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Edit: I need to emphasise that the ads were occasional, and probably YouTube will be more agressive this time. I've also realised that many of you are using some sort of ad-blocker, so you might not felt the changes when it was (silently) rolled out years ago, but this is from my experience using YouTube on devices which I cannot install an ad-blocker (like in some instructional videos for certain robots which some companies decided to use YouTube for). I have put this edit on top because it seems that some HN commenters do not read beyond a few sentence.

Original text: I'm sorry if I seem dismissive, but isn't this the status quo already (like years ago)? I don't necessarily endorse it, but from what I've read on the article and the announcement it seems that it has rewritten the terms to clarify that YouTube/Google can monetise videos outside of YPP programme (and some other changes that are not in scope of the argument), so is this just net zero?

(Also: if a YPP creator has decided to not monetize a video, the video gets less ads which its proceeds goes directly to Google. This has been the status quo at least 2016(?)ish so this might be just to clarify that this indeed happens.)



If you're referring to in-video ads, then no.

At present, if you choose not to monetize a video, no ads get shown unless a third part makes a copyright claim on your video.

I'm not quite sure about the situation with ads that show up in the corner of the page - those are unobtrusive enough that I'm used to mentally tuning them out.


> If you're referring to in-video ads, then no.

Pardon me? I'm pretty sure that there are (occasional) in-video ads for channels not under YPP and explicitly-demonetized YPP videos even before 2020. (and I'm pretty sure that they were in no way claimed by others at all)


Examples? Happy to be proven wrong on this.


> Edit: I've realised that many of you are using some sort of ad-blocker, so you might not felt the changes when it was (silently) rolled out years ago, but this is from my experience using YouTube on devices which I cannot install an ad-blocker (like in some instructional videos for certain robots which some companies decided to use YouTube for).

I do not have definite proof for this, as I said on the top comment it is rather occasional, but I'm pretty sure that this happened to me on these videos (will update as I remember them):

- Tom Scott (which is definitely in YPP in 2018) has a video titled Stories I Can't Tell [1]. At the time I've watched it for the first time, it has a in-video ad at the tail of the video even though he explicitly said that the video is not monetised (and therefore it might be Google getting the money). Notably, he prepares his videos days or weeks in advance so I'm confident he indeed turn off monetisation on this.

- From time-to-time, I have accessed channels for work purposes. One of them is Fisher Scientific [2], which does have ads occasionally despite the fact that it shouldn't have (and obviously they wouldn't have bothered to submit YPP).

- Similarly, YouTube channels using Google Workspace accounts do serve an ad from time-to-time. Again, it is occasional, but from what my child has experienced, it does happen even with educational accounts (they have since moved to using Google Drive, although it is cumbersome since there are no features such as playlists).

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjl9CpAirtE

2: https://www.youtube.com/user/FisherScientificUK/


>1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjl9CpAirtE

I pulled up a private browser session to make sure I was not logged in, and the video was served ad free.


It seems that HN put me on a cooldown, but as I've said it was occasional.


For longer videos, YouTube tends to put not just an ad or two at the beginning, but also in the middle of the video. It can be pretty jarring to be listening to a quiet video, and then 10 minutes in, an obnoxiously loud ad starts playing.

No idea if the creators opt in to this “feature” (I bet they don’t; it’s probably either all or nothing with ads), but it definitely exists.


> No idea if the creators opt in to this “feature” (I bet they don’t; it’s probably either all or nothing with ads), but it definitely exists.

You used to be able to opt-in to mid-roll ads. A few months ago, YouTube switched it to an opt-out system, helpfully enabling them for all then-existing videos that hadn't opted in:

> Starting in late July, videos that are longer than eight minutes will be eligible for mid-roll ads. As part of this change, mid-roll ads will be turned on for all eligible existing videos and future video uploads, including those videos where you may have previously opted out of mid-roll ads. Videos that already have mid-roll ads turned on will not be impacted.

(As I understand it, there is no way to disable the mid-roll ad on all videos, so you'd have to manually flip it for every single video. How kind of YouTube.)


Had this yesterday - watching a "Tangerine Dream LIVE" video and about 3 minutes into the first track got some advert for what I think was some kind of UK grime / street band. The contrast was jarring enough that YouTube got closed.


Worse though that on June (or was it July? Regardless, this year) most YPP members' videos were explicitly opted-in again on mid-roll ads despite some of them explicitly turning it off already.




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