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Ask Slashdot: Would You Pay To Subscribe To YouTube? 177

Long-time Slashdot reader shanen writes: If you don't watch YouTube, then more power to you, but if you do watch it, then I bet you have noticed more and more intrusive and noisy and much longer ads along with frequent reminders that you can pay up and make the noise go away.

Feels like extortion to me and I'm not going to pay a blackmailer. But someone must be paying up. Is it you? Or do you even know anyone who is paying?

The original submission also shares shanen's argument that Google is exploiting copyright loopholes to monetize other people's copyrighted content. "It wouldn't even matter how much pirate video is uploaded to YouTube if the Google didn't make it easy to find... If the Google actually wanted to stop the piracy, the algorithm is obvious... The famous content has famous keywords and the searches for those keywords can be whitelisted. Pirate results can be disappeared and replaced with results that belong to the actual creator with legitimate exceptions for fair use." (But instead, the argument goes, they're just asking you for money to remove their ads on that content...)

That's shanen's opinion -- but what's yours? And would you pay to subscribe to YouTube?
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Ask Slashdot: Would You Pay To Subscribe To YouTube?

Comments Filter:
  • It is worth it for the download and "play video in background" alone.
    • That's a deliberately broken phone and tablet model. Desktop doesn't have that "feature". Phones shouldn't, either.

    • "It is worth it for the download and "play video in background" alone."

      No. I use an old phone for that for free.

    • What do you think streaming is, other than downloading?

      I suggest not configuring your client to overwrite the pointer to the downloaded video in memory, and making sure the memory is not of a volatile kind.

      I would also suggest not falling for protection rackets.

    • yes , but WOULD you like to pay for SW radio? ! ?! ?
    • "play video in background"

      We used to call them audio drama and you can get those at audible.

    • by rikkards ( 98006 )

      Ditto, the included access to their music selection Google Play makes it even better. I had a subscription for the latter and when I found that out, I flipped to the Youtube subscription. I watch at least 60 hours a month of Youtube so for me it was worth it.

    • No.
      And using adblock.

  • I use my mobile browser for YouTube. I never see ads advertising subscriptions. I think that only happens if you use the YouTube app.

    • by tepples ( 727027 )

      YouTube on desktop web shows ads for subscriptions to both YouTube Premium and the more cable-like YouTube TV.

      • by larwe ( 858929 )
        Yet another instance, btw, of "two different Google things that ought to be the same thing", IMHO. I can't keep track of their offerings. Wasn't there something called YouTube Red until recently? And now Google Play Music is being deprecated, and isn't there something called YouTube Play Music?
        • YouTube Premium indeed was once called YouTube Red. I imagine the change must have had something to do with explicit sexual videos available through RedTube.

        • Maybe we just need to stop thinking of the interface and content as one. Already for email using thunderbird is a very different experience from going to Hotmail, even if it's all POP3 to the same mailbox.

          The app and website are not the videos. Use your "right tool" for YouTube content.

    • If you can, set your phone to always use your own DNS. And then point it to an ad blocking one. :)
      Preferably one that points them to a dummy server that serves up empties, so your apps don't stall.

      I run my own BIND on my home server, and forced my phone to use my VPN in always-on mode, going to that same server. That way it always uses my DHCP and hence my name server, gateway, firewall, etc.

      I also mounted the server's storage to a path on my phone (currently via sshfs), but I n
      to avoid it being slow or sta

    • Adblock stops all ads for me so far on my computer. My TV shows ads though, because I haven't found a good adblock on my router that doesn't screw stuff up.

  • Netflix. Hulu. CBS All Access. Disney+, HBO Plus. What else?

    This is not the a la carte cable TV that we wanted.

    Although if they were all $4.99 per month, then maybe.
    • Re:Me? No. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Rockoon ( 1252108 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @02:22PM (#59521432)
      More to the point I think..

      All those streaming services are for commercial content. Youtube is for indie content.

      If Youtube turns into yet-another-commercial-content provider, then it will be giving up the indie content in the process, and dont for a second think there arent other platforms that will gladly take over the indie content. Twitch is one such platform poised to do so.

      I realize that Google has failed to create their own compelling commercial-content-provider, but that in no way makes it the correct movie to try to ham-fist Youtube into being one. It would come to be known as the most epic fail of the digital age to abandon the indie content dominance that they have.

      Every move Google has made in recent years w.r.t. Youtube has been threatening to weaken their own dominance of indie video. There are indie Youtube channels with over 4 million subscribers that Youtube now makes ZERO dollars off of for Youtubes political partisanship reasons and no other.

      Maybe some people believe that "because advertisers dont want to advertise on that" is a valid excuse, but why is it that cable and broadcast television doesnt have that problem? Other media has been giving advertisers a choice about what programs and channels to advertise on for far longer than most Google employees have even been alive. Youtube just needs to do that too, but they wont, and thats the real truth of their "because advertisers" excuses, that that excuse is bullshit and always was. Its a flat-out lie.

      For proof of this, lets consider Louder with Crowder. Millions of subscribers, viewership numbers that outclass most cable t.v. channels, and was fully demonetized by Youtube "because advertisers" about 6 months ago. Crowder has somehow gotten his own advertisers. Walther is a commercial company that purchases sponsorship on his show. Their "because advertisers" excuse stems entirely from not letting advertisers like Walther choose.

      Now, giving advertisers a choice as to what to advertise on may cut into Youtubes revenue. While this can clearly be true, it does not make "because advertisers" a valid excuse. It makes the true excuse "because a system that lets advertisers choose, like what broadcast and cable television has been doing for decade upon decade, will hurt our profits."

      Youtube IS slowly destroying its indie dominance. It isnt just from what comes from their bias. Its also in their increased push for commercial content. Its a huge mistake. They wont be able to get the indie market back once its gone, and the commercial content makers have already proven that they will jump ship to their own platforms sooner or later (just ask Netflix about that.) The indie market is the one thing they can surely hold onto, and they are doing everything they can to throw it away instead.
      • dont for a second think there arent other platforms that will gladly take over the indie content. Twitch is one such platform poised to do so.

        A Twitch user must be an Affiliate in order to upload a video to Twitch (source [twitch.tv]. Only regular live streamers are eligible for Affiliate status (source [twitch.tv]). This means that a user who ordinarily makes scripted, edited videos must first learn to make live streams in order to gain enough subscribers for Affiliate status. What are good resources for a user to make the transition from edited videos to live streams?

        Maybe some people believe that "because advertisers dont want to advertise on that" is a valid excuse, but why is it that cable and broadcast television doesnt have that problem?

        Because broadcast television and basic cable television channels have "broadcasting standards and prac

        • A Twitch user must be an Affiliate in order to upload a video to Twitch (source [twitch.tv].

          And that can be changed at any moment. Thus, you didnt say anything meaningful.

          Because broadcast television and basic cable television channels have "broadcasting standards and practices"

          Don't mix things up. You are attributing the wrong reason for this. Broadcasters have a limited resource, broadcast time. They are trying to maximize advertising revenue for this time.

          Also because broadcast television and basic cable television channels have enough scale to shop a series around to Big National Brands that won't give an individual the time of day.

          You've got it entirely backwards. Advertisers are the ones shopping around, not the broadcasters. The broadcasters are simply waiting for the advertisers to bid on time. Some content is notable for the heights that the bidding gets to, such as du

      • Really? https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

        Christmas movie.

    • by hjf ( 703092 )

      I've been saying it for years. Optimistic idiots think: If I pay $80 a month for 80 channels, and only watch 5, then with "a la carte" cable I'll only pay $5 a month for the 5 channels I watch.

      It doesn't work like that.

      • It works great for me. I'm paying $2/mo for Hulu, and everything else throws me another free trial month every year that's plenty for watching everything I care about on their platform.

        It seems a lot of people just underestimated how many channels they want to watch and how badly they want to watch them.

    • by kqs ( 1038910 )

      You missed Apple TV+, YouTube Premium, every premium (Showtime, Epix, Starz, etc) and probably way more.

      For years people told me that they wanted a la carte TV channels, and I told them that they really, really didn't, that channels would cost more a la carte than bundled. If you get 200 channels for $100, that doesn't mean that each channel is $0.50; it means that the ones you watch are $5-$20 each, the ones you ignore are a few cents each, and the shopping channels are -$2 each.

      It's actually good for me;

  • Hahahaha (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @11:47AM (#59520998)

    No.

    • by marcle ( 1575627 )

      No.

      Rarely go there, never use the app only my browser with ad blockers, and cannot fathom why I should pay them money so that they can track me and serve me ads. Not just no, but hell no.

      • by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

        At the random occasion I see an ad it's not relevant anyway.

        But I wouldn't pay, it would be a way to make me leave.

        For the channels that I think are really worth it I use Patreon to make sure the creators get paid.

  • probably not (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gbjbaanb ( 229885 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @11:50AM (#59521006)

    Most people on the internet have gooten used to "its free", partly because Google built that model out. now they want to charge.... there would be a big backlash. Its not as if YT makes its own content either, people would pay for netflix or similar, not for random videos on YT.

    That's important to note, all that YT content could go elsewhere, all the music to a different streaming channel (MTV online might reappear) and the good scraps to their own channels, or get picked up by other broadcasters to get delivered alongside their own content. Could I see Dust or Omellete on Netflix.. yes, easily. Could I see "OMG you'll never believe the top ten thing you never knew about what Microsoft does in Windows"... doubtful.

    As for pirate content, kurzgesagt did a great piece on FB doing the exact same thing [youtube.com]. And it continues because the pirates end up giving FB the revenue that would not end up in the hands of the content creators.

  • We got my kids a subscription to Google Play Music for Christmas a few years ago. The family plan for $15.00/month and came with free YouTube Premium (called Red at the time). So, I haven't seen a commercial in years. YouTube has split the services and getting both costs a lot more now to get both. So, If I want to keep both, I'm kind of trapped. I doubt I am going to keep handing Google $15.00/month forever. At some point both my kids will finish college, and they can cover the cost of the service be
  • by larwe ( 858929 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @11:53AM (#59521016)
    I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but it is simply not plausible to believe that Google is trying to turn YouTube into a paid pirate stream site by blind-eyeing illegal content uploads and annoying users into paid subscriptions by ever-increasing ad load. For one thing, the company has really deep pockets and is very easy to find. Actual pirate streaming sites are much more ephemeral and have negligible assets that rightsholders could go after.

    Google seems to have a really, really, really bad track record of making consumers pay actual money for services. (They do have success at B2B paid services, e.g. GSuite). And they do have a really, really, really good track record of making money off of advertising. So, it seems much more likely that two totally different divisions of the company, that probably don't talk much, are trying to maximize their own individual KPIs, and from the outside creating the impression of some grand master plan. The advertising guys are stacking more and more ads into popular content (btw, thank goodness Adblock works perfectly on YT content... for now). The Youtube guys are trying to create direct monetization of their userbase for ... some KPI I can't think of (maybe to create regular recurring rev rather than lumpy ad dollars?).

    • Kid, the media industry ITSELF is uploading that stuff "illegally", ever since at least Warner were caught red-handed, doing exactly that!

      Because even with how utterly deluded those cokeheads are, even they realized that that way they actually make MORE money.
      Something small independent music labels had already figured out less than a year after Napster. (I worked in the business from 1999 to 2004, and had contacts until 2007.)

      Because it is advertisement.

      So, yeah, a silly theory.

  • by tgetzoya ( 827201 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @11:57AM (#59521022)
    I started a subscription to Google Play Music when it first came out for $7.99/mo. It's still that much but now includes no ads on Youtube. The no-ads part is the main reason I keep it now.
    • I started a subscription to Google Play Music when it first came out for $7.99/mo. It's still that much but now includes no ads on Youtube. The no-ads part is the main reason I keep it now.

      Yep, same here, except I'd keep it just for the music. I see the ad-free YouTube as a bonus.

  • Qualified Yes... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rockmuelle ( 575982 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @12:00PM (#59521032)

    I would pay for YouTube (and Facebook and other sites) if they were simply pay for the upkeep of the service and there was no tracking, ads, creepy stuff, or excessive profit taking. Just a solid service that let you share videos and nothing else (or just a social network and nothing else). Cost of running the service plus a reasonable profit for YouTube to invest in its future (cost + 20%, for instance).

    With a few hundred million users paying, say $5/month, you should have no problem running a site like that. Especially since by paying users will have more of a sense of ownership and we’d likely get a more well behaved user base.

    Of course, that’s not anywhere near the world we’ve created and now that the data collection/selling cat is out bag, I don’t see investors ever letting us go back. There’s just too much money to be made the current way.

    (PS: if there are any investors reading this and interested in trying, DM me... Iet’s workshop this idea... :) )

    • I actually advocate a "business model" called Charity Share Brokerage that could accomplish your objectives. But it will never catch on, because it's only for recovering costs and therefore it can't compete with the aggressive bastards who are hoping to win the lottery. Greed is a fake problem because there's no solution. No amount of profit will make the greed become satisfied.

      Yeah, some person has to win the lottery. But even more people have to lose. Far more losers than winners.

      In my original submission

    • I would pay for YouTube (and Facebook and other sites) if they were simply pay for the upkeep of the service and there was no tracking, ads, creepy stuff, or excessive profit taking.

      I feel the same way, but I got tired of explaining, "If I get a free magic pony, yes, otherwise no" and just switched to "no."

  • by Malays Boweman ( 5369355 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @12:01PM (#59521034)
    and if they get too out of control, there are other like services to go to, and other people will migrate to those services. In time, they will eat Youtube's lunch.
  • by caseih ( 160668 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @12:01PM (#59521036)

    I never the YouTube website or app at all. I was shocked at all the intrusive advertising last time I had to use the YouTube android app. On the desktop with Firefox running your standard essential safe-browsing add-ons, YouTube doesn't show ads at all. I much prefer watching outside the browser, though. For that I use tools like mpv, youtube-dl or the big and bloated FreeTube application. Much nicer experience user experience with those. Once I cannot use youtube-dl, I'll not be watching youtube at all.

    In the meantime, most of the channels I watch have other means of funding, such as Patreon, or sponsorships with promotionals I can skip through since I've seen them so many times. I don't mind channel sponsors asking for a promotional message in the video itself.

  • The way that You-tube is now, 1 Zimbabwe dollar, per year.
  • by mark-t ( 151149 ) <markt.nerdflat@com> on Sunday December 15, 2019 @12:07PM (#59521060) Journal

    ... that Youtube puts into videos, often right in the middle of someone speaking.

    Honestly, I'd rather have to sit through as much as a minute or so of unskippable commercials at the beginning of a video than I would having to see even 5 seconds of a commercial that happens right in the middle of a sentence.

    Either creators need to provide special marks in their uploaded videos which can indicate to youtube when commercials may possibly be inserted, or youtube should not allow the video to be publicly viewable unless the video has already been suitably sponsored and Youtube would not need to insert commercials into it anyways. Youtube could even provide tools for creators to assist in this, so that they may optionally provide time indexes after uploading a video which are points where Youtube can insert commercials if it wants to.

    • by Kjella ( 173770 )

      Youtube could even provide tools for creators to assist in this, so that they may optionally provide time indexes after uploading a video which are points where Youtube can insert commercials if it wants to.

      I believe YouTube already have the tools [google.com], they're just not being used.

    • by shanen ( 462549 )

      What you are seeing there is mostly pirates monetizing OTHER people's stolen content. That particular flavor of criminal is getting paid by the google for the ad clicks.

      When I submitted the story I should have included a list of the forms of abuse. I'd only rank that one third or fourth from the top. I think the worst abuse is actually the fake news sites using YouTube to spread their lies and propaganda with viral marketing approaches.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • One of the reasons I haven't subscribed is because there's no guarantee that I still wouldn't see ads - in the form of 'this video is sponsored by.....' crap that runs 30sec to several minutes in a video. I'm not paying to see ads. Period.
  • Content creators, mostly through Patreon. Google/YouTube is actually proving the least value to me, since content creators could torrent their videos instead of run them on YouTube.
  • Only (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Wolfier ( 94144 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @12:21PM (#59521106)

    Only if it is 100% ad-free. Zero sponsored contents. No ad before, during, after, or between videos.
    Otherwise there's zero point.

  • by e**(i pi)-1 ( 462311 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @12:22PM (#59521108) Homepage Journal
    it is not so much the hassle to login and the pay. the biggest problem with apps and subscriptions is thew shameless tracking, harvesting and profiling which is done virtually everywhere. it used to be that one would pay for a newspaper or a cable subscription or listen to radio without that big data scavengers would hunt you down with profiling and interpreting any preferences just to be able to target you with the right type of adds. If somebody would come up with a subscription service working for news, books, video, music sites in which the user can remain sure to be kept alone without thousands of analysts and AI bots watching constantly over your shoulder, then it might have a future. Otherwise, it is just creepy. Worse even is the prospect that subscription services adapt their content to the audience. You are located in Massachusetts, you get a different content than in Texas, You are male, you get a different news, things get adapted according to age also or family status, you are politically liberal, you get fed different type of content. With the current shameless abuse of privacy and lack of transparency what is done with your data: no. If privacy rules were stronger, maybe.
  • Extortion: Pay money or suffer pain of some activity.

    Blackmail: Pay money to keep information from being released.

    These terms are not freely interchangeable.

    • by shanen ( 462549 )

      Good point, and you are right that I was sloppy in my wording. But it's Slashdot, after all.

      Still, "extortion" sounds quite harsh.

      Now I'm wondering what term should be used to describe paying to stop fake information from being released? After all, some of the heaviest users of YouTube are propagandists using YouTube for the viral promotion of fake news stories. It would be kind of a social good if I could pay the google to stop spreading so many lies, eh?

      • Now I'm wondering what term should be used to describe paying to stop fake information from being released? After all, some of the heaviest users of YouTube are propagandists using YouTube for the viral promotion of fake news stories.

        The intent is bribery, but they'll take your money and keep doing it, so it is actually just appeasement, which of course never works.

        • by shanen ( 462549 )

          Now I'm wondering what term should be used to describe paying to stop fake information from being released? After all, some of the heaviest users of YouTube are propagandists using YouTube for the viral promotion of fake news stories.

          The intent is bribery, but they'll take your money and keep doing it, so it is actually just appeasement, which of course never works.

          Another good point, but I didn't get your other one regarding Epstein. However my theory is that his real business model was probably blackmail and his victims are hoping that his decryption passwords (for the spicy videos) died with him. In solution terms, he should have been required to wear an anti-suicide watch.

      • Good point, and you are right that I was sloppy in my wording. But it's Slashdot, after all.

        It isn't just you, it's everywhere, even big name journalists and news organizations. I've been seeing and hearing it repeatedly through this whole Epstein affair and it seems like nobody even notices.

  • I've been watching youtube for more than 10 years with an adblocker so pretty much never saw an ad, but I spend so many hours a week watching videos on the platform that makes kind of fare to pay for.

    I have no problem paying for stuff if it is reasonably priced, easy to use (and I use it a lot), and the model of free with ads, paying with no ads is also reasonable, so if you don't use a lot they have some revenue stream, and if you do and want the service to be sustainable in the long run, pay up. Just wis

    • >"What I find an asshole move is cable, which you pay, through the nose, to have 90% of crap that you don't like bundled and still watch intrusive ads that are louder than the original show and run longer and longer every day."

      The difference is that anyone with any sense is and has been using a DVR (like TiVo) with cable, for countless years now. No commercials are forced with that model. Sure, they are there, but can be skipped quickly/easily. This is NOT the model that most streaming services (like

  • >"Ask Slashdot: Would You Pay To Subscribe To YouTube?"

    No. Because having a subscription guarantees that Google is then monitoring and manipulating things even more. Something I already don't want and take active steps to prevent.

    I would much rather see a viable non-Google option emerge. One without censorship and manipulation, other than self-moderation and categorization by the users (and with opt outs and full disclosure as to what is being done). Several exist, but none really have enough inertia

  • If youtube was sponsoring content worth watching, maybe I would. In the mean time, I am fine sponsoring content creators directly.

  • 9$ a month is it? I get google music too. I want to pay for services that offer my an add free experience. I would pay for slashdot too.

  • That's a first to me. It's not like I go there very often, but still, I've never ever seen one. Either I'm not in their target demographic, or I don't watch merchandised vids (doubtful), or AddBlock takes care of that.
  • I pay even though all my desktops are linux and no ads would be shown anyway. I'm really paying for Google Music (comes included with youtube sub) which allows me to listen to just about anything (like Spotify) and I'm also able to upload my own mp3s and sync them across all my devices. For that, it's worth it to me.

  • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Sunday December 15, 2019 @01:00PM (#59521232) Homepage Journal

    I run ublock origin and noscript, and just by blocking the domains that let google spy on me across the rest of the web, I've somehow made it so that youtube videos won't play. So I have to use youtube-dl and download videos before I can play them.

    For that matter, reCAPTCHA doesn't work, either. When I go to a site that uses reCAPTCHA, I get errors about not being able to connect to it. I'm not sure if that's actually about my blocking, though, since it works about one time in twenty.

    If google wants to abandon their sneaky bullshit spying on my activity on other sites, then I'll consider giving them money for youtube. Otherwise, I'll just keep downloading until I can't any more. Then maybe I'll do something constructive with my time.

  • I pay around 10 euro for high quality (compared to youtube) film, tv series for say entflix or amazon prime. It would have to be a very very low price for me to pay anything on youtube, seeing most of it is low quality low density (long and not much in it) content. Maybe ... 25 cent ?
  • As per title. None of this "you're paying but you still have to see this important message from our sponsors" BS.

    • Magazines and newspapers have used a blend of subscription revenue and advertising revenue for decades before cable TV existed. Among other things, a paywall helps assure advertisers that a partly ad-supported publication's readership is likely to have enough disposable income to purchase the advertisers' products.

  • So, I got really annoyed when I started getting 2 ads (not even 5s skippable), and even wanted to completely stop watching youtube....then I realized how hypocrite I am:
    - about 1 month before, I stopped PrimeVideo because twitch would still show me 30s unskippable ads of their shows (the Gran Tour was the only reason for it, which ended 1 year ago....3 month twitch video retention was nice, but ads were the last straw)
    - I still payed HBOGo for GoT which I still did not finish watching (left it somewhere in

  • by jimbo ( 1370 )

    I only use it occasionally. Except for the time I discovered the Red Green show was on there in its entirety in its own channel.

  • by W2k ( 540424 )

    Well, I already do. Much the same reason as why I got Spotify Premium back in the day. When I start getting a lot of my media through a certain site, and that site has ads, then I strongly feel that I would rather pay money to get rid of the ads, than pay by watching ads and wasting time that could be better spent on something else.

    I don't use Youtube Music or any of the other extras (why would I need another music service when there's Spotify) but just skipping the ads is worth it for me.

  • What ads? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kbahey ( 102895 ) on Sunday December 15, 2019 @02:22PM (#59521434) Homepage

    What ads?

    You do use the uBlock Origin add-on [wikipedia.org], don't you?

  • There are already lots of places to get Compressed All To Rat Shit video with Crappy 1940's quality comb-filtered "lets pretend it's stereo" Audio. Why would I want to pay for that? If you really insist on paying for that level of crap, then there are even "Under the Bottom" streaming companies that provide that, example, Crave TV.

    YouTube, like WiFi, is for the kiddies to amuse themselves, and not something for serious use.

  • About 6 weeks ago I found that YouTube was offering a 2 month free trial of YouTube Premium. That means no ads on any video and also access to the Premium only content.

    PRE-ROLL It's been great not having MID-ROLL ads scattered ANOTHER MID-ROLL all over videos POST-ROLL. Especially as some of them were multiple minutes wrong. I think the longest I saw was some 20+ minute long religious documentary, but usually they were at most 5 minutes and it had REALLY gotten annoying. Given I wanted to 'view' the

  • Upon reflection, I think my submission should have included some sort of ontology to categorize the various forms of YouTube abuse. I focused on the piracy because it's so flagrant and because it's what most of the eyeballs come for. Also, the piracy was heavily featured in Move Fast and Break Things (the book which I did mention, but which the EditorDavid cut out (though I basically like what EditorDavid did with my submission)).

    However now I feel like it's too late to present the full ontology, so I'm j

  • I just give directly to the creators when I can (e.g. Paypal and the like, e.g. with things like Dave Pakman's Membership) or via Patreon (like with Secular Talk). The fewer middle men the better.
  • I don't think the content is worth paying for and if I do then I contribute directly via Patreon or similar and not through YouTube which might not guarantee the other party a fair cut.

  • I subscribed to Google music for unlimited music.
    Youtube came along for the ride along with a whole bunch of other stuff and I really can't complain.
    I may have to rethink the situation if that ganges

  • Then there's Steve on YouTube pushing $30/gallon gas in a can
  • i am already cutting back on my internet usage, and by next year i will even use the internet less, i am just not that "into it" anymore except for necessary things (bill pay and shopping mostly) for entertainment i am happy listening to the AM/FM/shortwave radio and rarely watch OTA TV channels because i refuse to pay the cable company for TV channels that are already 30 percent advertising
  • I don't mind the ads as you can skip most of them after a few seconds. To me its a small price to pay for how much YouTube has benefited my life (mainly in the form of how-to videos for repairing/assembling things that would otherwise be very hard to discover content for). I remember the days of having to hoof it to the 'Library' and spend a few hours of my limited free time trying to track down repair manuals or otherwise hard to find info (think pre-Internet).

    If YouTube suddenly became paywalled, I mi
  • I subscribe to a Google Play Music family plan. So for $15/month me, my wife, and a friend on the account get all the music we want with the ability to upload anything that isn't normally available for streaming, and they throw in ad free YouTube for free. Would I pay for just ad free YouTube? No. Is it a nice add-on that makes our existing subscription more worth it? You bet.
  • but mainly because it's the only real consistent solution across all platforms. It's putting money where my mouth is where I say "I'll pay for good content without ads." I think there's a lot of good stuff posted by independent producers (ex: Big Clive) that don't post elsewhere worth saving my time not having to see ads,

    That's the tradeoff - pay for it by being forced to watch ads or just pay for it. It's not crazy expensive.

  • I recently started paying for youtube - the ads were getting annoying (i refuse to use ad blockers on what i guess are ethical grounds).
    But the ads actually made me think - I watch more youtube (educational and techie channels) per day than netflix or other media (don't have TV). It just seems fair to pay like 12$ for six people (family plan) pero month to get rid of the ads, pay youtube something, and give the creators a couple of pennies. This seems like a fair deal.
    Ah, the package includes Youtube Music
  • YouTube recently reorganized their front page. Before I'd see videos from my subscriptions, and perhaps other videos from related channels that might interest me. Now all I see is the clickbaity high-volume crap. The stuff that gets miliions of views and therefore maximum incremental ad revenue for Google.

    My wife has YouTube premium and I asked her what she sees on the front page. Same crap. But why must this be? If there is no advertising to be had, then why not serve the paying customer's interests? I'

  • by Static ( 1229 ) on Monday December 16, 2019 @05:23AM (#59523542) Homepage

    I signed up for Youtube Red almost as soon as it came out mostly because I got annoyed once too many times by the pre-roll ads. But I'd also realized I was watching more Youtube content than broadcast TV (and I've had a DVR for years). As a very pleasant bonus, the initial subscription gave me Youtube Music - which I absolutely love because the music I listen to is on Youtube in preference to almost any other streaming service (though more of it is on Spotify now).

    In my experience, Youtube is almost unique amongst video and audio streaming services because it sits in the middle of them like pretty much no-one else does. Plenty of indie video content, but also licensed content, too. And the music content has the advantage that you have the music videos as well as all the music.

    Wade.

  • by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Monday December 16, 2019 @11:40AM (#59524414)
    $144 a year to disable ads and download videos in an environment where uBO already blocks their ads and youtube-dl already downloads their videos (and can even download just the audio track for most videos)? Their prices are way too high. I also don't like that it's bundled all into one package that you can't pay for separately.

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