YouTube Premium

Now been Premium-free for a week, and it’s almost been completely fine with Ublock Origin on the desktop, SwizzTube on the iPad and iPhone, and SmartTube on the Firestick.

The only annoyance is links wanting to open on the YouTube app.
 
You need to create a new iTunes account. Login to an apple device using it, open YouTube and login with your gmail and it should prompt you to sub in Turkish currency.
Tricky bits are:
You need to make sure that new account is set to turkey and logging in on the apple device and using App Store completes the registration.
 
After about 3 years paying just over £1/month they finally stopped it last week.

I watch YouTube on my TV mostly, which is Samsung so unable to get much benefit from Revanced etc.

I broke within 4 days, my God adverts have gotten a lot longer now then they were 3 years ago. I know there are ways to get it to a fiver a month or thereabouts but it's not the big saving it used to be so tbh I don't feel it's worth the hassle now. I've just subbed at £12.99/month but will keep my eyes open in case any good simple options with a big saving comes back. I have 2 years of NordVPN so can catch a flight to another country easily if something pops up.
 
I broke within 4 days, my God adverts have gotten a lot longer now then they were 3 years ago.

They intentionally use ad patterns designed to frustrate people into paying, for that reason I'm very reluctant to pay them anything, that and the price they want people to pay for a site that beyond the video player itself hasn't moved on since the 90s with a pathetic comments, history, search and filters, etc. system, etc. etc. which occasionally gets a cosmetic update but no fundamental functionality updates.
 
Newbie to Android (pixel ) trying out grayjay which seems to be good, no ads but bit slow loading while it captures the YouTube vid.
Grayjay is great. The search functionality is a bit meh but it seems to be pretty much the best non-Revanced-related option available on Android.
 
They intentionally use ad patterns designed to frustrate people into paying, for that reason I'm very reluctant to pay them anything, that and the price they want people to pay for a site that beyond the video player itself hasn't moved on since the 90s with a pathetic comments, history, search and filters, etc. system, etc. etc. which occasionally gets a cosmetic update but no fundamental functionality updates.
I’m not one to defend a massive company but this is simply not the case at all.

At the end of the day, as much as we have been conditioned to believe the internet is free, it absolutely isn’t. VOD is actually quite expensive to deliver and streaming is on another level of cost.
 
At the end of the day, as much as we have been conditioned to believe the internet is free, it absolutely isn’t. VOD is actually quite expensive to deliver and streaming is on another level of cost.

Most people don't think the internet is free. What they do expect however is not to have a service unusable or obnoxiously awful in an attempt to push people to pay for it.

The reason streaming services like Netflix took off is because people were willing to pay money for the convenience of streaming content they enjoyed without adverts. Piracy took a massive nosedive as a result. Whats happening now? All these companies are moving back towards the advert model because they need that profit to keep ticking up.

Youtube doesn't need to have so many adverts. They don't need to make the adverts behave the way they do. They do it to maximise profits and "encourage" people to pay for the service because its miserable if you don't. I have just moved browsers from Chrome because I can't use ublock any more and youtube was the primary reason for that.

I am happy to pay for a good service, as I think most people are. I am not happy to support a company that behaves in the way google does with youtube.

On an somewhat related note, I have no idea how Sky are still going. Its expensive and still shoves adverts down your throat at every opportunity. I can only assume its the boomers keeping it going.
 
Most people don't think the internet is free. What they do expect however is not to have a service unusable or obnoxiously awful in an attempt to push people to pay for it.
Free YouTube isn’t unusable and at the end of the day, if those ads were not there, the site wouldn’t exist today. The site isn’t sustainable without reliable revenue.

The reason streaming services like Netflix took off is because people were willing to pay money for the convenience of streaming content they enjoyed without adverts. Piracy took a massive nosedive as a result. Whats happening now? All these companies are moving back towards the advert model because they need that profit to keep ticking up.
The ads only exist on entry level tiers which came in at a lower price point.

If you hadn’t noticed, the TV and Film industry is going through a massive crisis at the moment, revenues and profits are way down.

The adverts served on traditional cable/sky networks used to pay more than the cut they get from a streaming service, a lot more. Not so much any more and the cut from streaming hasn’t grown to replace that revenue.

Studio grade film and TV is increasing expensive to make and people have stopped going to the cinema to watch it. The cut from streaming doesn’t make enough money to replace the lost revenue from cinema viewers to pay for a modern film.

Youtube doesn't need to have so many adverts. They don't need to make the adverts behave the way they do. They do it to maximise profits and "encourage" people to pay for the service because it’s miserable if you don't. I have just moved browsers from Chrome because I can't use ublock any more and youtube was the primary reason for that.
YouTube does need a lot of adverts because it’s an inherently expensive business to deliver. The vast majority of the ad revenue is paid out to the content creator, Google gets 30% of it. Out of that 30% comes the vast infrastructure costs before they make any profit.

I am happy to pay for a good service, as I think most people are. I am not happy to support a company that behaves in the way google does with youtube.
Close your account and don’t use the service then.

On a somewhat related note, I have no idea how Sky are still going. It’s expensive and still shoves adverts down your throat at every opportunity. I can only assume it’s the boomers keeping it going.
See above, the ads and the subscription are ultimately needed to cover the cost of producing the content, particularly for high end TV shows.
 
VPN-tools has a guide to get going out of turkey.you will need an apple device though.
Cheers, I'll take a nosey at that, we have a couple of apple phones kicking around so that guide might come in handy ;)
Other than pay?
That would be too easy :D in all seriousness, it's only the ads that I can't stand, the other features I've barely used and can live without, but the ad interruptions are beyond unreal! Personally, I'm not sure it's worth the price? especially when they are blockable for the most part, I don't know how I feel about it all yet. I'm not sure if I should just suck it up and pay the £20 for family premium though just for the others in the family.
If it's an Android TV, sideload SmartTube on it. Does away with the ads, and like usual, it has lots of actual good features that the "professional" official app can only dream of being half as useful.

Between that and ublock on my PC, I only have to deal with ads on my phone or tablet, which has made losing Premium a bit more bearable.
Mines a tizen /samsung tv which is a pain to get a decent app working on :( I think I'll manage without premium as I can block ads with dns /proxy work and so on, plus on the pc it's easily done. It's my parents and other family members I worry about, they are not tech savvy in any way shape or form, family premium is mostly for their benefit, especially to block the adds, all the other features they don't use but adds are annoying as hell!
 
Anyone tried Cheapzy to get youtube premium? Seen it mentioned over on Reddit and looks like it works out to be just under $5 a month.
I used them for Spotify, not sure I'd want to give them my youtube credentials but if your OK with a brand new account they seem pretty cheap and easier than going down the gift card route.
 
Free YouTube isn’t unusable and at the end of the day, if those ads were not there, the site wouldn’t exist today. The site isn’t sustainable without reliable revenue.

The issue isn't with adverts, its the number of them, the length and the way they act. Showing adverts that you have to skip manually if you don't want to watch 2:30 of advert. Showing short adverts that just stop on a static final page until you manually skip. Showing you so many adverts in a video that you can't even be bothered to watch the content because its such a jarring and stuttering experience.

The ads only exist on entry level tiers which came in at a lower price point.

For now... they have already said that the ad tiers make them more money than the more expensive ones without ads i'm pretty sure. Make no mistake, ads will creep into all of them or your price will continue to rise and rise.

If you hadn’t noticed, the TV and Film industry is going through a massive crisis at the moment, revenues and profits are way down.

The adverts served on traditional cable/sky networks used to pay more than the cut they get from a streaming service, a lot more. Not so much any more and the cut from streaming hasn’t grown to replace that revenue.

Studio grade film and TV is increasing expensive to make and people have stopped going to the cinema to watch it. The cut from streaming doesn’t make enough money to replace the lost revenue from cinema viewers to pay for a modern film.

They have done this to themselves by catering to non-existent audiences and churning out utter dross at vast expense. Yes part of it is the sheet competition and volume of media coming out all the time but 99% of it is crap. Its recently come out that Netflix are changing the way they develop content so its more palatable to the attention incapable younger generation who have their phones in front of their faces most of the time while watching netflix.

YouTube does need a lot of adverts because it’s an inherently expensive business to deliver. The vast majority of the ad revenue is paid out to the content creator, Google gets 30% of it. Out of that 30% comes the vast infrastructure costs before they make any profit.

Of course it is but they are still making bank on it. The issue, as with all publicly traded companies is that they need to always be making more profit. You either grow your paying customers or you squeeze more out of each one. Thats how these companies work. Google as an entity have a vested interest in creating their ecosystem and as a company their profits last year were around £60bn. They aren't struggling. They are greedy.

Close your account and don’t use the service then.

Or just ditch chrome and move to a browser that allow ublock to function...

See above, the ads and the subscription are ultimately needed to cover the cost of producing the content, particularly for high end TV shows.

You're arguing as if I have a problem with ads and subscriptions. I don't. I have an issue with the race to squeeze every penny out of people so they can pay their shareholders and keep the line moving ever upwards. Netflix at this point is a content factory. The vast majority of it is rubbish. Give it 5 years and we will be back where we were before streaming services were de-facto. Ads everywhere or paying insane money. These companies aren't some of the most valuable in the world because they are rubbing two pennies together.
 
I’m not one to defend a massive company but this is simply not the case at all.

At the end of the day, as much as we have been conditioned to believe the internet is free, it absolutely isn’t. VOD is actually quite expensive to deliver and streaming is on another level of cost.

What isn't the case? they've previously admitted to intentionally using ad patterns tailored to users intended to be frustrating.
 
What isn't the case? they've previously admitted to intentionally using ad patterns tailored to users intended to be frustrating.
Shock horror, they want you to either watch the full ad so they get paid or pay directly for no ads.

All of this.
that and the price they want people to pay for a site that beyond the video player itself hasn't moved on since the 90s with a pathetic comments, history, search and filters, etc. system, etc. etc. which occasionally gets a cosmetic update but no fundamental functionality updates.


The issue isn't with adverts, its the number of them, the length and the way they act. Showing adverts that you have to skip manually if you don't want to watch 2:30 of advert. Showing short adverts that just stop on a static final page until you manually skip. Showing you so many adverts in a video that you can't even be bothered to watch the content because its such a jarring and stuttering experience.
Per the above, the only way they generate revenue is if you actually watch the ads.

I can’t say I’ve ever had an ad which I had to click a button to move past in YouTube.

Skipable ads don’t pay as much money.

For now... they have already said that the ad tiers make them more money than the more expensive ones without ads i'm pretty sure. Make no mistake, ads will creep into all of them or your price will continue to rise and rise.

Got a citation for that? Generally ads don’t pay anything like the subscription revenue per user.

The free tier of Spotify for example is loss making and is subsidised by paying subscribers.


They have done this to themselves by catering to non-existent audiences and churning out utter dross at vast expense. Yes part of it is the sheet competition and volume of media coming out all the time but 99% of it is crap. Its recently come out that Netflix are changing the way they develop content so its more palatable to the attention incapable younger generation who have their phones in front of their faces most of the time while watching netflix.
Not really, the stuff they are churning out today isn’t any more or less dross than it was 10 years ago.

The crisis in the film industry is almost entirely down to a collapse in theatre revenue over Covid which has never recovered. Most of them up until this point were doing fine.

TV (including streaming sites like Netflix) are suffering because there is so much competition now for people’s time and the content costs so much money to produce. There are probably now too many players in the market so no one’s making any money which isn’t sustainable. I’m expecting there to be some consolidation over the next 5 years as the market is currently very fragmented.

Of course it is but they are still making bank on it. The issue, as with all publicly traded companies is that they need to always be making more profit. You either grow your paying customers or you squeeze more out of each one. Thats how these companies work. Google as an entity have a vested interest in creating their ecosystem and as a company their profits last year were around £60bn. They aren't struggling. They are greedy.

Google is making bank but that doesn’t mean YouTube as a business unit is.

We already know they pay out 70% of the ad and subscription revenue so that only leaves 30% for Google before any costs.

The split on things like memberships and super chats is not as high but those are a relatively small element of the revenue.

You are talking about a maximum gross margin of ~30% under their business model. That isn’t huge and only works at scale.

YouTube has substantial infrastructure costs which are only growing as more content is uploaded to the platform daily.

Nothing has been delisted by the platform, the very first videos uploaded are still available today, I’m not sure that is even sustainable.

It’s actually well known that YouTube only started turning a profit in recent years and it’s the main reason there isn’t a direct competitor. Those that have tried have failed because of the costs involved.

TLDR - YouTube isn’t a high margin business model.

It may make a good amount of profit in absolute terms but its profit margins are relatively slim and its capital deployed is significant so its return on investment is not huge and only really works because of Google’s other business units that it has synergies with.

Or just ditch chrome and move to a browser that allow ublock to function...
That’s not really a YouTube thing, that’s Google trying to control the ad market across the internet.

You're arguing as if I have a problem with ads and subscriptions. I don't. I have an issue with the race to squeeze every penny out of people so they can pay their shareholders and keep the line moving ever upwards. Netflix at this point is a content factory. The vast majority of it is rubbish. Give it 5 years and we will be back where we were before streaming services were de-facto. Ads everywhere or paying insane money. These companies aren't some of the most valuable in the world because they are rubbing two pennies together.
Not really, what im trying to say is the internet costs a lot more than what the vast majority of the population thinks it does. Most people think the internet is free, it really isn’t.

The downward trend in quality is largely down to people being unwilling to pay the real cost of producing quality content.

The main reason why the text based internet is disappearing is because no one is willing to pay for it and ad revue for static content has collapsed.

The same applies for news media, it’s now completely trash tier content because they can’t afford to actually do proper journalism anymore because no one want to pay for it.

The short of it is YouTube is a free service and optional content consumption. It's a business.

Pay for it. Steal it. Whatever. Just stop moaning.
This.

Edit: correcting the autocorrect fails!
 
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Netflix at this point is a content factory. The vast majority of it is rubbish.
Whenever I subscribe to Netflix, it's always to watch one particular show, which is inevitably The Great British Baking Show, and I cancel my subscription as soon as I've signed up. Netflix is great at producing massive amounts of content but their content just isn't at all interesting to me.

Apple TV+ has a few shows that I'll happily subscribe for; Silo and Foundation. I always cancel my subscription once those shows have aired their latest season. There's no point in paying for it continuously.

YouTube is different though. It's a service that is continually being updated with good content, so I'm happy to (continually) pay for the ad-free experience there. My wife has a YouTube Premium subscription, and that account is used on our family TV (where the kids watch videos) and her iPhone (where she listens to YouTube Music and watches YouTube). I get by with Grayjay on my Android phone and uBlock Origin on my desktop.
 
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