[bberenberg]

I was thinking about making exactly this today while listening to 99PI. Decided that I would rather support the makers. I wish that the various apps allowed subscriptions to avoid ads in a given podcast. 99PI is doing a fundraising drive right now. As part of it, they share that 1/10,000 listeners donates. I would be happy to pay 99PI $1 a month for their podcasts if I could skip ads.

[tw1010]

If the advertisers can't tell if you're using this app or a traditional podcast app, are you really supporting the makers any less by using this app? The advertisers won't pay them any less because they won't be able to know that x% of users didn't hear the ad.

[bberenberg]

️ Good question. I see it as a moral/ethical line more than a technical one.

[jldugger]

Who says they can't? The user agent used to download the podcast is a pretty strong signal, and it seems reasonable for podcasters to expose this data if it means higher bids on ads.

[epicide]

The user agent string has mostly been used to lie about the source of a request: https://webaim.org/blog/user-agent-string-history/

[sneak]

Seems like ad skipping players should identify exactly as non-ad skipping players, then.

[saagarjha]

That's how we're going to end up with tracking in podcasts :(

[slenk]

This is why I like supporting podcasts on Patreon. They get money each month (yes, Patreon takes a cut), but when you subscribe you get a normal podcast URL you can use in any client.

I wish more would do that.