[manigandham]

There will always be those fringe people who insist on content being valueless even though they consume hours of it.

The greater problem is that the ad industry is too unregulated and greedy which has led to a tragedy of the commons with malware and poor UX everywhere, leading to adblockers installed by many who otherwise wouldn't mind.

[KozmoNau7]

If someone puts content out there for free, it is by definition freely available, and I decide 100% which content I want my browser to accept and show, and which content to ignore.

If you want to make sure you get paid for your content, put it behind a paywall. Yes, the number of users will drop, but you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Otherwise, ask nicely for donations or Patreon support or do old-fashioned sponsored content, obviously with full disclaimers that the content is sponsored, so people can decide whether they want to watch it or not.

Specifically talking about video ads, look at what Glenn Fricker from Spectre Media Group does on his Youtube channel. He often gets demonitized because he tends to swear a lot. So he asks people to "spend a buck, give a fuck" on Patreon, and he does short sponsor midway interludes in his videos. It's always a short clip of himself talking about the product or service in question, and it's always something he uses himself, he won't advertise something he can't vouch for. So you don't get the jarring cuts to some random ad agency's standard BS video that runs on thousands of un-related videos.

That's how to do it. Part of and related to the channel's content, but also clearly demarcated and made fully clear that it is sponsorship/advertising. And most importantly: No tracking!

[portroyal]

> I decide 100% which content I want my browser to accept and show, and which content to ignore.

Devil's Advocate says the people who make your browser reduce 100% to maybe 60%. Browser extensions are the 10%.

[KozmoNau7]

Depends on which browser and which add-on loadout you use.

On Firefox, with appropriate small changes and with uBlock Origin, uMatrix and a few other add-ons, you bet I can adequately control the data accepted by my browser.

If you use Chrome, well that's another situation. Don't use Chrome.

[ozzmotik]

>implying there is no tracking when watching a video on a Google owned platform

[KozmoNau7]

Use a VPN, use a private window, never log in.

I posted an example of how advertising could be done in a more sensible way, not a ridiculous claim that Google doesn't track everything they possibly can.

[ozzmotik]

i mean my comment wasn't trying to imply that was what you were suggesting. it was more along the lines of suggesting that in video organic and sponsored ads by content creators isn't going to stop you from being tracked. even with a VPN, a private window, and staying logged out, they can still likely fingerprint you so you better use noscript too! the point is there's no way to not be tracked short of removing the things that facilitate the tracking in the first place.

[hombre_fatal]

I think the biggest problem is that ads have given us a culture where people expect everything to be free which makes it really hard to compete with ads.

The malware stuff is a cherry on top, but not the main issue.