Adverts ruined YouTube... but they seem to be defeatable?

[FMiguelez]

There are 4 smaller things in life I just can't cope with> Slow computers (or slow anything), traffic jams, certain noises (selective misophonia) and adverts.
ESPECIALLY adverts fire up an abnormal, almost irrational sense of disgust in my psyche, for some reason. Never mind that I've written more jingles than I care to remember, thus helping companies embellishing their lies to you. Sorry about that.

Anyway...

Did I just stumbled on how to defeat YT video ads and banners?
For several weeks I've been watching YT completely ad-free. At first I thought I might have entered the 1-month-free YT no-ads subscription, but no. Unless a month has more than 7 weeks, it isn't the case, and the ads were BACK last weekend with what seemed like a vengeance! GRRRR!!!
But then, after cursing, I opened many YT videos in different tabs (some with an added extra blank space at the end of the address as per the old trick), and now ALL the ads are gone again, advert videos and banners!

I CAN see a short momentary spin when the ad is supposed to kick in, but it never does! It just pauses the video for a second, as if trying to load something, and then continues normally. The banners are not shown in the video; only in the right upper corner of the suggested videos.

How can this be? I'm in an old iMac running El Capitan with maxed out RAM (a mere 6 shared GB).

If I have to venture a guess of what's going on, I'd say it's some kind of glitch in my computer where having tons of Safari tabs opened (requiring lots of RAM and VM pageins/pageouts) somehow make the system "ignore" them?
I can't explain it, but the ads were gone for several weeks, then came back, and gone again, under my same account.

It's really weird, but I can't complain! This is the ONLY way I'd even open YT.

Does anyone hate adverts as much as I do, or has anyone seen this on their systems?

Does anyone want to offer a guess as to what's happening?

[FMiguelez]

Unless, of course, an alternative is that my hatred for ads is so much that its life-energy comes out of my head, like a luminous ray which then goes out into the ether, then it travels to YT's servers and selectively kills the required bits of ad information (misinformation)...

[cuttime]

I think it's because Safari treats every tab as a separate instance of the browser. I have been using an ad blocker on YT for years and it has worked well until recently, when I now get a black screen with an unknown error. Usually I can get past it by pausing the ad blocker for just a moment, and then re-engaging it. This approach can last for a couple of days. Now that elections are getting close in the US, the ads are coming fast and furious, rendering YT almost unwatchable in the US without an ad blocker.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Ads do annoy me when they're stupid, patronizing, or unduly in your face and you have to watch thru before accessing the video. CNN online is the worst in that regard. The reality is that w/o ads there are no customers. Without customers, there are no vendors, and hence, no stuff to buy. They're called commercials before... wait for it... they are related to commerce. Catalogues are the ultimate commercial, but can anyone really resist being addicted to the old 1908 Sears & Co., Catalogue?

Now TC ads are a whole 'nutter thing. You DO NOT want to get me started on those. We pretty much DVR anything we're interested in watching. If something of national interest of immediately news relevant we'll just mute them. And, frankly, I do have some commercials I enjoy watching. I never buy the product, but I like the ads. Most of the time it's because I know someone in the spot. Sometimes it's just effing funny. But most often, I watch the performances. Some of these folks will be stars someday and watching the progress (or lack there of) of spokespersons and actors is fascinating.

In my earlier life (like over 40 years ago) I was working at Harry Chapin's regional theater on Long Island (PAF Playhouse). One play we did co-starred a young guy about 20-ish years old. He threw a mean baseball and was playing a baseball player. He'd warm up for the part by throwing fast balls in the lobby to another player. A few months later I saw him on a few TV commercials. A few years later he won a Tony on Broadway. He's known today as Jeff Daniels. I particularly like the tater tots mashed potato throw down moment. She is awesome. Anyone recognize her?

So ALL commercials aren't bad, IMO. It's a matter of how one views them in the big picture...

I'd be curious if you get ads before watching Its of ads?

[FMiguelez]

So ALL commercials aren't bad, IMO. It's a matter of how one views them in the big picture...

Yes, but maybe more like a WHEN they are shown too?
I can think of very few things that severely irritate me more than watching my favourite pianist in YT only to be interrupted, in the middle of the performance, several times, by a screaming loud and annoying commercial which is still at least 10dB higher than the freaking piano sonata!

Wasn't this supposed to be addressed with the LUFS system YT adopted recently, BTW? I still find myself reaching for the volume key every other video I watch, often WITHIN the same video.... It seems it's worse than ever in this regard. Oh, and worse than ever in regard to adverts too... there are more ads in every video than ever.

To me, one of the most annoying things is that most ads actually offend my intellect. So many are so dishonest! How can they think they can even have a shot of selling me THAT crap? Do they think I'm stupid?

The YT algorithm hasn't figured me out, apparently. I can think of only 2 times during my many years using YT when an ad actually compelled me to click on it.

The adverts here in Mexico are mostly some degree of a lie, predictable, boring and obvious. There are worthy exceptions, of course, but in general, I'm just tired of the CONSTANT bombardment of BUY ME BUY ME BUY ME where ever I go or almost whatever I do... Some are like vultures!

Maybe I've grown to be too cynical, but this is how I view most commercials>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5AApxS ... gs=pl%2Cwn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMXwFlp9IoI&

[FMiguelez]

I think it's because Safari treats every tab as a separate instance of the browser.

Interesting...

'Cause it's almost as if the computer didn't have the needed resources at the time to play the ad, and it sort of skips it....

I haven't closed Safari since the weekend... Perhaps I should to test if that's an ingredient in the plate? I did close Safari the weekend when ads suddenly started appearing again... now I'm afraid to close it. And I have so many tabs opened that it takes my computer like 15 minutes to load and be ready

[monkey man]

Like you, 'Nandito, I'm allergic to them, period.

On my 2012 cheese grater they're not a problem (zero ads), but for some reason the 2011 laptop, running the same OS, Safari version and extensions, allows the full enchilada to play. What a huge PITA, especially 'cause the lappy is my home-entertainment system, hooked up to the telly, so that's where I actually want to watch YouTube.

Instead of being able to sit back on the couch and watch, I have to remain near the laptop (which can't be moved from its integrated home in a rack) so that I can navigate past them as quickly as possible with the mouse. Talk about the ultimate cock block, and that's putting it mildly.

I'd love to know how the heck I can get the lappy to behave the same way as the tower in this regard.

[FMiguelez]

Hey, Nicky!

As far as I can tell, it definitely has to do with the computer's inability to cope...

If I close Safari, clean-reopen, and just open a couple of YouTube tabs, the vids will come with ads with a vengeance and several banners. 4-5 adverts for one freaking video!

But the moment I start command clicking and opening several tabs, as RAM gets fully loaded and the pageins/pageouts start kicking in, the adverts just don't load at all and get ignored!!
And the banners too!!

Every 3-4 minutes, I can tell when the ad was supposed to kick in because the computer stutters for a moment.

So the trick to watch YouTube ad-free seems to be to simply use the oldest computer you can with little RAM. I LOVE this!

[mhschmieder]

I'm pretty sure I'm seeing this new behaviour in all browsers, but I only recently expanded beyond Opera after shutting down all other Mac browsers for several years.

Due to the job hunt, I've had to pull up a few other browsers as so many sites and even on-line tools work better on one browser vs. another.

I still prefer Opera, followed by Firefox (which for many years was a big fail on macOS), maybe Chrome (I have issues with it), then Safari. I didn't know that Safari treats each tab as a new browser instance.

Anyway, the point is that I'm pretty sure I'm having to dismiss ads almost every time I use YouTube now, regardless of whether I've had the browser(s) open for a while.

Fortunately one can usually dismiss the ad right away before it starts.

[waterstrum]

YouTube ads have ruined the YT experience for me.
It was so great to have all of that info available.
Now, I'm watching giant candy bars and am hovering over the "skip ad" button.
Then in the middle of a presentation, the ads come back.
I know Google is hurting for money, but I say Shame on them.

On a side note... I really enjoyed MLC's Jeff Daniels ads.
Hey MLC, thanks for posting those!
Wish the current YT ads were as engaging.
Who was that potato slamming woman?

If anybody figures out a way to stop the ads on YT, please shout it out.

[monkey man]

Didn't know Google was hurting for money. I can only hope that you were being sarcastic.

[mhschmieder]

They MUST be hurting for money, as I applied to work there and they turned me down.

[FMiguelez]

Damned it... The party seems to be OVER for me...

Now, suddenly since a couple of days ago, instead of the computer momentarily stuttering and NOT playing adds or banners, now I get ERROR messages in YT... If the ad was supposed to play at the beginning, the video simply won't load. If I click on it, I get the error message.
And if the ad kicked in anywhere into the video, now it stops at that point with the same stupid error...

If I disable the Ad Remover, then everything plays fine, but plagued with damed ads and banners. Easily 5-8 for each video.

It seems my only choice, if I want to keep using YouTube, is to download the videos with something like iTube studio and watch them in the desktop. So instead of command-clicking to open Safari tabs, I'll need to create some kind of QK shortcut to download them and prevent them from playing in the browser. Hmmmm....



The glitch was SO NICE while it lasted. They probably noticed lots of people doing what I described and changed the code to address it or something. Those weeks I was ad-free spoiled me... it makes even trying to watch YouTube unbearable now.

[monkey man]

Download ClipGrab (free); I highly recommend it, brother. Frequently-updated when YouTube makes changes.

Simply right-click the video and select "copy url", then tab to or click on ClipGrab and you'll be good-to-go. Super-quick; it's what I do.

Also, you can of course drag links from a search-results page on YouTube to the app if you don't need to "audition" the clips.

[Jurjen]

Sorry for reviving this old topic, but FireFox and Chrome can install Ad Block Plus. With it, it blocks all evil that Youtube tries to show you.

For mobile devices (Android at least), Vanced is a modded Youtube app without all the ads. It also has a Youtube Music modded app.

I also have Pi Hole that removes ads for my entire network, but unfortunately this doesn't work for Youtube, as they use the same domains for their ads as for their regular videos (they've outsmarted us!) But overall Pi Hole does a decent job for the rest of the internet, if you can live with some caveats. Not bad for a solution that only took me getting a used RaspberryPi for 20$ and following a simple online tutorial.