Ads, but also content / recommendations. I signed up for YouTube Red to finally get rid of ads & support the few channels I subscribe to, but instead it started promoting YouTube Originals that insult my intelligence. (I'm really, really not interested in Scare PewDiePie, or Prank Academy, or Foursome.)
YouTube keeps shoving recommendations on me that I'm just not interested in. I'm more likely to start at Netflix first now (no ads, better quality), or even Vimeo (which has tons of really good conference videos that aren't on YouTube). I do miss watching TechMoan on YT, though.
I'm with you there. I have YouTube Red because it's included with Google music.
The absolute garbage that they have in YouTube Red is so prominently forced on top of everything else. Things that I'm sure they have the data to prove I'm not interested in.
What shocked me the most about it is that it seems that's the kind of content that gets big on YouTube. Which is fine, I don't mind them subsidizing YouTube with that. But it is annoying for them to try to force that and prioritize it over my subscriptions. So much so that it has turned me off some from YouTube. Thing is, they probably don't mind, I don't think I make them any money, I'm not the audience they want.
I also thought these were all pretty dumb, but clicked the X button and haven't even thought about them in several months. I am kind of annoyed by unrelated recommendations though; I watch a video where someone is making tools for his lathe, then the recommendation is "MAN GETS STUNG BY BULLET ANT OH GOD THE PAIN 30 MINUTES OF HIS HAND SWELLING UP AND THEN BEING RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL AND THEN HE DIES OR SOMETHING MAYBE NOT YOU CAN'T FLAG TITLES FOR BEING MISLEADING SO HAH". Not interested, at all, seriously.
Some of my recommendations I blame on clicking on things that are popular on Reddit. Pushes me back towards the lowest common denominator. (I'm not averse to watching some car crashes.)
I'm not sure how refusing to watch Techmoan because of dismissable recommendations accomplishes anything, though. Bookmark his channel, pick the video you haven't seen, watch, close tab :)
I wondered what you meant about dismissible recommendations and the X button... then I realised that isn't an option in the YouTube smart TV app, at least not that I can see. Much of my YouTube watching (especially while subscribed to YouTube Red) was happening on my TV through the Smart TV interface, not the web browser or phone apps.
I have Youtube Red and regularly watch Youtube videos. But I've never even heard of Scare PewDiePie or Foursome, and have never seen Youtube recommend Prank Academy.
YouTube keeps shoving recommendations on me that I'm just not interested in. I'm more likely to start at Netflix first now (no ads, better quality), or even Vimeo (which has tons of really good conference videos that aren't on YouTube). I do miss watching TechMoan on YT, though.