this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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[–] ThePac@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

I don't really know how people can expect YouTube to exist without some sort of income.

The age of free content is coming to a close as VC funds dry up. Serving video is expensive.

In reaction to this news from YouTube, I signed up for Premium. $12/mo for my main source of content? Easy decision.

[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Thats more than most streaming services cost..l

And youtube doesnt create the content.. lol

[–] exi@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

YouTube premium views pay creators a LOT more than ads. So if you care about supporting creators and the platform they run on, then premium is an easy choice.

Additionally, most people spend a lot more time in YouTube than any other streaming site, so the cost makes sense given how fucking expensive video serving is.

[–] grue@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you care about supporting creators, donate to their patreon or buy merch or something. The idea that YouTube Premium needs to insert itself as a middleman for that purpose is nothing but a red herring.

[–] exi@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

My favorite creator absolutely could not exist without YouTube or any other content delivery platform for that matter. So why not pay for that?

[–] devils_advocate@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

On the other hand, YouTube is also supporting some content creators you hate...

... But at least you don't have to watch them.

[–] mild_deviation@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

YouTube is a business with a clearly-defined business model, precisely-tracked direct metrics, and automation up the wazoo. Not a government taking taxes and dealing with human elements for which there are very few direct metrics. They can pay creators based on watch hours or some other usage metric.

[–] devils_advocate@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What I mean is that paying for YouTube premium is a very indirect and inefficient way to support your preferred content creator.

[–] exi@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But my preferred content creator could not exist without YouTube and YouTube shoulders the enormous expense of hosting videos. I don't get why they should not get compensated for that as well.

[–] devils_advocate@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's an ok justification, but I thought you were buying YouTube premium to support your content creator, not to support YouTube. YouTube premium doesn't support your content creator.

[–] exi@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's just false. Premium supports the creator and YouTube and NOT the advertiser. That's a win in my book. Saying that premium does not give anything to creators is just not true.

Creators nearly always make substantially more from premium subscribers

[–] devils_advocate@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"The YouTubers" not your YouTuber.

Better just to split $7 a month between your favourite patreon accounts and put up with some advertising.

[–] exi@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What's the difference? Most stuff I watch comes from a longer list of channels I'm subscribed to. I could go and figure out which Channel I want to donate how much to and then split 12€ between them and keep my donations updated if my viewing habits change and then deal with ads, or I could just not do any of that and support the video platform as well because honestly, I'm very happy with the distribution quality and selection YouTube gives me.

I have a subscription to nebula/curiosity stream as well but compared to YouTube, every other platform just suuuucks at content Delivery 🤷

[–] devils_advocate@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The difference is 45% of $12 and your original goal at the top of this thread was to support your content creators, not YouTube.

[–] exi@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At the top I said "So if you care about supporting creators and the platform they run on, then premium is an easy choice. "

So that's perfectly in line with what I said, no?

[–] devils_advocate@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Still not sure why you are so adamant about giving $5 a month to a monopoly generating 30bn per year. But you be you.

[–] exi@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Because it provides me with value that imho justifies the cost in addition to supporting creators more than what they would usually get from me consuming their content.

Realistically, 50% of the videos I watch are random creators I don't subscribe to and I would not make the effort to donate to just for watching one or two videos. These people still worked for that content and deserve payment.

I could install an ad blocker and basically fuck them over for using YouTube as their platform, or I can pay money, have no ads and support them.

I think that's a more ethical thing to do then to pretend that they don't deserve compensation because realistically, they have no alternative platform that generates them enough money to continue what they are doing.

Nobody can make a living on peer tube or any of the other alternatives, except for maybe meta or TikTok but they are far worse.

[–] MrWolvetech@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

You can also subscribe to YT premium lite for 6$/mo. Basically YouTube premium without YouTube music and background playback.

[–] Ser_Salty@feddit.de 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I had no problems back when it was one skippable ad for laundry detergent and a banner for a deal on Xbox games at an electronics store. But the ads have just gotten so scummy, with some just being actual scams, it's become a matter of security and not having my brain rotted away by disgusting mobile ads full of diarrhea, piss, dead babies and foot fungus scraping. At this point Premium isn't a nice to have ad-less alternative, it's a protection racket.

[–] CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I literally got an ad for (probably) some dating website, telling me to have some roadside anal with the girl pictured...this ad was on the youtube app, like what the actual fuck.

I've seen more tame ads on sketchy porn sites.

I got a government served ad on instagram of a photo with huge piles of viagra, telling me not to bring home those pills from vacation. I was at work trying to show a coworker some miniature a friend painted, needless to say i got a wtf face from my coworker and i reported the ad.

Keep ads reasonable and the amount reasonable like it used to be and this issue would've never existed.

[–] Shush@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Co-worker be like "you know those ads are targeted, right? Wanna tell me something?".

Awkward.

[–] CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Exactly that, lol.

I doubt the accuracy of ads a lot, i keep getting this polestar 2 ad assuming i can afford to buy a new car. I can't even afford a shitbox and the running costs.

Heck, that viagra thing was saying it's illegal to import it (there's no need btw you can easily get it off the web lol) as if i've ever been out the country.

If they want targeted ads, give me ads for 50 cents milk and other cheap food from supermarket discounts.

[–] cubedsteaks@lemmy.today 1 points 1 year ago

This is ad's everywhere too. I was sitting in a dr's office that had the radio on and there was an ad for some shit called cash app77. Like undoubtedly a scam and taking another company's name to do so. It's fucking wild out here.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago

Sure, but it isn't one ad anymore. it is two upfront, plus ads in the comment portion, plus random ads in between. The actual youtube app (without premium) is horrendous and I don't blame people for using ad blocker or newpipe, vancetube etc

[–] grue@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Serving video is expensive.

Only for copyright control freaks unwilling to use bittorrent-style multicast distribution. That's a "them" problem, not an "us" problem.

In reaction to this news from YouTube, I signed up for Premium. $12/mo for my main source of content? Easy decision.

Congratulations on being a consumer removed, I guess?

[–] ThePac@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Waaaaah why can't I just get everything for free!? Waaaaaaah

[–] exi@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's a really bad take.

Show me one small creator with the ability to serve just twenty 30-minute 1080p (not to mention 4k) videos in 15 different resolutions instantly to a random selection of people around the globe. BitTorrent style distribution works perfectly when you already have a large swarm of people interested in your stuff. For small creators it absolutely does not work. Who is going to peer with me? Joe Johnson watching my video on his phone on the toilet on the other side of the world? I guess every creator just needs to get his or her shit together and pay for a seedbox... Things YouTube gives you for free in MUCH better quality.

Not to mention that discoverability outside of large platforms absolutely sucks ass and there is no viable alternative right now. I'm not saying this is an unsolvable problem, but it current is absolutely unsolved.

[–] grue@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] exi@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

I know it exists and it showcases my point very nicely.

I randomly picked a fairly large instance, clicked on the top recommended video with 1.5k views.

Waited for it to load on my phone for >30 seconds and then gave up.

This is not an alternative for any serious content creator.

It's a start, but it's still miles away from what content consumers expect and what YouTube offers.

[–] Holzkohlen@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago

$12? Over my dead body!

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Serving videos is expensive, but gøøgl€ could file for bankruptcy and still continue hosting yt for a long time. gøøgl€ is not some small company with limited funds and them not getting ad revenue from yt isn't going to bankrupt them in any way.

[–] JSens1998@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Everyone seems to forget one aspect... Google is constantly eating up your data, selling it to advertising companies and the what not. Now, last time I checked, Google owned YouTube. So, in my personal opinion, Google can have my data in exchange for no ads. Don't get me wrong, i'll still support my favorite creators through Patreon and all that... but screw google. I'm not buying premium when I'm forced to because of their greed.

[–] Aagje_D_Vogel@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have premium as well. What really bothers me though, is the fact that if you use the incognito mode, ads reappear.

[–] MDKAOD@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because incognito mode logs you out. What are you expecting to happen?

[–] Aagje_D_Vogel@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Searching for content without it tainting my recommended list.

Edit: recommend