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Then pay for YT Premium so you don't have ads.

Look, I hate ads. I really do. You can pry uBlock Origin from my cold, dead fingers. But the thing is, sites and creators and whatnot still often choose ads as a way to fund the things they create. If they're pushing ads at you over a medium where you have control (there's a reason why a web browser is a "user agent"), then I think you totally have the right to choose what your user agent does and does not fetch from the remote server. (And I believe uBO does work for YouTube ads?)

But if you're consuming something through a medium where you don't have full control -- such as the YouTube mobile app -- then you get what you get. If the ads are onerously bad enough, and people don't want to pay to remove ads, then fewer people will use YT and Google will dial it back. But there's always the paid option.

I get that many of us don't like ads -- again, I don't either -- and don't like a choice being made for us as to how we're going to "pay" for content online. But this isn't the case here: Google offers an ad-free paid experience. If you get enough value out of YouTube, maybe you should just pay for it. If you don't want to (or can't), then ads (or blocking) it is. Or just don't use it... vote with your feet.

> Then pay for YT Premium so you don't have ads.

Nope. YT Premium only makes the problem worse by requiring you to log in using an account that is tied to your real world identity and was used for payment processing. You just end up giving more data points to Google to track you, cross-reference with other sources and shove more ads in other platforms, still get native ads, and Google can just add their own ads later (as it is happening step by step with streaming companies).

Google is acting as a mobster and you should never pay the protection money. Use your trusty adblocker of choice, NewPipe or yt-dlp.

> But there's always the paid option.

I am sure ads will come to paid option too soon so enjoy while it lasts with truly ad free paid option.

May I introduce you to NewPipe, an excellent client for Android, and https://piped.kavin.rocks/ on desktop/web?

I disagree with the statement that this is " a medium where you don't have full control" — after all those are my devices and I like them to be my (user) agents, not some thurd (sic) party.

The internet population wants everything for free.

Then we get upset when terms change/ we’re the product.

I wish there was a better way.

> Google offers an ad-free paid experience

I wonder how long that will last.

> But if you're consuming something through a medium where you don't have full control -- such as the YouTube mobile app -- then you get what you get.

Hint: it's possible to watch YouTube in the browser on mobile. It's possible to do it with the screen off as well, using some browsers. Do with this information what you will.

The problem is that YouTube is ramping up the number of ads. So what changed? Many creators have been getting plenty rich from the relatively fewer ads that have been shown over the years (which I've been quite happy with). If they are showing more ads for the creators sake then fine, but I am skeptical that is the case.
I have YT premium. It only stops the ads in the beginning. It does nothing for the in-show ads - the sponsored stuff. I wish that was required to be flagged and skipped as well.
Adblock is free, and doesn't help YouTube make more ads.
Why does anyone put up with ads? Install uBlock Origin → no ads.

Also, if you install SponsorBlock then at least for popular videos you will probably never see an ad from a video creator either. You can even have it skip self–promotional segments (Subscribe Now!), repetitive animations and intro sequences, credits, previews, etc.

Years ago I got my not-so-tech-savvy parents using an ad blocker on their laptop, and recently when I upgraded them to a new device they briefly experienced the internet without an ad blocker and thought something was wrong with their brand new computer.

Once you experience the digital landscape with ads blocked, you quickly realize the mindblowing amount of advertising people are subjected to thru traditional media. I always wonder how much energy we're collectively wasting by sending people ads that they don't want to see, or will be blocked and never seen at all. What a waste

That works well on a desktop browser, but the YouTube ads are still a problem on iOS and other platforms like smart TVS, Roku or Chromecast/Google TV.
It's probably apt to ask yourself what sort of revenue model you prefer to support for the value provided. YouTube is a rare case where they offer multiple options.
Most of internet users are not tech savvy. And they overwhelmingly end up paying the "ad tax" imposed on the web.
There's a lot of people here who act like the only ones annoyed by this are people who refuse to pay for YouTube premium. But here's the thing... /I/ do pay for YouTube premium, and I still find this annoying. Here's why: I'm not always logged into my personal Google account on a device, and I don't necessarily want to log in on some devices to my personal Google account, but I still need or want to use YouTube. YouTube /is/ a wealth of information, and it's worth paying for, but that wealth of information often extends into topics which are, for instance, relevant in the workplace, but I am not going to login to my personal account on a work device.

Increased ads affect everyone, not just people who don't pay, paying only limits how it affects you in /some/ ways, but not completely.

In cases like these, I use multiple personas in Chrome (I think Firefox has user profiles) so I can log into my personal accounts on my work computer while still keeping everything compartmentalized.
The solution to this is $11.99 a month.

The way consumers value things is insane to me. People will fork over $12 on DoorDash delivery fees, an overpriced drink, a coffee, etc. but to remove ads for access to an enormous vault of content that provides endless value, NEVER!!!

And at 12$ a month I still have to watch through all these 1min long sponsored segments.

YouTube without sponsorblock became unusable. For iOS I recommend uYouPlus: https://github.com/qnblackcat/uYouPlus

Everyone starts paying them 11.99 or whatever and they will still start adding ads. Gotta keep the revenue charts pointing up for the investors.
Cable TV started that way. No ads because you paid $x/month.
Where does it say paying actually will remove ads, and if it is, how long it will be until google will change their mind?
I've been using YouTube less because of ads. Partially consciously after a set of two long ads to send the message that this harms engagement, partially I just get annoyed and stay away naturally. If they're ramping it up.... crap.

It's not like there's an alternative and I'm not that fond of making the monopolist more entrenched by giving google, of all companies, more money in a subscription and tying the account to a real-world identity, also when considering all the other stuff google already collect on me.

(I've tried Nebula and CuriosityStream which many creators I watch constantly promote(d). Was done with the interesting content in one week and its size means there's very little fresh material, and also it doesn't run on the tv which I could work around with extra hardware if it were amazing but...)

An alternative is, of course, YouTube Premium. Their pricing always seemed very high to me, but now I wonder if it was meant to be in the context of this number of ads.
…Ads? On YouTube?

_confused look_

I haven’t seen an ad on the Internet in nearly 20 years, ever since the first adblocker got released for Phoenix in 2003 (what became Firebird, then Firefox).

I'm sure there are ads you've seen on YouTube, they just look slightly different to what you have in mind.

But first, this comment wouldn't be possible without Deutsche Bahn, the n°1 train provider in Germany. If you go to their website right now with promo code "probably_wrong" you get extra delay on your next trip. If you're going to be late, be late with Deutsche Bahn. Remember: promo code, free delay.

Now, back to our comment. YouTube is full of ads, the only difference being who gets the money from them. Is one of the reasons why some people here don't want to pay for it - you get less ads, but not ad-free.

Same. I honestly forget it has ads since installing firefox followed by ublock origin are the first two things I do on any computer I'm going to be using extensively. Over the years with different adblockers and browsers, some ads have squeaked through, but on the whole I've lived ad-free on the internet for almost two decades as well.
You're ok knowing YT content creators can't monetize their content when you watch it?
YouTube is mostly consumed on mobile and in their app where adblocking is more difficult.
yea sure, we'll all play along with this :)
Every time this subject comes up, the comments are filled with people who feel entitled to watch YouTube for free (not willing to pay in attention or in hard currency). "If you don't watch to pay for it or watch ads, don't use the service" just gets ignored, and people post ridiculous replies like "lol I just block all ads" . . . it's as if YouTube is as necessary to their survival as water.

It's also great because it demonstrates how full of BS many of the "if I had a choice to pay for the <ad-supported thing> I would" crowd are . . . not all, of course, but I bet there's a sizeable intersection between the two categories.

YouTube is a monopoly, and either needs to be regulated as a utility or broken up.

Nit: YouTube offers no such service. You will still see ads if you pay for YouTube premium, because YouTube policgies incentivize creators to put ads and sponsorships in the video

I pay for YouTube Premium, and happily so. There’s A LOT of great content there—probably even better content than Netflix.

And you want to know what else? While it’s just okay, it includes ad-free music from YouTube Music. So, win, win? Until someone comes out with a better offer, I’ll continue to give more money to Google.

Is it public what percent of a YT Premium subscription is shared with creators?
What bothers me is that YouTube kids is now showing ads.
If google would agree to stop tracking me and selling my data, I would be willing to stop blocking ads. As it is, I don’t see why I should pay twice.
I already spend much less time on YT since they butchered their recommendations. Now I‘ll think twice before clicking on a video, so I very much welcome this change. Just as you can watch incredible videos about every topic on YouTube, you can waste hours watching junk. To me, this change is a great incentive not to do the latter.
Discussed yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32835071
I use ublock origin on desktop/mobile (Vivaldi and Kiwi) and don't see any ads, I use SmartTubeNext on my Android TV and don't see any ads, so not sure how are they unskippable, if I don't even see them
I have been noticing I haven't been watching youtube much lately. This will certainly be a final nail in the coffin to get me to stop watching youtube. Which I figure is a great thing. So bring this on!
YouTube in 2006:

“Hey everybody, upload your videos, so everyone can watch them for free!”

YouTube in 2022:

“Hey everybody, if you want to watch everyone’s videos, you gotta watch 10 ads first or pay us money!”

I still remember YouTube ramping up ads starting at the beginning of lockdowns in 2020. It was the first time I was seeing double unskippable ads and 14 second ads.
3rd world country proxy, linux... get creative
If you want to watch YouTube without ads on your phone, go to the website using the Brave browser -- it works perfectly.
It has been so long since I've seen a YouTube ad I forget it has them. I pay my $7.99 a month and never see an ad.
Orion, on macOS, blocks all YouTube ads with just the builtin ad blocked.
YouTube won't do this. They're only trying it.
Well, that’s just great news after they completely botched HDR handling on the AppleTV client (it now flickers back and forth several times between display modes on my TV, so I miss the first queen seconds of everything).