Websites charging to remove personalised ads

Potential-Monke

So the bro just sent me this... wtaf?! Is this not illegal? And if so, where does one report it? The just no option hidden in the middle, they know well what they're doing knowing certain age groups may not notice it. I don't read the paper at all myself, but this doesn't seem right.

Screenshot_20240910_150112_Chrome.jpg

Enduro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058368416/websites-charging-to-remove-personalised-ads

Is this not illegal?

No.

You have 3 choices, and are free to choose any of them:

(1) Allow the site to generate the cash it needs by serving personalised ads to you

(2) Pay the site directly to browse the site without it collecting peronal information and using that information to served personalised ads, and instead be served generic non-personalised ads

(3) Don't progress to visit the site.

Your choice.

Nigzcurran

Who cares if ads are personalised? Some people are super paranoid and must go round the bend every time they open the internet. It's just a machine trying to sell you stuff it thinks you might be interested in

TheValeyard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122602076#Comment_122602076

(4) Use a browser with extensions that allow decent adblocking software.

prunudo

As a mate often says, when it comes to the internet, if the service is free you are the product.

Potential-Monke

Not use the site it is then! Even with Brave, I wouldn't be bothered to use it anyway if that's the way they be (over £300million profit it made in 2023, just The Sun).

Just assumed it should be illegal, seems crappy but thems the times we live in I suppose.

Victor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122602114#Comment_122602114

Not quite. More "It's just a machine trying to sell you".

highpitcheric

install duckduckgo browser

Use it for more nosey sites, clear all data, use chrome for your regular less nosey sites.

Woodcutting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122602076#Comment_122602076

When I see sites like that, or those that demand I disable adblock , I just surf away and let them keep their ads, and their products.

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122602076#Comment_122602076

(4) accept cookies in a private window

BTW : https://www.thesun.ie/irish-sun-editorial-standards-policies-ethics/ - I LOL'd

lmao10

archive.ph is your friend

plodder

Another thing to bear in mind is that the site you are browsing (The Sun in this case) is not getting any personalised information about you, because the ad is not coming from them. It is delivered by an advertising company which already has the information. If you don't interact with the ads, then really the only annoyance is whatever amount of space they take up on the screen, which can be annoying sometimes in fairness.

Potential-Monke

Aye, but The Sun is making money off those ads, ergo they to blame. And yes, iirc I don't use these sites because there's more ad space than article space, auto videos, ads that follow you as you scroll, ads within ads... if one struggles to even read the content then not a hope I'll be using the site.

silverharp

Youtube is rising up my list of unusable sites, the problem is I like it as a TV app but they are inserting an inordinate amount of 50 second adverts in the middle so you cant really play with clicking in and out,

Potential-Monke

YouTube without an ad blocker makes it unusable. Have it on the PS5 but I refuse to watch ads so I immediately back out and click on the video again. Used to have to do it about 10-15 times to get the video to play, nowadays I'm clicking out of 20+ ads before it'll play. Worse then, even if you watch the ads first, they'll still interrupt your 4 minute video with 2 more ads, and often times with ads that are in total longer than your video. +100 arseholedness when they do it to a music video… and YT is trying to turn me into an alcoholic gambler...

I've watched so many parts of videos lately because I just usually give up when an ad hits. Back out and just not watch it. Creators are losing out but Google don't care. And Google is an ad engine these days, the searching is just broken now. I'll stop now... I'll end up turning it into a rant!

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122602114#Comment_122602114

I hate all ads, personalised or not. Constantly trying to sell us shite we don't need. I block everything, and never accept any cookies.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Can't remember the last time I say an ad on youtube to be honest. Why people use it without adblockers, I will never know.

Wanderer78

ublock on chrome still working here, but looks like i ll have to move onto something else soon enough, maybe ublock on firefox…..

ancapailldorcha

Had a scary period some time ago when YouTube started clamping down on Adblocker but fortunately got it going again. I need only try it on a TV to find out how bad a service it is. I appreciate that they need to turn a profit but adding more ads just drives more people to adblockers.

What I'd do is to emphasise the optional premium and what it can do for content creators while also trying to add as many classic films and TV shows to YouTube as possible for free consumption.

flyer_query

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058368416/websites-charging-to-remove-personalised-ads

hilarious stuff. Too embarrassed to acknowledge reading the sun so makes up a story blaming “the bro”

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122604843#Comment_122604843

…but the reality is, if a significant number of people blocked ads, companies such as google would still be fine, its rare that such as company goes bust, we all know companies must make profits, but there really is a difference between profits and PROFITS….

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122604869#Comment_122604869

I'm not going to weep for a tax-dodging multinational losing a few pennies. Google isn't our friend, it's a conglomerate dedicated to shareholder enrichment and nothing else.

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122604843#Comment_122604843

Would there be 12 minutes of Youtube ads per hour of content (like happened with TV), the fact they can be more personalised will make them more valuable (and reduce the ad time per profit taken), but that's essentially the economics of providing such a service.

Oscar_Madison

Never understood internet adds- for me it’s a way to scam and scare certain businesses into thinking they won’t succeed without such paid ads - considering I’ve never deliberately clicked on an ad and obviously many people who have any cop on use ad blockers , someone’s making a sh1t load of money selling this myth that internet ads somehow work - like WTF takes notice of these ads anyway? They’d want to be some numb nut.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122604902#Comment_122604902

Whatever it is, it's a lot. I only watch YouTube on the telly when I'm at my folks' place or abroad and it's usually 35-40 strategy game videos. There's a couple of ads every 7-8 minutes, I'd say?

Marcos

To read most paywalled articles you can go to paywallreader.com. Or, if you have FireFox installed you can click reader mode just to the right of the url and it will show you the text without any ads or video etc.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122604923#Comment_122604923

hadnt used youtube on chromecast for a while, tried it during the summer, was unwatchable, so id say i ll have to move back to smarttube unless i find another way around it….

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122604676#Comment_122604676

Not every device let's you install an adblocker unfortunately

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122604902#Comment_122604902

I was contemplating that one night. I would say roughly the same amount of ads as Americans are used to. But, the first ad is usually within the first 2 minutes and I've seen one of those ads be over 2 minutes long. And tv content is completely different to YT content. YT is making money off the ads, and they don't even create the content itself.That's why I've a massive issue with it. We won't mention every video nearly have a sponsorship section, so wtf are the ads for if they're not enough for the creators to keep creating....

I honestly hope YT dies. Its everything that's wrong with the Internet and corporate ownership. Or at the very least it needs new competition, but the Google lawyers and money are ensuring that won't happen, either by shutting it down before it releases, or takedown notices to bate the band due to copyright bs.

I've never watched more half videos than I have in the last few years. Most videos on YT I don't finish nowadays because ads. And if it can't survive without ads, then let it die. Seemed to work great before ads were a thing....

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605278#Comment_122605278

TV ads are usually 5 minutes so interesting that 2 minutes is now too long.

We've been living in a world where chasing viewing numbers was able to keep the services going, now that the rubber has hit the road, they need to be run at profit, we'll see a bunch of streamers amalgamate over the next few years (and we've seen the same in the gaming business to devastating effect).

If someone can come along and do it cheaper, they might have a chance, but expecting scale, vast content and free of ads without some sort of subscription is unlikely to happen.

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605884#Comment_122605884

How'd they manage it before it became ad infested? YT is not designed for ads. It never was. Ads don't suit the short form factor. But they managed without them for years. I was even OK with the odd in video promotion. But now, it's just ads for the sake of ads. Two minutes of ads only 2 minutes into the video is the problem. It hasn't even started and ads... then ads about 5 mins after that, and so on. And there isn't even consistency. Sometimes it's skippable after 5 seconds, sometimes it's 20 seconds before you can skip, and most times it's unskippable. And it's always for gambling, drink or baby stuff for some reason... 3 things I have no interest in.

As I said, if it can't be done without ads, then let it die. This adhd American version of ads fupping everywhere is horrible. YT used to be ad free and still turned massive profits. Now it's greed driven knowing there's no competition so fup the user base.

I should note I don't watch TV, haven't in over a decade. And I hated the ads in them too. I also only watch videos 5-15 minutes in length.

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606076#Comment_122606076

At a loss mostly.

How should a platform monetize you?

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605884#Comment_122605884

There's a term I came across on Reddit that I like: enshittification. Any business has a ceiling for the amount of customers it will ever have. There are only so many people in the world after all but shareholders expect growth every year and as the number of customers approaches the ceiling, fees go up or other sources of revenue get tapped. Often, customers leave which increases both pressure and difficulty when it comes to growth.

YouTube knows full well that plenty of people block ads and always will. It can't make the experience smoother with fewer ads as they'd lose revenue so they make it harder, hoping that people won't google how to avoid ads, adding a filter for 24 hours.

lmao10

Ads are very different in the US compared to everywhere else. They get an exorbitant amount of ads. Most of their sports are optimised to ensure a fast flowing game e.g a shot clock timer, and there are regular timeouts. They are used to getting fast flowing action and then zoning out for an add. It was one of the first things I noticed when I was living there. As someone who makes significant money from youtube adsense, I think its great but the American audience is my target and understanding their mentality was key. You won't ever really see football becoming popular in America because they wouldn't be able to sit there and watch a team parking the bus and then timewasting. They literally would find it impossible to watch.

Making money on these sites is one of the best ways to make a passive income. If you have a problem with the ads, consider youtube premium which is a tenner a month and removes all of the ads. Considering the value on youtube, I think its worth it.

Potential-Monke

Considering paying Google to watch other people try and make money from Google.... it's not worth it at all imo. Not for someone who just peruses out of boredom. There's rhe problem. Giving them money to shut them up... my problem is there's hundreds of ads on every video, regardless of size or reach. And by all accounts it's only a fraction of the early ads Google pay now. Considering they're making over 30 billion from ad revenue alone, up 8% from the year before (even with Premium...), but the payout to the creator, the ones who do most the work, is smaller than ever...

I've enough subscriptions at 3, I don't need anymore, especially not for a company who doesn't need it, but are forcing it with long, unskippable ads on short videos, and they lie too about skipping. A few times it gave the 5 second timer to skip, and then changed to an unskippable 40+ second ad...

And Premium still has sponsorships, so you're paying for most ads to be gone... no thanks.

lmao10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606314#Comment_122606314

Well theres two ways of looking at it from my point of view. One is as a consumer and one is as a creator. As a consumer, I like to watch old history documentaries and there are plenty of interesting youtubers I enjoy watching such as Alex O Connor. I'll happily sit through ads on his videos and pay for memberships. There are others also. Enjoyable and thought provoking podcasts and debates. I also enjoy those city walking videos and don't mind just leaving a video playing in the background of someone walking through a city. I'm happy to pay for youtube premium so I can enjoy these things.

From the creator side, its a lot more complex. I consistently make over 10k a month but business decisions have had to be made regarding the content. For example on one channel I upload videos that are completely contrary to my political views but those videos get lapped up by those who are going to watch those kinds of videos anyway and I even get regular donations. I also look at it from the point of view of activism. I use it to shape narratives in an underhanded way with that channel and subtly, over time, my goal is to change the political views of the subscriber base and make money while doing it. I also have a political channel that aligns with my views which doesn't do half as well but still makes money. Another channel is just comedy. I also have some sports channels. At the end of the day, people are going to watch these things so why not make money from them is my view. I don't have to get up and go to work in an office. Having a small hand in shaping narratives makes me feel as though I make a difference also. Several videos have passed the million viewers mark.

dam099

I am not sure the Sun's approach is GDPR compliant. I understood that consent must be "freely given" and a take it or leave it approach does not meet that threshold.

https://www.williamfry.com/knowledge/edpb-issues-opinion-on-pay-or-ok-consent-models-applied-by-large-online-platforms/#:~:text=Conclusion,purposes%20or%20paying%20a%20fee.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606483#Comment_122606483

Didn't the DPC force Instagram / Meta to remove a similar model?

machiavellianme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122602144#Comment_122602144

(5) don't read / visit the Sun

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606483#Comment_122606483

I doubt that The Sun would count as a large online platform. I imagine if they were forced to drop this policy the alternative would be paid subscriptions only. You can't just force a company to give their product away for free.

My guess would be that large online platforms are the big social media networks only.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122604902#Comment_122604902

The 'content' on TV vs the 'content' on youtube… half the stuff people watch on Youtube is one person standing in front of their own webcam talking to themselves for x period of time

The other 50% are people posting clips of cats or watching people watching other people doing things or playing videogames.

The costs are not the same and the content creators, apart from a very very small cohort of ridiculously over paid 'stars' get barely anything for providing that content to Youtube.

silverharp

the quality of creators is often better than TV depending on the topic, if one thinks back to travel type shows for instance give me a passionate Youtuber with a drone camera and it knocks the socks off anything you would see from an rte or bbc costing a 100 times more

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122607754#Comment_122607754

So, less ads and less pay or reduce the ads and no pay with all revenue going to keep the service running as some sort of PBS?

While they were chasing growth, it didn't matter, as ancapaill alluded to above, consumers benefit hugely during that initial "growth" phase when investor money chasing numbers keeps the service afloat, but at some point, it has to turn a profit or shut down.

Saudi money created an artificial bubble in the gaming market that has burst over the past year, streamers are now cutting content and raising prices and will start consolidating (does lions gate really need a service?), taxi/rideshare went the same way. Hell, Ryanair's new business model upended the market and made flying cheap as chips and people still long for the high-priced old days (but of course, don't want to pay for it).

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122607840#Comment_122607840

another related one is streaming and Hollywood , far too much funny money involved to even try to measure good v bad strategies but can only guess as the tide goes out there will be a lot of job losses with much crying about who is to blame