[geijoenr]

From my point of view YouTube with Adds is unbearable. And I don't feel the subscription service is offering as much value as any other streaming platform.

If it was a bit cheaper I would may be consider it, but for my specific use case (just watch random videos and some channels) at this price is just not worth it and I will just stop using the platform.

[jjice]

I pay $14 a month for YouTube Premium. YouTube is my most used streaming service and I think it's completely worth it. Maybe if you don't consume a lot of YouTube it's not that valuable to you but I'd rather have YouTube over Netflix, HBO, Hulu, etc all combined.

[kubectl_h]

> I'd rather have YouTube over Netflix, HBO, Hulu, etc all combined.

Had the realization recently at a family reunion that, aside from Succession, I haven't watched a full season/series of a TV/streaming show in the last few years. I actually don't know what the shows of the moment are. I almost exclusively watch YouTube in the evenings, if I'm watching anything at all.

I've been sub'd to YouTube Premium since it was called YouTube Red. Anytime I have to watch it withs ads I'm horrified. I wish I could give yearly subs out as gifts.

[goldcd]

You can upgrade to the family plan and add people

[drcongo]

Horses for courses I guess, but I don't think I've ever seen anything on YouTube that I would consider paying for. I'm sure I'm in a tiny minority, but I find the relentless chasing of "fame" to be completely grotesque and a large contributor to the rise of fascism. No way I'm going to fund that.

[packetlost]

Sorry, but this is a bad take. There's so much non-shitty attention grabbing content on YouTube that it's arguably one of the single most valuable educational tools on the planet. There's even tons of amateur <insert literally any form of content in video form> content out there. Clips of comedy skits, amateur documentaries, programming tutorials, short/mid-form animation, etc.

It's on you for not seeking out better content.

[drcongo]

Sorry you seem so offended even though I pointed out that "I'm sure I'm in a tiny minority". For my personal use case, as I thought I'd already made clear, I just don't find any value in YouTube. Every time I mention that on here, someone gets extremely upset like I was talking about their mother. Of course it's "on me", I'm not going to wade through pages of people debasing themselves with stupid faces just for clicks in order to seek out better content, when I can read a book, or watch something made by professionals with a budget, or literally anything else.

[kyleee]

People dislike your opinion here because you are throwing the baby out with the bath water.

There are plenty of ways to search the youtube index for the good stuff while avoiding most of the BS you mention.

[glimshe]

It's unfair to downvote the parent. Youtube is really uneven - yes, some great stuff, but somewhat hidden in a sea of bad content. The recommendation algorithm isn't that great in my opinion, emphasizing popular and clickbaity stuff over high quality, intellectually stimulating content. While I do watch Youtube quite a bit, and like it in general, I had to invest a lot of time in finding the right subscriptions. It's quite possible that the parent got steered by Youtube itself towards the bad content they describe.

[corobo]

> Maybe if you don't consume a lot of YouTube it's not that valuable to you

I'm in this bucket. I think for YouTube my no-brainer price would be around 4.99 or so. Even if it just gave me like 20* hours ad free or something.

I do pay for Twitch Turbo (£11.99) however, I've almost always got a stream open. At least YouTube ads don't run over the top of content, haha.

* Number completely out of thin air, not thought about it at all. Insert fair number here.

[packetlost]

> I think for YouTube my no-brainer price would be around 4.99 or so. Even if it just gave me like 20* hours ad free or something.

Uhg. I hope paying for hours of """premium""" streaming service isn't where the industry goes.

[corobo]

We're already there, it's just ~740 hours instead of 20 :P

Fair comment though, I do get what you mean but I'd be ok with it if it meant things were more affordable. Each to their own and that.

Maybe do a cloud-style pricing? x/hour, capped at £12.99/mo. Same thing if you're already paying for premium but allows for affordability.

[frizlab]

For me it’s the exact opposite, I’d rather have Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+, etc. over youtube (and I do).

[Simulacra]

From my point of view YouTube with Adds is unbearable.

It is that way by design

[HDThoreaun]

No, it’s really not. Maybe you’re thinking of Spotify whose goal is to get everyone to subscribe to premium, but YouTube’s cares much more about completely cornering their market and has no problem sustaining itself with ads. Why would they purposefully design their app to annoy the vast majority of users?

[kubectl_h]

I assume it's more that kids are far more tolerant of ads and they'll relentlessly watch youtube all day regardless of the ads.

[pndy]

I do wonder about this quite often nowadays - is it because they're kids or because particular apps provide continuous stream of content that doesn't distinguish between ads and the content. Or is it both of these things?

Youngest generation will be the perfect customers in the nearest future, it seems. That kind about which corporations dream about now; they won't complain about privacy or ads because they're being programmed right now to consume whatever they see. And that scares me tbh.

[vidanay]

That's incredibly illogical. If you intentionally make something unbearable, you end up with X/Twitter. Google might be stupid, but they aren't Musk.

[Simulacra]

Where else are you going to find videos to watch? Vimeo? Bing? YouTube has a dominant market position And wants you to pay for it. Their reasoning could be that if they give you enough ads that make it unbearable, you will pay just to get rid of the ads and wants you to pay for it. Their reasoning could be that if they give you enough ads that make it unbearable, you will pay just to get rid of the ads.

From a business perspective, it's completely logical.

[anonymousab]

There are different kinds of unbearable.

If Musk had simply cranked up the ads to increase revenue, it would have worked / probably wouldn't have hurt the platform like all his other changes. The problem at Twitter (from a short term profit perspective) is that his changes - or rather, what he wanted to do - were not all so simple.

[drcongo]

Have you ever tried to use the video controls on YouTube in Safari for iOS / iPadOS? Or manage a GSuite (or whatever it's called this week) account? I'd say Google are both malicious in intent, and incredibly bad at design.