Tuesday, July 1, 2025

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

Once in a while, I feel sorry for YouTube.

Well, not necessarily YouTube. Certainly the creators; those who put a lot of time and effort into their work. They deserve remuneration, in the form of advertising.

I'd rather they had embedded advertising, if I'm allowed to have a preference. I don't mind creators dealing with sponsors directly and making deals to support their work. But not everyone can get the deals.

I don't know how advertising on YouTube works. I imagine the creators get a (tiny) cut, with the rest going to the host/Google, and I understand hosting has a cost.

What I object to is this:

1. Don't start my video with an unskippable ad.

2. Don't start my video with an unskippable ad that's comparable in length to the video I want to watch.

3. Don't start my video with an ad, period.

I reserve the right to do the following:

1. Get sick of ads to the point I use ad blockers or browsers that suppress ads.

2. Go back to YouTube without any ad blocking when Google does things to break the ad blockers or ad-suppressing browsers.

3. Go back to ad blockers and ad-suppressing browsers when they function again.

Note I am of GenX*: I grew up with commercials, so I don't mind them as such. But commercials should be brief, and be gone, and be used to take bathroom breaks or get snacks and should include a pimply voice shouting IT'S ONNNNNNN! when the commercials are over. Commercials should not include an algorithm that says, "Hey, you didn't hit "skip ad" almost immediately; let's toss a five-minute informercial your way."


Or they could be *good* ads.

I'm looking at you, GEICO and Liberty Mutual. I know you've got a *lot* invested in your mascots. But your ad saturation levels are, uh, highly saturated. I would go to any other insurer but you, to be honest.

*Meaning I can adapt to new techology fairly quickly as any current generation, but reserve the right to grouse about it like a Boomer.

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