FUD way. Sorry, I don’t care for Raid Shadow Legends, War Thunder, Manscaped or NordVPN. Especially the last one and the ones like it grind my gears because the sponsorships for that kind of product are borderline misinformation.

      All of them, in some way, can be considered somewhat predatory. I’d rather buy a silly hat or a plushie, thank you very much.

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    Before getting Sponsorblock, I would always manually skip forward past the integrated advertisements. This tool does the exact same thing but faster and more convenient for me. My conscience is unaffected

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.caOP
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      Precisely! The sponsors have to be aware that some subset of the audiences watching the sponsorees will skip ahead anyway. They can’t seriously believe that they are entitled to our attention.

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        They are aware of it I guess, but probably don’t deal with the issue in an effective way.

        There’s a French channel I look at, they make sponsor sequences as well but I don’t skip them because they make those in such a bizarre, ridiculous and remotely funny way I’m even curious to see how bad the sponsor sequence is gonna be.

        They alone are the only reason why I set up my sponsorblock to not skip sponsor sequences, but to skip everything else

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    Shame is an artificial construct that I am choosing not to opt into. Thanks for letting us know that sponsorblock is in, I’m turning it on now.

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.caOP
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      Yeah I agree, I just thought it was funny… Not “haha funny” but a bit jarring

    • DrinkMonkey@lemmy.ca
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      Shame is a mismatch between ego and ego-ideal, whereas guilt is a mismatch between ego and super-ego. The ego-ideal in shame does depend on social norms. But that is by no means “artificial”.

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    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.

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.caOP
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      Precisely. Basically every company that markets themselves using YouTube sponsorships is a scam anyway.

      • Hubi@feddit.de
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        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…

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          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 .

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            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

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              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.

        • bionicjoey@lemmy.caOP
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          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

      • bighatchester@lemmy.world
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        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 ?

        • bionicjoey@lemmy.caOP
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          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.

          • bionicjoey@lemmy.caOP
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            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

            • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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              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.

          • bighatchester@lemmy.world
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            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 .

            • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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              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.

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                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.

    • Spitfire@pawb.social
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      Exactly, I wouldn’t be buying anything sponsored anyway, and I’d just skip ahead myself if SponsorBlock didn’t exist.

    • Infiltrated_ad8271@kbin.social
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      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.

    • ZeroHora@lemmy.ml
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      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

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    Seems to me an overreaction to complain about a single checkbox suggesting that people who make YouTube videos make actual money from sponsorships where ads get them jack shit. They added Sponsorblock but just have a one-time warning, is that really big of a deal? It’s informational, and if you don’t like it, ignore it and move on with your day.

    If they were more insistent like a popup every time you used it I could see getting upset about it.

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.caOP
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      It’s not a big deal, just something I thought was odd. I’m not gonna claim checking a box is ruining my life or anything.

      • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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        Yeah. I use NewPipe myself just to be able to enjoy videos with my screen off, that Youtube has locked behind a subscription for no good reason.

        That said Rossman is someone who sticks to his principles and the FUTO group is an extension of those principles. At heart he’s a New York businessman so he knows that people need money to live, but he also isn’t trying to stop people to do what they like with tech that they supposedly have purchased.

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    In case anyone is wondering, here is the “shaming” that is done in the app. (images attached)

    You’re not being shamed anywhere in this text. You are being presented factual information. Any shame that you feel as a result of being faced with information is pretty much entirely on you.

    I have no qualms turning on sponsorblock and adblockers, I support the creators that I enjoy via other means.

    If you are taking issue with the “don’t freeload” then I guess you perhaps feel bad being told that you’re freeloading? I won’t pretend to know what’s going on in your own brain. But you’re posting this in a piracy community so I don’t imagine it should be any surprise to you that you’re freeloading, lol. If ye choose to sail the seas, do it with pride, me hearty. And support small businesses, yarr.

    image 1 image 2

    • RickyRigatoni@lemmy.ml
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      Sponsorblock does not harm creators. Youtube has no method of detecting when a sponsored segment is skipped, so the creator still gets their sponsorship money. A person who is using sponsorblock is extremely unlikely to use the sponsored products even if they did watch the ad, so the creator isn’t losing out on any affiliate money either.

      • apotheotic(she/they)@beehaw.org
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        YouTube absolutely can see which parts of videos people are actually engaging with. So can creators. And sponsors can request engagement metrics as part of their sponsorship deals.

        Advertisers care about impressions and engagement. A person simply watching a sponsored segment is an impression. If people’s impression metrics for sponsored segments start dropping, they become less attractive to sponsors as they knew they’re going to get fewer impressions as part of the deal.

        It may, or may not, be a very small impact but it is an impact nonetheless.

        If nobody is watching sponsored segments (which we’ve established: YouTube itsself, creators, and sponsors can track) then companies don’t have any incentive to sponsor videos, and creators no longer get revenue from sponsorships. Sure, this is a very end of the line example, because there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t have sponsorblock installed and can’t be bothered to skip the segment.

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          Just FYI for all the people who keep repeating this ad-nauseam it doesn’t apply to third party apps like Newpipe and grayjay which DO NOT send analytics data. If anyone wants to make arguments against sponsorblock they also can’t support apps and front-ends which strip the Analytics from the video because without them you add no watch time or metrics, so it’s a hypocritical argument.

          • apotheotic(she/they)@beehaw.org
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            I mean, it applies equally here. Using apps that strip metrics and analytics, has a similar effect to using sponsorblock. I don’t think I was arguing against sponsorblock I was saying facts about it. I use sponsorblock, I use grayjay, and I pay content creators.

            • Jojo@lemm.ee
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              The thread is about grayjay saying that using sponsorblock on grayjay will hurt creators. If grayjay doesn’t send metrics, then any metrics sponsorblock might mess up are already messed up by watching on grayjay.

        • Fedora@lemmy.haigner.me
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          Advertisers that care a lot about engagement use CTR instead of CPM. CTR enables advertisers to keep track of engagement and lie about real engagement numbers to save costs. If advertisers rely on video segment statistics, creators can fake the statistics to earn more money. So advertisers rarely measure their payout based on unverifiable information. And people that use SponsorBlock wouldn’t buy it, even without SponsorBlock. Or in other words: Most creators can ignore SponsorBlock.

          • apotheotic(she/they)@beehaw.org
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            I agree with you that clickthrough rate is a far more useful metric for advertisers, and is probably more widely used in sponsorship deals.

            Creators faking impression metrics would be followed by the advertisers seeing weirdly low clickthrough ratios, seeing that somethings up, and the creator losing future deals from that advertiser, so it’s not something I would expect creators to do unless they think they’re smarter than multi million/billion dollar companies advertising departments.

            Where does this assertion come from that people that use sponsorblock are somehow never going to buy products? People keep saying it but I just don’t get it. We live in a world where people buy things. Some products are relevant to some people and some aren’t to other people. I use sponsorblock and adblock, and if I were to somehow see an advert for a product that seemed like it perfectly fit a need that I had, I’d definitely consider getting the product.

            • Fedora@lemmy.haigner.me
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              Where does this assertion come from that people that use sponsorblock are somehow never going to buy products? People keep saying it but I just don’t get it. We live in a world where people buy things. Some products are relevant to some people and some aren’t to other people. I use sponsorblock and adblock, and if I were to somehow see an advert for a product that seemed like it perfectly fit a need that I had, I’d definitely consider getting the product.

              I use SponsorBlock. Ads have an influence on me, but usually with a negative impact on whatever they sell, so it’s beneficial for them that I don’t see their ads.

              If I was looking for a fantasy-themed, turn-based role-playing gacha game, and a specific game annoys the fuck out of me with their massive marketing budget, they’re automatically on my blacklist. I’ll proactively ignore the game in my market research and exclude the game, the game’s company and publisher from my Google search results with the uBlacklist browser extension.

              If it’s a SaaS and they charge a premium for SSO, they get a once in a lifetime opportunity to land on a public wall of shame that some sysadmins use to preemptively filter out software vendors from their purchasing process. So it’s a really shitty idea to advertise crap to the wrong people.

              • apotheotic(she/they)@beehaw.org
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                Okay, sure, that’s a nice story about yourself, but like, this doesn’t address the core of your assertion that people who use sponsorblock won’t buy products if they see ads for them. It doesn’t seem like the two are actually inherently related at all. (People who don’t want to watch adverts) are not necessarily (People who don’t buy products).

                • Jojo@lemm.ee
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                  Why do they have to prove that? You backed up the assertion that sponsorblock hurts creators with the mere unlikely possibility that sponsors might be able to see metrics, how does their single anecdotal bit of evidence that people using sponsorblock are the kinds of people that won’t click ads anyway not pass the same muster?

                  Admittedly they’re both bad evidence, so why are we treating yours as better?

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        8 months ago

        YouTube gets metrics on which parts of videos are being played. You can see this in the player where it’ll display things like “most played segment” on the timeline.

        • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 months ago

          See my other comments on the matter they don’t, not when using apps like this, it’s literally by design as they are meant to be privacy friendly so they naturally won’t send analytics data.

      • lud@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        In theory the sponsor could demand access to the statistics showing watch time and pay differently because of that.

        I doubt it happens though.

        YouTube is unbearable without it.

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    8 months ago

    I block all advertising myself, but sponsors I think are ok. The creator can control who they sponsor with, they can write a funny ad skit that is entertaining (the best ones I have seen are the ones by squishy boi) and the creator gets paid directly without fucking us with an algorithm.

    I’m happy to watch those kinds of ads as I know the creator is getting paid from them, and e.g. YouTube isn’t taking a cut.

    • venji10@feddit.de
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      8 months ago

      But scammy sponsors are very common. Most of the promoted products are just trash because the company behind them puts way too much money in advertisement.

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            8 months ago

            I can only assume they’re some sort of front for a cartel because I’ve never met anyone that actually plays it.

      • neeeeDanke@feddit.de
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        8 months ago

        Ot does if its a good ad / sales pitch and I actually buy the product which is not gonna happen if it is automatically skipped.

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          This is such a bizarre concept to me.

          Why would I want someone to convince me to buy something with a “good pitch” ?

          • janguv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            8 months ago

            Hey I respect the hell outta this guy for manufacturing desires in me, lemme now buy this shit I didn’t want before he manipulated me. Good job guy!

            /s

          • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            8 months ago

            It’s part of the reason why many say the ad-funded internet is on it’s way out, the idea of ad-revenue is based on the idea that people are going to buy YOUR product when there are 1000 other products making the same exact claim, and 1000 other of the same ads they ignore. Advertisers and Ad-funded companies have a lot of cope when it comes to this fact and make claims like “oh it’ll get in eventually” but the fact of the matter is this isn’t stable, it’s based on the promise of making money, this bubble will burst eventually, it’s not a matter of if but when.

              • neeeeDanke@feddit.de
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                8 months ago

                That’s just false. For example I didn’t know Nebula existed before all those sponsored segments on the creators videos but I like the service now and am happy I got it…

                • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  7 months ago

                  I guess there are exceptions, it’s unknowable but one wonders how long it would’ve taken you to discover nebula some other way.

        • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 months ago

          Set it to manual skip if you think you might be interested, that way if you are you keep watching, if not hit the skip button.

          Just make sure when you click that affiliate link that nothing is stripping the tracking code or they’ll get nothing from you whatsoever.

  • Tischkante@discuss.tchncs.de
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    8 months ago

    Real sponsors pay up front, or only add an additional bonus for affiliate link sales, if a creator accepts a deal on affiliate link money only, it’s their own fault. So if you always fast forward through sponsors and don’t care, you might as well enable it to save the bandwidth and power.

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      Skipping sponsors automatically means you definitely won’t be influenced by the marketing, so it hurts the creator because the sponsor might not work with them again because of low sales impact.

      Anyway, I’ll continue to use NewPipe x SponsorBlock and the Firefox addon.

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        8 months ago

        Do these particular advertisers asks the influencers to show their statistics?

        I mean, wouldn’t the creator have to take a screenshot and send that info in? How do the advertisers even know people are skipping through sponsored segments?

        Also I’ve never understood. I’m not going to buy a subscription service because someone I watch is offering it. If I want it I’m going to buy it regardless whether I’ve seen its ad or not, and the creators are just offering a discount code that can help them as well.

        Lost views is not lost sales. That’s just stupid.

        • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          Lost views is not lost sales. That’s just stupid.

          That’s why the ad-funded internet is referred to as a bubble and people are saying that the bubble will burst. It’s money-making based on the promise it’ll make the company paying the advertiser money, without any guarantee. You can’t make money out of nothing, people have tried and failed for years if not decades, it always comes crashing down, either through crypto scams, pyramid/ponzi scemes or though worthless investments like the Dot-com crash, it’ll always blow up in your face sooner or later. Which is what is slowly happening with the ad-funded internet, it is becoming overvalued similar to the dot-com investments.

      • PopShark@lemmy.world
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        Piped works mediocre at best and the quality settings and buffer is finicky depending on your settings. It’s not worth the hassle imo because it doesn’t even have Sponsorblock. Sadly on iOS I usually just stick to default YouTube app mostly with no Sponsorblock. But soon I want to try some of the modified youtube apps from Altstore.

        On Android TV on my sony bedroom tv I recently switched from the default YouTube app to Smarttube which is GOAT tbh I had no idea what I was missing. I wish I could get that but on iOS yaknow?

        • KnightontheSun@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          It does have SponserBlock. You have to tick the box to enable it. Is it great? No, but it served me well enough whilst traveling so as the only option it works. I won’t use the default app. I don’t really watch too many videos on my phone. I wait to watch on a pc at home where I have better quality and control.

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    8 months ago

    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.

    +1

    • Firenzebel@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I guess there’s a moral reason behind it.

      YouTube is a behemoth of a company so you’d expect most of the ads money to go to the creators but you can be sure it’s not.

      They also demonetize videos for stupid reasons more and more, and they use their quasi monopole on the video hosting to push ads down our throats in many ways with less and less control over the type, placement or duration of the ads they greenlight because what are we gonna do? Go on vimeo or dailymotion?

      On the other hand, sponsors pay the creators directly or through affiliated links, they work even if the video is demonetized, creators can decide whether or not they agree with the sponsor content and remain somewhat in control of how the sponsor sequence is gonna be in their video since they’re the ones making them.

      Morally, you can decide you hate YouTube and its ads while still wanting to support the creators (or not) but all users are not on the same level of technological knowledge and might not know what sponsorblock is gonna block exactly (despite the name) or how to set it up.

      For those users, I think it’s not a bad idea to have such a warning/opt-out step in the setup process.

      • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 months ago

        This ignores the fact that these apps don’t have the functionality to tell YouTube a video or segment of a video has been watched, therefore they literally can’t make money off these users period, it’s just the way these clients work, they don’t send analytics data to YouTube, so they don’t count views. It’s as if the person paused the video, let it buffer all the way then clicked off without watching.

        People can argue semantics about watching or not watching or what it means philosophically but in the end the views aren’t counted by the software on these apps, it doesn’t matter how much or how long you watch something it just doesn’t count the view, because they never receive any tracking data. So in that regard there really is no sense in shaming SponsorBlock usage, if it seems like a problem you shouldn’t be using these apps in the first place because they defeat the money-making part of the segments in and of themselves.

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    i keep sponsorblock on but i pretty much have it set on manual skip by default. i mostly use it for critical role (whom i also subscribe to on twitch) shows to skip the intermission or for twitch vods on youtube to skip the beginning and after parts where it’s just the streamer talking to chat.

    but i also don’t understand how skipping in video sponsored segments loses them money like it’s not a youtube thing it’s a creator thing like television adverts. how would they know if it’s been skipped wouldn’t they already get the money to do the sponsorship before the video is posted?

    • DanForever@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Youtube tracks how much of a video each person watches. These metrics are used by youtubers to strike deals with sponsors.

      The amount of money the sponsor pays will be based on how many views the sponsor’s message part of the video gets.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      They get paid more if people use the affiliate links or coupon codes from the sponsored sections of the video.

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    8 months ago

    Blocking YouTube’s advertising is necessary for privacy, and it punishes YouTube for their bad business practices.

    But sponsors aren’t underhanded like that and I feel like they’re the type of thing we should really be promoting as an alternative to privacy invading ads, and hopefully a way for creators to move off of YouTube eventually.

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      A lot of sponsors are very exploitative companies in their own right, and I don’t owe them my time or attention.

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        The point is that YouTubers pay for that with their own reputation, if I followed a YouTuber that promoted exploitative companies I would stop following that YouTuber - why would you want to watch their content anyway?

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    I was kind of dissapointed when I read the new pipe team was having an issue with sponsor block, but tbh their reasoning makes a lot of sense:

    https://newpipe.net/blog/pinned/newpipe-and-online-advertising/

    And even thought I am using the sponsor block fork now I only skip the non-music part in music videos, because I do agree that creators have to make money somehow. And while I don’t love ads most of the time (sometimes they are really well made) my main issue with ads on Youtube/the wider Internet is how intrusive they are and them not respecting my privacy.

    • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      Well they won’t make any money off you watching them on NewPipe because the way it parses videos doesn’t register views or watched timestamps, the things that sponsors take into account when paying creators.

      It’s why their argument is garbage, because they designed NewPipe the way they did for the purpose of privacy, which also defeats any method of making money through analytics yet they think Sponsorblock in this case stops them from making money, as if they could make money off NewPipe users at all in the first place.

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      How sure are you that your view through NewPipe is getting counted on YouTube statistics so that the channel is getting a proper measure of reach?

      Because I am not so sure the view is being counted, and much less the (not)viewing of the sponsorblock segment.

      • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 months ago

        Views don’t get counted on Newpipe and if they do somehow it’s not accurate, as in it won’t count watch-time or parts of the video watched, the way it parses the video these analytics don’t get sent.

      • neeeeDanke@feddit.de
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        I know my klick on the link is counted if I am interested in the product they are selling.

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        It’s still loading the page internally to extract the video link. I don’t think newpipe after that looks different than say a smart tv,. So it’s up to YouTube to do the counting.

        • Draconic NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 months ago

          It looks like any other web browser, the problem is that without the Analytics being sent back it looks like a paused video buffering all the way through then the user leaves without watching the video. The analytics include how much and which parts of the video they watched, but videos can be loaded without watching them (that’s what buffering does).

    • Scrollone@feddit.it
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      There’s no reason in watching the sponsors through NewPipe, because the view doesn’t count, especially segment-based view.

      The YouTube channel (and their sponsor) will never detect that you actually watched the sponsor. So, why bother watching it in the first place?

    • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      If you really want to support someone on YouTube something like patreon is the way to go. Sponsored videos are life draining and a lot of extra work for paultry pay. But a legion of patreon subscribers can set someone up for a comfortable income from actually making things you want to see.

      • Aux@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Depends on a sponsor. Some sponsors can pay crap loads of money to a big creator.