The Verge reports that YouTube is rolling out advertisements that show up when you pause videos, continuing experiments that the company started a year ago. A YouTube representative confirmed that the practice will now become commonplace “as we’ve seen both strong advertiser and strong viewer response.”

The representative said that advertising on paused videos is designed to create a “less interruptive” experience. But as The Verge notes, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to see a drop in the increasing load of obnoxious and often unskippable advertising on YouTube. And since I’m seeing more and more creators pack their videos with sponsorships, I somehow doubt that the people making YouTube’s content are going to get a bigger slice of the advertising pie.

“We estimate we can sell up to 80 percent of an individual’s visual field before inducing seizures,” said the fictional CEO (of a company that bears more than a passing resemblance to Google) in Ready Player One.

Apropos of nothing, it’s possible to block every single ad on YouTube — even the sponsorships that are baked into the videos themselves — on both desktop and mobile.

  • Billiam@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    A YouTube representative confirmed that the practice will now become commonplace “as we’ve seen both strong advertiser and strong viewer response.”

    Anyone else get the idea that these two “responses” were vastly different?

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      What they mean to say is, “Surprisingly, this didn’t annoy people nearly as much as we had assumed. Score!”

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        “Did that pause screen ad make you want to quit using YouTube?”

        “Yes, but what alternative is there?”

        “Success!”

  • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    What is the industry as a whole trying to get out of this advertisement craze anyway? In the 80s many people in the developed world earned more than twice of what they needed for living. They had lots of cash to just shop around. Now most people barely earn enough to get by and we’re bombarded with easily a hundred times more ads or more. Sorry, but I can’t afford your millionth AI powered NFT sneakers subsciption model no matter how many ads you throw at me. I just cant’t.

  • harsh3466@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    I so look forward to seeing an ad when I pause a video to inspect whatever is on the screen at that moment.

  • over_clox@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    So, aside from numerous other angry words I could say…

    How is this going to affect incoming phone calls? Will I be able to at least talk with my friend, without having to hear ads the whole time because I was watching a video?

    Just a friendly reminder, https://grayjay.app/ is a thing, screw the YouTube app.

  • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I will often pause educational videos to study something on screen. Putting ads over that ruins the experience.

    I have YT premium mainly for YT music, but I do consume a lot (read: too much) YT content. I split the family plan with 4 other members outside of my wife and I, so it’s like $3 per month for just me. I’m not logged in on my work computer, and the amount of ads is insanely intrusive and a off putting. I honestly think that if I didn’t have a premium sub, I’d almost never use the platform because it’s so bad.

  • jasep@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    [Google] will shove ads in your face [literally any time any place they can get away with it]

    Fixed title

  • jbrains@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    I guess it’s time for a “mark this time so I can go back to it” feature, to reduce the need to pause. 🤷‍♂️

  • WolfdadCigarette@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    >pause to allow video to buffer
    >several ads load
    >time required to buffer actually increases by pausing
    >set a script to jump back 1 second every second
    >finally get to watch your video