[maskros]

That's already happened ... just look at how many youtube channels have integrated a "and now let's briefly talk about my sponsors" segment in the middle.

[WD-42]

That's why we have SponsorBlock: https://sponsor.ajay.app/ It even has an API that youtube-dlp uses to automatically trim out sponsored sections from downloaded videos!

[zimpenfish]

It's definitely useful - especially for yt-dlp - but I eventually had to turn it off due to the clipping being a bit wayward[1]. Often got videos where it'd clip 15-20s before the sponsor and 30s after which leads to horrible glitchy cuts. Or sometimes it would only cut out the middle 2m of a sponsor segment leading to, again, horrible glitchy cuts but with sponsorship. etc.etc.

[1] This may be because I was downloading things reasonably quickly after they went up - waiting a day or two might have got better results?

[brokenmachine]

It probably is only cutting on the keyframes.

There's a flag to tell it to reencode up to and after the cuts, which would probably help a lot.

Yep - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ

>Video files cannot be cut at exact timestamps without re-encoding. yt-dlp does not re-encode the video by default, even when cutting is required. You can use --force-keyframes-at-cuts to force re-encoding; however, this process is slow - there is no way around this.

I'd probably rather just tell it to mark the sponsor segments as chapters and then skip them manually. I think it marks them by default.

[zimpenfish]

Excellent, I shall try this out, thanks

[PebblesRox]

Not to mention all the youtube videos that are just ads. My 11yo wanted to watch some saxophone videos to help him learn to play – next thing I know, he’s watching a saxophone unboxing video with a reviewer gushing over the saxophone he bought from Amazon.

[drdec]

This is how ads were in the beginning of television, the characters in the snow would talk about the product.

[kQq9oHeAz6wLLS]

And to be honest, I mind those a lot less. In fact, on old shows they're an interesting historical look into a society. To the point that they're included as bonus features.

[dont__panic]

Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGDgnp7-uck

("Is that a PS Vita" in the middle of a dramatic, slow-paced show)

[blessedwhiskers]

30 Rock executed this type of hamfisted product placement to great comedic effect, ending with a fourth wall break and "...can we have our money now?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36wUmJGzvA

[dsfyu404ed]

And how ads on radio have been since forever.

[thih9]

What’s worse is when there is no clear distinction between the ad part and the actual content.

Either via product placement, or the ad section starts inconspicuously and gradually morphs into a full featured endorsement

[Gordonjcp]

I don't mind those if it's a good piece about the sponsor and I like the content.

If it's a 10:01 waffle piece with a huge sponsor segment before you get to the good stuff, I won't watch it.

Let's Game It Out is a great example of how to do the sponsor piece. I want to watch him take the piss out of the sponsor as much as the game.

[derekp7]

Now all Youtube needs is to give the content creator the ability to disable the fast forward / skip 10 second buttons at specified portions of the video (in return for a fee of course).

[midoridensha]

They could try that, but browser extensions like Enhancer for YouTube will fix it.

Also, you can just download the video with youtube-dl and watch it that way.

[weberer]

That's exactly what they do with their "Shorts" section. They completely take away play controls from the user.

[brokenmachine]

Is there any way to add the controls back?

I'd definitely like to disable the looping at the very least.

[Dylan16807]

The main reasons for those are better negotiated pay, and because on youtube that's the only way an uploader can attach specific ads to a video.