[karim79]

My gripe here is, for example, YouTube premium charging to remove ads and that indeed does make the experience better - and then there are sponsorship messages for stuff I won't name <cough> nordvpn for instance. There seems to be no rules about in-video sponsorship which honestly is driving me nuts. I feel like it is impossible to get away from ads no matter what one pays at this point.

[Bhurn00985]

Though I pay for premium because I loathe ads, it still feels like a blackmail payment. A bit like paying protection money to the mafia.

That said, sponsorblock works decently well for automatically skipping sponsored messages.

[zimpenfish]

> YouTube premium charging to remove ads [...] and then there are sponsorship messages

That's the main reason I won't even consider YouTube Premium - pointless to pay for "an ad-free experience" when, instead, you get a 5 minute segment in the middle of a video shilling for [flavour of the month]VPN or Audible.

[the_af]

Well, there are nuances.

If you are playing a playlist of music videos, "standard" ads ruin your playlist. And music videos don't have sponsor interruptions.

That said, the "sponsor segment" has become a staple in the YouTube channels I follow, and it is noticeable, but most authors will helpfully place it in its own segment, where you can skip it. I never watch the sponsor messages, because why would I? Ads suck.

[herbst]

If you use SmartTube App (afaik only on TV) it can automatically skip these segments (as well as ads)

[zimpenfish]

Alas, it is a Samsung TV with an Apple TV plugged in. Double-unsupported!