Youtube is Messing with Mid-roll Ads

KZbin has a long history of messing with monetization in various ways, and they pretty much never tell creators and we have to stumble upon it or figure it out for ourselves. And I may have come across the latest thing they've started doing with no notice after seeing more mid-roll ads on other peoples' videos and then investigating my own.
For the record there should be only one mid-roll on this video at 10:46. And I have no control over how many ads run on that mid-roll.
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[@CouncilofGeeks]

So I'm seeing a lot of folks bringing up KZbin Premium, there's a couple of things about that. Firstly, it may also be part of the calculation of jacking up the ad density, that it will encourage more users to buy it just to be able to go ad free (especially combined with the likelihood of trying to block videos if you have ad blockers active). But additionally: while that's a "solution" for the viewer (a very classic move in tech spaces, create the problem then sell the solution, see also "time savers to skip the grind" in video games), it doesn't address the fact that creators are having their work messed with without notice, which speaking as a creator is what I find more offensive.

[@macpro75]

Thank you for following up on this. If you are comfortable answering, do creators get any benefit when Premium users watch their content? I went to Premium because my ad blocker would stop ads from playing but I didn't want to cheat the creators. I'm starting to use Patreon now and looking into other ways to tip (Paypal, Super Thanks(?) etc) because I suspect creators are still not getting properly or sufficiently compensated.

[@macpro75]

I want to thank you for explaining trans genocide so clearly and concisely. It's very helpful for those of us who are trying to educate ourselves so that we may try to become true and more effective allies. It's tragic that the LGBTQ+ community *needs* allies, especially in the 21st century, but we are here and our numbers are growing daily.💜💙🌈

[@CouncilofGeeks]

@@macpro75 so we do get income from views made by premium subscribers and from what I can tell it’s better than the ad revenue on a per view basis (partly because what you get from the ads is less if people skip them which everybody does). That’s at present at least, I strongly suspect that if things ever flipped and a the percentage of viewers with premium went up that the split would get worse for creators.

[@NIRDIAN1]

It also isn't a solution to people who explicitly don't want their content monetized to avoid turning a hobby into work (I follow someone named R.R. Slugger who makes amazing videos and who really doesn't want YT to become a job as they're happy working as a teacher), and even videos that are unmonetized and where the users have ads turned off, are getting scattershot with auto-placed ads now... :/

[@Screact]

I did not see any mid-rools did KZbin get better (r did they want ta punish u)

[@DaddyMoogie]

As a viewer, I have noticed an increase in mid-roll ads in the first two minutes. I'll be taking more notice from here. Its super disruptive to the viewer when the creator has gone out of their way to thoughtfully place ads and youtube arbitraily places an ad that doesn't go there.

[@firemermaid1980]

me too

[@christineherrmann205]

Glad to know I'm not the only one to binge watch videos in the background; I go to sleep to videos sometime. My worst nitpick is when the ads play LOUD. I'm starting to wonder when they're going to start charging for uploads. 😳

[@Dunybrook]

I don't mind ads usually but the ones that go on for several minutes or longer are ridiculous.

[@christineherrmann205]

@@Dunybrook yup. I tend to let the 10-15 sec ads play if I like the creator; I want them to get paid. But the longer ads are using a lot of bandwidth for (often) a very silly (or downright awful) ad.

[@krose6451]

​@Dunybrook i routinely get ads of 15 minutes or longer. At least once a week 1 of at least 30 minutes. It drives me nuts. I dont like skipping ads for creators. Big companies? Sure. But for creators I dont want to skip. But ads that are that long? Or when Im getting more ad than video. It stresses me to have to skip but when the ad is more stressful Ive gotta.

[@artimiss1238]

Especially the ones that dont just end. They stay on this “download app” thing or whatever and you have to risk ticking off ur boss going in to ‘skip’ 🙄

[@GapingGorble]

TV has standards for how loud (and how long) ads can be, but on good ol YT your asmr video can be interrupted by a 4 hour gogo concert disguised as an ad 🙄

[@NotYourNhaama]

This just encourages ad blockers... which makes them force more ads on non adblocked folks, which causes more people to adblock XD

[@NotYourNhaama]

Also yes KZbin has been adding ads into older videos. Factfeind actully paid an editor to go through all their old videos and removed these forced ads.

[@modmaker7617]

Which probably why KZbin wants to ban ad blockers on their website

[@NotYourNhaama]

another note: Firefox adblockers are not affected, just Chromium such as chrome, brave, opera etc.

[@NotYourNhaama]

@@modmaker7617 Firefox adblockers are safe atm!

[@namikizuna4530]

@@NotYourNhaama When you say Firefox adblockers aren't affected but Chromium ad blockers are, what do you mean? What are they affected by? Just want to gain clarity for myself so I can decide what browser to use.

[@B-MC]

THANKYOU I'm SO sick of youtube ads at this point. (There were two ads at 10:40 ironically) The SKIP AD button now used to be for 5 seconds or more, now its 7. Sometimes if its an 11 second ad it'll count down to 5 and then just stall on '1 second to go' so you can't skip them either. Ads now pop up at such bad times that Super Carlin played their intro "Hey brother" and it interupted right after "Hey" I was watching a 5 minute video and an ad started but the ad bugged up so it just meant what was a relatively short video paused for a minute while the ad loaded. Daniel Thrasher had a ONE MINUTE sketch and it played an ad at the end which ... how short can a video be before it doesnt need an ad yet. Two ads seem to play before EVERY video now, so if I accidentally click on a video while watching something else, thats two ads before it even lets me switch back and then two ads again before I can restart the video i was actually on. Any mistake is punished with ads. Back in the election days ads could be half an hour long. But even now ads can be like 8 minutes long. Sometimes I'm watching a two hour breakdown so ads are understandable but ads played, I skipped, we got like 3 sentences out and then more ads played and I screamed "We JUST got back." This has been on my mind, thank you for this video, I finally have a place to put it.

[@GamerWho]

I have seen 90 min ads and 2 hour ads before. No joke.

[@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023]

​@@GamerWho , I wonder: could it be that KZbin charges the advertiser less if people skip the ad? I don't know, but if that is the case super long ads could be a way of gaming the system.

[@Ollie_1022.]

It’s worse when your listening to ASMR or a relaxation video then a loud mid roll ad plays and shits you up 🤬😱

[@rion2499]

I’ve totally noticed the increase in ads! Watching in the mobile app on my phone has become nigh impossible. I’m starting to use the phone browser and my computer itself more to avoid them, as I can use adblocks. Ridiculous. Thank you for always fighting for us and showing your audience dignity. X

[@FrumiousMing8]

You're not alone. I usually watch KZbin on my TV and the odd occasion I do watch on my phone I get waaaaaay more ads there (especially unskippable ones).

[@dandelion_16]

Yeah I've been noticing the early midrolls, but I haven't seen anyone talk about it so thank you for that. Also you're awesome for emphasizing dignity and the value of art!

[@stakochan]

I have noticed this happening! I usually watch 3 hour + study with me pomodoror type videos, and lately, they have been unwatchable because I can't go a few minutes without an ad blaring. I can't use them to study or focus anymore.

[@dandelion_16]

Wow that really sucks! I've had it happen on relaxing music videos but not that often it got my attention.

[@gamewrit0058]

Yes! Same for me with rain ambiance or doll house builds - the loud midrolls mean I don't watch as much in the evenings anymore. 😭

[@WiloPolis03]

And then on the other side of the coin, it sucks when you just want to watch or show someone a little 20 second video but have to sit through two minutes of ads beforehand

[@writethepath8354]

If you're not on a playlist, skip to the end of the video and then replay it, usually I won't get ads again

[@Yanhime97]

Something I've noticed whenever I watch KZbin on the TV app, whenever I leave a video paused for an extended period, I'll get an ad break whenever I unpause. If I'm unlucky enough to pause near enough to another ad break, I'll just get 2 in a row with like 10 seconds of content between.

[@camillagilmore1547]

Just had an ad come crashing in at around the 10.50 mark. It is getting silly but I will admit it always makes me chuckle when I'm watching an essay and it's like "before his execution by firing squad, Jeremy McMeremy is reported to have said >"

[@Purple_Lilith]

KZbin trying to force me to stop using an ad blocker is very much the moment, I'll stop watching KZbin.

[@spencerluther6485]

OMG, this explains so much! There’s some videos I use to help sleep that have a bunch more mid-roll ads. So no every night, when I try to sleep, I just start to fall asleep when DoEs YoUr DeTeRgEnT LeAvE SaLsA StAiNs?!

[@seancase2746]

Just got two ads at 10:38… For a while, I was getting a lot of ads telling me that if I gave YT money, I’d get fewer ads. Interrupting me to tell me that I can pay money to not be interrupted feels more like extortion than customer service.

[@joshentz5980]

I'm so glad you've decided to bring attention to this. It's something I've noticed for a bit now and to finally see it being brought up is great. Hearing you talk about it and what it's like on your end as well really helped paint a better picture about what's going on. It's heartwarming how much you care about us and how passionate you are about your craft and its integrity. Keep up the great work! Also it's nice to see a fellow Todd fan!

[@faeriegraver]

I just watched three old "Trainwreckords" and now I'm here, so it was cool to me when she mentioned Todd.

[@tjnova972]

Fun fact: I’ve had notifications for your new videos on for years, I got notified of your earlier doctor who video just this past week, but mysteriously was NOT notified about this one… interesting….

[@lindanosek2066]

Spot on commentary. From a watcher's perspective, seems we are between a rock and a hard place. Last year I was watching a wonderful live piano concert that was suddenly interrupted midnote by some stupid ad. Needless to say, I was highly frustrated. As viewers we seem to have two options: grin and bear it or just *stop* watching. I very much doubt that "a strongly worded letter" to KZbin would do the trick. I've pared down to only watching the channels that I most enjoy. Btw, thank you for considering our feelings concerning this issue.

[@humanwarm]

Interesting video as usual, I really appreciate your values. I also noticed more adds in older KZbin videos that had less aads

[@jackalbane]

I noticed this a while back. I used to go to sleep listening to meditation videos on KZbin. Now, I can't do that because every 3-10 minutes a loud ad shows up. Every ad nowadays spikes my blood pressure.

[@faeriegraver]

When I do this I scroll to the end of the video first, that normally gets rid of ads. I don't mind ads if I'm listening while painting or doing chores or whatever, but if I'm listening to something to sleep to I don't want ads.

[@ganmerlad]

I've noticed more (and badly placed) ads too, especially recently. It's gotten to the point if the video doesn't have my rapt attention, I close the video the second or third time ads show up which I didn't do before. Few people watch just one video and quit...it's cumulative ads buggering things up every few minutes from numerous videos and all patience is gone. I will never buy premium though.

[@mpearson1280]

I have noticed this while rewatching older vids from creators I love. I did not know it was a new phenomenon. And yes, catching livestreams after the “live” can be chock full of ads to the point of not wanting to watch at all. Thank you for calling attention to this and advocating for content creators to have more agency.

[@Tototoo88]

Once adverts became too intrusive I got adblock. If they prevent me from seeing videos because of it then i'd just stop using youtube. I try to stop my adblock if i want to support a particular creator. It's why I never watch TV and when I do I go to make a cuppa when the adverts come on. Life is short, I'm not on this planet to watch adverts.

[@rpowell20139]

It was a couple years ago that KZbin seemed to double the ads. Also ads interfered with this video.

[@CatHasOpinions734]

"Dignity, respect," everything you mentioned, but also, too many or poorly-placed ads WILL cause me to give up on a video I was sincerely interested in. If they're on Nebula, I'll go there, if I support them on patreon I'll just watch it somewhere with adblock, but if neither of those is the case, there are plenty of other videos to put on that will not constantly jar me out of my train of thought or make me listen to "YOU'RE NOT A DISH" for the trillionth time. Edit because I just realized I forgot to say: thank you for being thoughtful about where you place ads, it makes a huge difference!

[@flower_girl4983]

I'm exhausted n overwhelmed by all these ads. 3 ads at the beginning, 6 ads in Middle. I simply can't do it. Its exhausting

[@gamewrit0058]

Yup, 2 unskippable ads at 10:35. Flashy and loud. And i wish there was an easy way to say don't give me ads for company (name) - at the moment, viewers have to customize an ad profile on Google, and it still doesn't let you block specific corporations. If i can't do that, I'm not making a profile: just turn off or block any tracking I can so i get random ads. And change my VPN location to hear less annoying ads from countries with better customer protection laws.

[@Stephen_The_Waxing_Lyricist]

10:34 Vera: "It's why I don't use automatic placements as a rule of thumb" KZbin: Inserts ad for zombie game after that sentence

[@PhilOsborne]

Had same placement, different ad but same placement.

[@crystalfire5564]

Yep. I just saw it and checked to see if anyone commented on it yet.

[@ozxander619]

Same placement here

[@MinasMagic]

Same placement and, oddly, same ad here,

[@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023]

Same placement, different ad

[@michaelrigg3623]

I still remember a time when they dotted the progress bar with yellow points to show where the ads were. I haven't seen that in a long while now that I think about it. You boil frogs alive by turning the heat up so slowly they don't even notice, so they don't jump out.

[@thatDamnAusWhoFan]

I only just got monetised. The predicted revenue is only at $5 at the moment and I would like that to go higher, but definitely not at the expense of my content that I spend so many hours making. The viewer experience comes first.

[@december3305]

I remember how for a while, every single video I watched (or that's what it felt like) had an ad for KZbin Premium, to the point where I wondered if they couldn't get any advertisers. Now that's stopped, but ads have doubled and tripled - conveniently after telling us over and over again that Premium is the solution! I do wonder if they intentionally timed it to see how many new Premium subscribers they could get out of annoying the hell out of viewers

[@ZukiTanuki]

I am not even surprised at this point, just disappointed in YT. Thanks for calling this out. On a side note your hair colours look awesome

[@lougert]

The recent frequency and obnoxiousness of yt ads is actually starting to push me offline. It's just getting overwhelming

[@sezzac155]

This was enlightening. As a viewer I had noticed the increase in ads and my natural response was to find them annoying. Honestly, my thought process doesn’t really make sense but I was sort of on the point of blaming creators for it because I knew creators like yourself could enable ads and monetisation but I didn’t know they could choose where to place the ads. I thought there was only one setting for it and that was the automatic option. I find the ads annoying, but it’s not really the ads themselves, at least not anymore. As you said it’s distracting especially as I am lately getting into long-form videos. Usually essays but not always. Having ads there can make me lose track of what the creator is talking about.

[@punkslime6349]

I definitely have noticed this in recent times, because some KZbinrs I watch place explicit messages in their videos saying that an ad is about to play, similar to television shows. But now half the time the ads won't actually play at those points and are just randomly strewn throughout the video. As well as the general annoyance of ads, this is actively disrupting the intended rhythm of videos which has been planned by the creators which really sucks. Also I keep getting more and more unskippable ads - some of them are now over a minute long! It's so obnoxious.

[@NinjaWieldingLimes]

As a viewer, this is definitely a thing I noticed, even on larger accounts run by corps. With those ones I figured it was just corps being corps, but now I'm not so sure. Thank you for giving insight into what's happening on the creator's end of things.

[@KarenS19]

The ads were getting so bad, like 3 to 4 times in a less than 10 minute video. So I eventually bought the premium to avoid them

[@WiloPolis03]

That's the insulting thing tho, the idea that KZbin will spam you with indefinitely increasing numbers of ads until you give them money to stop

[@musicalaviator]

@@WiloPolis03 sounds like Busking with bagpipes lol

[@hypnoamber3248]

Oh I've had days definitely like this and then I noticed a bigger push to get me to buy ad free. I can't afford ad free. I definitely feel like it's a pressure tactic they use on the weekends and at prime viewing times.

[@SeccySpurs]

It's insane I'll get like 3 to 4 ads in a 15 minute long video it's really starting to peeve me. Thank you for talking about it!

[@NIRDIAN1]

Mid-roll ads are like physically painful to me, I can feel the tension-shot racing through me like a knife when a video gets interrupted and I get thrown into an ad... I have been using various adblockers ever since midroll ads became a thing... I just have to think of my mental and even physical health and sadly don't have the financial stability (a lot goes to my disability care) for KZbin Premium... I used to occasionally watch short videos on the app, but even 5s videos would get 20s ads on them... So now I only use the app to browse, like and comment. I watch everything by saving the videos and watching them on a computer with adblock later... (I try my best to support creators I enjoy by buying merch or supporting funding campaigns, subscriptions are just incredibly dangerous for me with the ADHD...)

[@DrEeveeYT]

I'm a smaller monetised creator who hasn't really kept track with how much I've placed mid rolls. I'll keep an eye on this in future since I agree with everything you've said. I do appreciate all the money I can get but I feel dirty if it's from a source I'm not fond of, and the lack of dignity KZbin would have to my viewers would count as that. But yeah, if I spot anything suspicious I'll likely try and contact you (and likely KZbin as well) about this.

[@princessmanitari4993]

My view; i moved a few months ago and now have access to chromecast, so i've been streaming on it etc. For youtube in general, i've noticed that somehow on my tv i never get skippable ads nowadays. Most of it is luckily 4-10 seconds. But.. on my phone, i get 3 ads after one another, and this week i even got a 20 second unskippable one. For every ad break i currently get 2-3 ads, which is overwhelming to say the least. Also; this entire video is for me the reason why i appreciate you as a creator.

[@boffyb]

I've noticed they'll sometimes jam two ad breaks back-to-back. So the notice will say that this is ad 1/2 or 2/2, even if you're effectively in a four-ad break. This also means that if you skip during the first two ads, you're dumped straight into two more ads.

[@SeccySpurs]

I was watching an Anthony Padilla on one of his I interviewed a survivor videos and every pause in the conversation I felt like there was another ad and there were a LOT! It was especially disturbing given the serious subject matter. Thank you for speaking up about this!

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

There's a fitness KZbinr I watch who has never had ads interrupt the workout (as it just doesn't make sense) and I have had their videos suddenly interrupted by Ads constantly, literally mid rep. Since the whole concept behind them posting on KZbin is follow along FREE workouts, having an ad drop in the middle of exercises or interrupting the deep breaths of a post or pre workout stretch basically ruins it. It's annoying.

[@23rdFoot]

Certainly noticed the overall uptick in forced full-watch ads in the last week, and the weird mid-roll placements (e.g. in the middle of someone's sponsorship announcement) on other channels.

[@MoramothHauntz]

Definitely noticed on a podcast I was listening to the other day. It was twice as long as they normally do, but had 4x the ads. I actually like the ads in button it gets to get back to whatever task I was supposed to be doing

[@picklewhop]

I absolutely hate all the ads increasing in length and frwquency. It's been pushing me off youtube cause have to watch multiple unskippable ads in a row every couple of minutes make the experience unbearable. It's the absolute worse when I get a 10 minute long ad, but I'm washing dishes or something so I can't skip it, only to get another ad immediately after it. KZbin really needs to fix this.

[@marshsundeen]

Yep. There a lots more ads and the ad will play until you tell it to skip, if you are lucky enough to have a skipoable ad.

[@kevin10001]

To me it feels like as a watcher of KZbin that they want to force us onto KZbin premium where we have to pay for KZbin by overloading us we a bunch of ads for the same topic and the flavor of the moment is ways to help when u can’t go #2 and they know the solution to help

[@thistley_42]

I’ve noticed a big jump in mid roll ads - I regularly listen to certain types of video as background audio in situations where I don’t have my hands free/easy access to skip and they are getting really intrusive (especially for videos I use to fall asleep to). I don’t know if creators haven’t noticed or have just reached a point of ‘KZbin’s gonna KZbin, what’s the point even complaining’. Between this and not playing videos if an ad blocker is on my assumption is that this is aimed at irritating people so much they sign up for KZbin Premium.

[@shizuwolf]

I remember getting into an argument with another KZbinr about a similar situation. Back when ads would show up as these yellow bars, this guy had 13 of these spread across the video. He was a gaming KZbinr and he was explaining the mechanics of KH: ReCoded, right? And I’m trying to hang onto every word he’s saying because it actually sounds pretty interesting. And the frequency of the ads kept ruining the flow. I left a comment like “the number of ads I’m getting is annoying” and some people replied like “you just don’t want him to make money” and I just kept trying to explain that it’s not the ads I’m annoyed with but the frequency they keep popping up.

[@CoreenMontagna]

I have ADHD and ZERO tolerance for ads, thus paying for Premium is self care for me, lol

[@christineherrmann205]

I wonder if getting more people to pay for Premium is the point?

[@sebastianoleary2743]

​@Christine Herrmann, I know that Spotify definitely tried a similar tactic. Some of the most egregious adds on that platform were specifically for the Premium version. Wouldn't surprise me if YT did the same.

[@gambitgurlisis]

Pssst, switch over to Firefox. Its privacy settings are very good, it doesnt report tracking data to google, and it blocks all ads.

[@christineherrmann205]

@@gambitgurlisis I have Firefox on my PC, but usually watch KZbin on my phone

[@ItsMeHarry]

Same here, out of principle I hate using adblock for the sake of the creators I enjoy watching, and premium gives a significant increase in pay per view than normal ads, but also removes ads for me. It still needs more than that and KZbin music imo but it's something at least

[@TheTurtleNexus]

You made me check. I just posted a one hour long video, which is pretty unusual for my channel. I never specify the placing of the ads because, to be honest... my videos are usually not long enough for midrolls. What I found was that it deduced pretty well where the ads should go (because I had separators in this video and because I have chapters). But some of them fell into weird places. My theory is that they estimate a certain length of video can have a certain amount of ads, so whenever they cannot find enough separations, they start placing ads in a way that they don't fall too close to each other. That's my take. I honestly cannot blame them for this, I am not even sure how KZbin is profitable at all. But I do have to bring up the fact that they decided to run ads on non-monetizable channels already, and they don't get to pick where the ads fall.

[@jpk4807]

Last time a KZbinr I follow addressed this was a few months back with GiantGrantGames who normally does Starcraft and RTS content. It was pretty comprehensive covering the then-changes to Ad Monestization, as well as AdBlock, YT Premium and Patreon. Always good to keep abreast of this stuff, thanks 🙏

[@hypnoamber3248]

Omg I freaking noticed this! Not necessarily on your content but sometimes everything runs together so it's hard to remember exactly. I dont mind creators getting their money on, not excessively at least. And I definitely hate when ads are constantly cutting off important talking points mid idea. Now that I know you can choose where you have ads placed, I really want more creators to place them like you do. There are frankly creators that I can tell have all the ads on all of the time, but the worst part is that it interrupts what they are saying so I avoid their content after a while. I would love to support creators via Patreon but I'm disabled and on limited budget so for me watching ads is just the way of the world. Oh and yes I've been noticing more midstream where you can't skip them, the ads are super long even if there is only two of them, and they play right at the beginning then like a couple minutes later. I seriously had a day not that long ago that everything I watched was ad after ad so I timed them and many were only 5 mins or less apart. I do crafts while watching KZbin so constantly having to grab the remote when your hands are covered with glue or paint is super noticeable. Anyway thanks for the good work and the heads up.

[@orangepizzaparty688]

I haven't noticed this, most likely because I have adblocker, but yikes, I didn't realise it got this bad. If they block me from watching videos with adblocker, I'll probably just stop watching them, or find a way around it out of spite. It'll just drive a lot of people off of youtube, nothing else.

[@suddenlyezra5782]

I haven't had ad warnings in ages. I'm also pretty sure that KZbin has figured out how to tell when the app is minimized on mobile, because they also took away the ability to skip ads when the app is minimized on Android. It is mostly frustrating when I'm doing dishes or something and a 10+ minute ad for some weird omegaverse story app starts in the middle of an 8 minute video. Or when I get multiple unskippable 30+ second ads on videos less than 3 minutes long. (Happens a lot on Little Joel videos and those that were originally on TikTok so they're too long for the YT Shorts page.)

[@Yan_Alkovic]

I actually just realised that I never get ads... I guess that must be an advantage of using an older system. So all of this stuff was completely new for me. Anyway, it's mighty unfortunate that KZbin is doing that...

[@Wurmze]

Honestly I forgot about the countdown for ads being a thing because I haven’t seen it in so long and I exclusively watch KZbin on my phone. Noticed that they don’t show the yellow lines in the runtime where there will be an ad but I can’t remember when that stopped

[@nathanyou1899]

I've definitely noticed more mid roll recently. I'm pretty sure they're not intentional because it's mostly in longer videos with chapter break but they don't have the adds in the breaks were it would make sense to put them. In fact quite often they put the adds either just a minute before or after the chapter breaks which is annoying.

[@ImBigDave79]

I've definitely noticed a change in ads recently but couldn't say when it changed. Some videos have had ads VERY close together. I watch a lot of essay/opinion vids but also a lot of reaction/commentary content (on mobile and pc) and sometimes I need to rewind because of the ads disrupting my viewing. Also I still occasionally get overlay ads

[@Leena79]

I have youtube premium, because I hate watching ads, but this sounds really annoying. I also wonder if it's worth doing. I imagine people who aren't regular youtube watchers, might lose interest in videos with random ads, and click away. It would be interesting to know if they are doing this to all channels, or just the smaller or more niche ones.

[@gb4939]

I wish more people thought like you in this video, balancing the obsession with money with the notions of respect and dignity. Everything is always in a happy medium. On the one hand, of course, we all need money. On the other hand, if we only reason on the basis of profit, we support an unscrupulous world that will use the slightest opportunity to always have more money. And if we only think about money without taking other important values into account, I think we feed selfishness, promoting a selfish world. P.S. : For the anecdote, I know a youtube channel specializing in bedtime stories. Surprisingly, this channel has decided to monetize its content. And so, we can no longer listen to stories to fall asleep without being woken up in the middle by ads. The height of paradox, the paroxysm of irony...

[@ZipplyZane]

Trying to ban adblock is a losing proposition. Facebook tries every so often. The result is that special adblockers were made just for Facebook. And between the two I use, ads always get blocked.

[@Bastion90]

I think they started their 'experiment' for preventing you watch videos if you have ad blocks on quite a while back. I used to have ad blockers several years ago, then one day I tried to watch a video and it would not play. Tried a different video, nothing. Tried a video from a channel that does not contain any ads and it worked perfectly fine. With my suspicions raised, I turned off my ad blocker and the other videos with ads then played as normal. I had to delete my ad blocker to be able continue watching videos. This was a a few years back. You're right not to trust YT's automated ad placement. I sometimes get ads where the video gets cut off mid-sentence (mid-word even!) In fact, I got a mid-roll ad halfway through your video in the middle of your sentence. The ones that really annoy me are when i get two unskippable 20 second ads in a row. This is happening more and more frequently. Sometimes I'll watch jump backwards and forwards though a video if I want to check back on something or skip to the part I'm interested in. I might have had an had just a few seconds previous, but because I moved the timestamp of the video to a different point, I'll then be subjected to even more ads. Also, If I'm watching a video and pause part way through and then come back to it later, I might get a few seconds of video and then the ads will start as if it were the beginning of the video.

[@Jen37978]

I’ve noticed on some of my rewatch of YT videos there’s been more ads then I remembered. Also Vera, when I join your KZbin lives I miss the first minute or so because of ads. Not sure if its a thing you’re aware of.

[@akihikotojo188]

Thanks for bringing this up. I totally noticed both the increased mid rolls and the stress test the other year too. I’m also pretty sure I’ve been seeing more instances of multiple adds in a row in the same break in the video since that time as well. Idk whether that’s something the creators choose or whether it’s just something KZbin does arbitrarily. As you mentioned in your comment I think, it’s obviously to drive subscriptions to yt premium. It kinda reminds me of when I’m listening to a playlist on Spotify and it gets interrupted by an add by Spotify to let me know that if I payed them some money I wouldn’t need to listen to adds by Spotify. Great to see the pride you take in your work too.

[@christineherrmann205]

Also , got 2 ads at 10:40, which was HILARIOUS. 😂 In context.

[@natasha8966]

10 minutes 39 seconds two ads unskippable.

[@christineherrmann205]

Came back today to check and same midroll placement. Walmart ad. Still cutting Vera off mid-sentence. Talk about proving a point.

[@tsbrownie]

I just started looking into this and have experienced all the same thing. I also have total and time-between limits I impose on myself. One video had 16 ads. Many others had ads in the first minute. Almost all have ads just before the end. There's one where mid-roll is enabled, but the option to review the automated placements is greyed out. I used to have mid-roll disabled for all videos, but with the decreasing revenue from ads, I started turning them on within my limits. I may have to go back to turning them off, until they don't allow that.

[@alexandrahhh789]

Thank you for saying something, the algorithm actually did something right for once and showed me your video! I’ve been watching videos on youtube for well over 16 years now and honestly I’m so ready to leave, this platform has changed so much (for the worse). I remember years ago when I saw my first mid roll ad and I was so pissed. I remember when they took away the feature of listening to a video with your phone locked, a feature I loved and used daily, and put it behind a paywall. At this point nearly every single video I watch has ads at the beginning, multiple mid roll ads, and then after video ads (when I’m watching on mobile). It seems like a rarity when a video starts playing without an ad first. youtube SUCKS now. the only redeemable thing is its creators, youtube would be nothing without its creators. Also im still pissed about youtube randomly deciding to unsubscribe me from creators I loved, there are so many people I’ve subscribed to in the past that I’ve lost forever. Tbh it was a little heartbreaking thinking about the some of the awesome people and videos I know I will never get to see again because there’s no way I’ll remember the creators I subscribed to years and years ago. Every now and then I remember an old video and rediscover a channel, I KNOW I used to subscribe to, and it just makes me so frustrated. I chose to subscribe to a channel for a reason, how dare this platform make decisions on my behalf, and also take away subscribers from creators causing them to get less views. The higher ups at youtube only care about lining their own pockets and catering the platform to be as advertiser friendly as possible now. They don’t care about their creators and they don’t care about the viewers. I used to love youtube because I could find an endless variety of interesting videos, without the annoying ads that filled network tv. I will NEVER pay for youtube premium. I can’t afford patreon subscriptions or nebula/curiosity stream at the moment, but when I’m able, I can’t wait to try out some new platforms…

[@g5g566]

A few months ago I started getting 4 ads at a time (it would show "ads 1 of 2" but once they played out, another 2 would immediately load. It went away so I assumed it was a test from yt to see if people noticed

[@gambitgurlisis]

I watch a lot of longform content and many creators are pissed about this. You are certainly not alone. Ostensibly the new frequency of midrolls is meant to compensate for people who use adblockers. Which is just the most transparent nonsense Ive ever heard. This is a hamfisted attempt to drive users to pay for KZbin Premium and strip agency from creators. People have to add in midrolls or midrolls will be added automatically for them, it also appears that devices (phones, switch, etc) get ads at arbitratily raised rates, this applied retroactively as well. For instance youve been interrupted by ads twice already and im halfway through the video. For users, honestly, the best choice to deal with this is to use firefox (no ads, not chromium based, better privacy settings) and donate a few dollars to the creator's patreon. The percentage creators make on patreon donations is far better than the ad payments, anyway. Your watch time and view still register in the system for popularity and tracking purposes even if you don't see the ads. Back when they ran KZbin Red, they didnt pay people for ads tou opted out of. Im not sure if premium is the same. Honestly I could never justify not paying creators for the content they create that I get to enjoy, so patreon is the best option.

[@wmdkitty]

If ads were limited to ten seconds in length, and to two ads per video, ONLY placed at the start or end of the video, I would turn off my adblocker. I'm not okay with fifteen minute ads, and ads that are longer than the thing I'm trying to watch.

[@gambitgurlisis]

@@wmdkitty You're more generous than I. Since Google is already farming our data and watch analytics I don't feel so charitable. I can be the product or the consumer but I refuse to be both and patreons just feel more direct to me.

[@AhsimNreiziev]

​@@wmdkitty I would turn off my adblocker if KZbin provided me with an option to turn off those "previews" where part of the video plays when you hover over the thumbnail on the Home Page. I am extremely sensitive to stimuli, especially moving images I do not intend to see, so as long as an adblocker is the only way to turn those "previews" off, I *literally cannot* browse KZbin on my PC without an adblocker enabled. TL;DR: YT disallowing adblockers is Ableist as fuck.

[@dolls2remember]

came to this video because a moment ago I was checking my mid rolls and WOW KZbin was putting 10 ads in one 30 minute video! ugh. thank you for making this video - it validated my experience with KZbin adding tons of ads to my vids and I will be doing manual placement always and only for now.

[@foxesofautumn]

They’re getting longer too. Skipable but I’m finding ads that are 5 minutes to 25 minutes. Who’s watching 25 minute ads on KZbin?

[@bryanabbott6169]

There's been times when I'm watching a longer video, and I have to go back to an earlier point in the video (having something else that has to be done, but I don't have time to pause the video, for example), it seems like an ad pops up where it wasn't before during the first viewing of the video. Watching 'Mixes' and playlists for music videos on KZbin results in random placements for the mid-roll ads, even if the videos are usually around 3 minutes. Sometimes they are at the beginning of songs, sometimes in the middle, and then some near the end. Unskippable ads are bad enough, but there's video gambling site ad that laughs in the face of those who'd want to skip their ad (with a 'Skip Ad' the regular one is for KZbin that you can't, of course, click).

[@tinyalibi2069]

I'm not a content creator, just a humble subscriber of way too many youtube channels but I have noticed a lot more ads in the videos... sometimes it feels like there is more ad than actual video which is beyond annoying. I will also say that I still get overlays from time to time and I don't have an ad warning countdown anymore and I only watch on my pc. I am all up for videos having ads and content creators getting paid for their hard work and effort in making, edting and posting videos but when you click on a fifteen minute video and get potentially eight minutes of ads, at least half of which you can't skip.. it's ridiculous.

[@linus1703]

Excellent video as always. It is hard to believe they would do something like this it feels like they're shooting themselves in the foot here. Creators know their content and there are many where the ad timing is important. I can see it seriously hurting engagement.

[@MorsecodeZ]

Not a creator, but I feel like I saw people talking about this either at the beginning of the year or late last year (might have just been Defranco to be honest) that KZbin had "informed" creators that they would be monetizing videos whether the creators wanted them monetized or not ... and any monetization not requested would be going directly to KZbin ... I may be remembering that wrong, and I don't know if it applies to ads added to an already monetized ad, but ... And yea, I've rewatched quite a few vids over the last six months that A) have an ad inside the first 90 seconds, and B) had ads when they didn't have ads the first time I watched. It's annoying most of the time, and the thought that the creator might not be getting it is a bit saddening.

[@Paul_Ernst]

This is very informative. As a non-creator, I have wondered what control you have about ads. Perhaps someone can also explain whether content creators control the number (eg where it plays 2 at a time) and type of ads (whether they are skippable or not)? Never understood why an advertiser would force someone to sit through 30 seconds of an ad if they had no interest in it. I've also noticed that in some videos ads pop up as banners at the bottom, which can be clicked off straight away or fade out, but if I watch the same video on my TV (which obviously doesnt support banners), those same points of the video always become 2 full (long) ads that can;t be skipped. Finally, if an ad is skipped, does that affect the revenue a content creator gets? (Sorry for the multiple questions, I'm just really interested to find out about this)

[@SarahJo]

That's such b.s. I remember the only time I ever tried the "automatic placement" I got a comment about how many ads there were and I was SO embarrassed when I looked and there was one every 2-3 minutes! Ridiculous! Now this? For goodness sake.

[@mindymmk]

it's been happening for at least 3 months. I use to listen to podcasts on youtube while having a bath and cooking but now it's a impossible. If I don't press "skip ad" on a specific time the ads will play indefinitely and with so many ads even in obscure videos of 500 views It's impossible to watch anything while doing something else and not have a mental breakdown

[@rochelebierhalspereira7106]

I didn't think my admiration for your commitment to an ethical presence in a public platform could get any higher, but it just did! It seems capitalism is swallowing everyone along with their conscience and sense of justice. I particularly like the explanation about the "ceiling" for profits, as it is relevant to any number of areas, such as environmental destruction, animal rights and wages. Thank you for taking the risk in order to call attention to the moral bankrupcy of our society, since it appears most people have grown desensitized to it .

[@ladyliberty417]

Thanks Vera, I have some trouble with some ASMR videos! Right in the middle of trying to sleep and relax a blasting ad comes thru and I don’t know if the KZbinr knows! Love your righteous indignation ❣️❤️

[@Moshenka]

I'm going to come out now (pun intended): I use an ad blocker. I have for years. I have been made aware that it's not very supportive towards the creators such as you, but I still chose to leave it on, because here's the thing: If I can't view it without an add blocker, I just won't view it at all anyway. If I can't access a site with my add blocker on, I click away, no matter how much I wanted to read the article or watch the video, or how important or interesting it is to me. I say FU and go find it elsewhere. And here's a fun fact: Add blockers didn't work on youtube videos, for a while. This didn't use to bother me because I could just click skip and be done with it. Then it started to work and I just shrugged and went on with my day. However, if youtube really starts forcing adds mindlessly and without me even being able to click them away or I suddenly won't be able to watch your content with my add blocker on, it will definitely alter my engagement. I'm pretty sure I'll make exceptions for the creators I love and want to support, but... I probably won't make them all the time on all videos. There will be stuff I'll click away and I hate knowing that. It feels encouraging to know that there are creators who care about placements (some are litterally mid sentence) and take their time to find a good one. It's all the more fucked up that youtube decided to disregard all of that and screw you over. I seriously hope they change their mind.

[@gambitgurlisis]

Honestly I just absolve my guilt by throwing someone five dollars or ten dollars if I am binging through their content. It's considerably more than the ad revenue would have been and I don't have to suffer ads or feel bad about adblockers.

[@bumblebeesusan8034]

I was watching and counting. Several of the channels I follow start ads at 4 minutes and rum every 6 minutes or so.

[@Stephen-Fox]

Side note - it only means more money if viewers are willing to put up with the additional midrolls (and midrolls seconds into videos) and not click on another video, drop the site entirely, change browser to one where Google hasn't started experimenting with banning ad blockers (until they realize that some folk use firefox), and various other reasons why someone might not watch these new ads. So those creators who don't care about the artistic integrity of their videos are also potentially impacted negatively by this, because this could negatively impact their bottom lines.

[@mindfighter1]

I listen to KZbin on my phone at work and the ads are ridiculous now

[@kaworunagisa4009]

I've noticed very weird and exessive ad placement on a few channels. With larger channels like, for example, Dr.Ramani, I thought her team just didn't care enough to monitor it, but when I saw, if I remember correctly, Mia Mulder interrupted in the middle of a phrase several times throughout the same video, it was just jarring. KZbin just doesn't care. I'm sorta-kinda tempted to say that ditching it altogether and moving everyone to Nebula might be a better choice, but I suspect that when Nebula reaches a certain size, it will start behaving the same way YT does now.

[@EmeralBookwise]

In my experience platform can make a huge difference. When I watch KZbin on my laptop or phone, I usually only get one or two mid-rolls. If I try to watch KZbin on my PlayStation, however, I'll get adds every 3 to 4 minutes.

[@Kunstner1004]

The moment KZbin put more than one add at a time I get an add blocker. I used to watch Yutube without it cuz it was my way of contributing to the creators, but when there are so many adds I just wind up not watching at all. I'd rather invest in the Patreon, coffee, whatever, than suffer through KZbins bs. I have to wonder how much the drop off rate and addblock users have grown as they implement more and more adds.

[@GamerWho]

Ads on the YT TV/phone apps are so prevalent. I see them on videos I KNOW won't be monetised because of the subject matter. I truly doubt the creators are getting their cut. Two midrolls on a 6 minute video is too many. Premium is £12 a month in the UK, which is extortionate. More than Britbox, Netflix and Disney+

[@emmacappa]

Thanks

[@flower_girl4983]

There's so many ads. Simply too many

[@ElizabethMidfordHatesCops]

I've noticed that if you don't skip a skippable ad, you will get another ad afterward.

[@Lexi_Zone]

They're also experimenting with banning adblockers from KZbin. And any browser based on chromium (i.e. all of them except firefox) are pushing back on adblockers in general. Combined with AI generated spam, it feels like the internet is going to be a pretty awful place by the end of the year.

[@TheStal]

YT Ads are becoming abusive. I'm not being hyperbolic in anyway.

[@naomipenelopemccarthy9737]

I have noticed that ads play not only randomly but most of the time it's when the person on the screen is in mid sentence. And for me that's most anoing part. I understand that you have to make money on your videos but it's so fustrating when I have to wait until the ads end to find out what the person on the screen is trying to say.

[@auntieelaine]

I kinda forgot about midroll ads since my family has Premium. This is pretty messed up.

[@hypnoamber3248]

I also wanted to ad that i mostly watch left leaning and/or trans creators and ive definitely noticed an increase on those videos lately. It was enough to make me ponder what was going on.

[@OpalEye42]

100% agree.

[@InkyIsScared]

I had no idea about the time period where they were jacking up ads for testing but that makes a lot of sense now looking back on things. I had always watched youtube without adblocker because I believed in supporting my favorite youtubers with at least that much (it was pretty much my only exception listed in my adblocker!), then a few years ago they turned on automatic monetization and the midroll ads became ABSOLUTELY INTOLERABLE. Literally RUINED videos and made them unwatchable. That's when I turned on an adblocker on youtube and never turned it back on :/