For context I’m in the US. The last time I used YouTube without an ad blocker, there were 2 ads back to back, and way too frequently. I tried watching on my PlayStation tonight, and not only are they more frequent, they’ve increased in quantity by 150%. It’s also very common for the last ad to last 2 minutes to over an hour long. What the actual fuck, why would anyone watch YouTube without an ad blocker at this point? It’s literally unwatchable

Edit: the amount of unsolicited advice in the comments is unreal. I don’t get ads on my phone or on desktop, I’m very aware of how to block them. I simply won’t watch YouTube on my PlayStation anymore. I’m not looking for suggestions, please stop with the recommendations.

  • redcalcium@lemmy.instituteEnglish
    274·
    9 months ago

    Geez, so many entitled people in this thread. If Google didn’t get their yearly revenue growth, their poor execs wouldn’t be able to afford their 3rd yacht! Stop being selfish and subscribe to premium already! /s

  • User79185@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    6·
    9 months ago

    Ad blocking for 20+ years (on PC and mobile). Ads are cancer. Ditched TV crap with 15-30 minute ads decades ago. Life is good.

  • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zipEnglish
    6·
    9 months ago

    I have a theory that they want you to get so annoyed that you suck it up and pay for premium.

    Instead, I decreased my YouTube consumption, turned on my adblocker for low-quality content, or content from an unmonetized creator, or content showing something technically illegal (game OSTs or a motorcycle review involving going 2x the speed limit), and donated to some patreons and purchased a year of Nebula.

  • Tuxman@kbin.social
    5·
    9 months ago

    This should go in “VeryInfuriating”. I agree YouTube has become unwatchable without any kind of ad-block or cheap Premium

  • dingus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    OP, I know exactly what you’re talking about.

    I was visiting relatives this Christmas and wanted to watch some of my YouTube videos on their SmartTV. I have watched YouThe with ads on occasion throughout the years…usually when watching some video on a relative’s device or school or work computer or something. They are annoying, but mostly fairly manageable. So I started up a 20 minute vid from a youtuber I like.

    I shit you not…within the first 5 fucking minutes of the video, there were 5 separate ad breaks. And each ad was going to play for minutes on end if I never hit the skip button.

    Yep, you read that right. One ad per minute. I am NOT exaggerating. I counted them and watched the video timestamps.

    I almost could not believe what I was seeing. My mind was fucking blown. Never have I ever experienced that egregious level of ads. It made the content I was trying to view literally unwatchable and I switched off the video.

    To OP, I’d highly recommend getting an Android tv device like a modern Chromecast (not the old models…needs to run android). They are relatively inexpensive and make viewing content on TVs a sane experience. I think I maybe got mine for $40 or something. Install SmartTube Next and you’ll have no ads. Works fantastic. You set it up once and never worry about it again.

  • tacosanonymous@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    No idea. I’ve almost completely stopped using the site. I won’t use it on my ps5 for the exact reason you mentioned.

  • w3dd1e@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    I got a VPN and got YouTube premium for like $2.50 on an Ukraine server.

    I would just try ublock but I watch in my tv a lot too

  • Blueneonz@reddthat.comEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    Haven’t had more than 2 ads per ad break yet but have seen the frequency go up on some videos. Some videos have only a beginning ad while some have 2 or 3+ ad breaks. The extremely popular youtubers usually get the 3+ ads from my experience.

    The ad duration also went up to 20-30 seconds with 10 seconds sprinkled in. It doesn’t matter if I back out of videos anymore, it seems that the beginning ads are fixed to whatever duration they are. All of this happened when they rolled out the buggy circle timer.

    I have no doubt that this will get even worse next year. It’s just on the tv I use the youtube app, so if push comes to shove I will go back to fully using newpipe.

  • Crow@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    iOS: Video Lite Android: Vanced Android TV: Smart Tube

    Stop watching YouTube ads. Use a third party player.