this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024

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YouTube's server-side ads resulted in a black screen for ad blocker users (www.ghacks.net)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

239 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Mashable reports that users ran into a black screen on YouTube, and that it stayed for about 6 seconds before the video began playing. The reports indicate it affected several browsers including Firefox, Edge, Vivaldi.

Some users joked that they would rather see a black screen than an ad. While that's certainly a better experience, it does waste precious seconds of our time. A simple workaround for the black screen on YouTube is to just refresh the page, hit F5 as soon as the page starts loading. uBlock Origin's filters were updated with a patch to resolve the problem, the add-on updates its filters automatically. If you are still experiencing the black screen issue, just open the extension's dashboard and manually update the filters. This tug-of-war is getting annoying, but it appears to me that Google's efforts are actively promoting the use of ad blockers, instead of attracting new subscribers.

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[–] [email protected] 419 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Well, I'd rather see blankness than another ad.

[–] [email protected] 108 points 3 months ago (26 children)

it's nuts that no one likes ads yet advertising wouldn't be a billions of dollars industry if they didn't work

[–] [email protected] 157 points 3 months ago (13 children)

well, as long as the companies buying the ads think they work, we have an industry

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[–] [email protected] 67 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (6 children)

I think you're giving companies too much credit. Freakonomics did a series called "Does Advertising Actually Work?" and the tl;dr was ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/does-advertising-actually-work-part-1-tv-ep-440/

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/does-advertising-actually-work-part-2-digital-ep-441/

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago

Beat me to this.

Advertisers tend to be strongly opposed to measuring advertising effectiveness, because if they're not effective, then they're out of a job.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What I've found is that advertising only works if I already wanted that product. That advertisement doesn't have to be these huge ad campaigns that they currently do. It could be as simple as showing a still image of a twix bar, and saying "Hey! Go buy a twix!" Yeah, ok.

But if I wasn't already planning on buying that product? Well that ad time may as well have been some archival footage showing the inside of a 1940s concentration camp in use.

That is to say, both are things that you find offensive to have to be watching, and neither are going to entice you to buy the product.

munches on a twix bar

.....what?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago

A lot of people don't mind ads, they even say they don't see them anymore, that their brain just tunes them out. Then you look at their spending habits and it's quite clear they are seeing them.

A big part of the population doesn't mind being constantly manipulated.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (6 children)

The sad thing is: ads dont need to be liked to work. Making enjoyable ads is expensive, making annoying ads that still work is cheaper

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's because they are psychological warfare. They don't need to be liked because the goal isn't to create a positive association with the product, it's to brainwash people into thinking they need the product

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[–] [email protected] 335 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

If I hqve to watch a black screen, so be it. Better a moment of peace than an ad.

Some users joked that they would rather see a black screen than an ad.

This wasn't a joke.

[–] [email protected] 105 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's indeed not a joke.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

How about when the ad blockers insert a joke, when a blank screen is shown on YouTube?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'd prefer a blank screen

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 months ago

Wait so there was a brief black screen, then the video? That sounds like the ad blocker is doing a great job…

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[–] [email protected] 121 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Some users joked that they would rather see a black screen than an ad.

This isn't a joke. I would literally rather see a black screen than an ad.

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Yeah I know. Youtube tested them on me for only a day and yes of course I would rather see a black screen than an ad. I am not that needy for background noise that I would want to listen to an ad of the millionth MLM scam this month.

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[–] [email protected] 75 points 3 months ago

I can understand, I would feel better watching a black screen than an ad trying to psychologically manipulate you in a personalized way.

[–] [email protected] 71 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (6 children)

The day adblocks/yt-dlp finally loose to google forever is the day I kiss youtube bye-bye. No youtube premium, no 2 minute long unskippable commerical breaks. I am strong enough to break the addiction and go back to the before-fore times when we bashed rocks together and stacked CDs in towers.

Peertube, odysee, bittorrenting, IPTV. Ill throw my favorite content creators a buck or two on patreon to watch their stuff there if needed. We've got options, its a matter of how hot you need to boil the water before the lowest common denominator consumer finally has enough.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago

Nebula has some of the better creators anyway.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 3 months ago

I'll take a black screen over an ad any day of the week. Screw ads.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Or better, use FreeTube and NewPipe.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I get a feeling their time will be up soon. I hope I'm wrong.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago

This is the same cat and mouse game hackers have been doing with game-/anticheat developers since multiplayer games became a thing

Are people still cheating? Yes

So unless google manages to pull of their device certification fuckery for PCs it will never work out in their favor

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I remember a time when ads weren’t crazy intrusive. They weren’t being shoved into every os and app and website.

There wasn’t 20 of them on every page, and advertisers weren’t trying to harvest my data to the point where they knew every last detail of my personal life.

And I didn’t mind having them in order to have “free” content. But they got greedy and now I’ll block them in every chance I get.

Maybe forcing ads into everything isn’t the answer.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (2 children)

you're misremembering the time. ad blockers aren't new and they were invented for a reason. people forget pop up ads could literally cover your entire screen and they were so bad that blocking them was a browser feature. popups are blocked by default even today.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago

Not to mention that ads are a prime vector for malware and spyware (well, more spyware on top of the ad vendor itself).

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 months ago (4 children)

I find myself watching less and less youtube. Till is no longer part of my daily routine.

I backed up a few videos that I loved using tubearchivists and move on to other platforms.

I'm into small web and the fediverse now.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If that's what it comes to then so be it. I'd rather stare at the void than an ad.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (11 children)

I'm seeing a lot of comments about Youtube frontends. Don't get me wrong. They're nice and all, but we need some alternatives. At this point in time. We have two of them Odysee & Rumble. If you're tried of Youtube's bullshit. Alternatives are the way to go.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 3 months ago (22 children)

I think its important to highlight that Odysee and Rumble are both "free speech" platforms that neo-nazis love to use to platform their calls for violence.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago (4 children)

How are they supposed to attract new customers when they are already a monopoly?

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I can't wait for the day that saying "youtube" makes people say "what's this? a peertube instance?".

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Im honestly waiting for Google to sue for blocking ads in a last ditch effort.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Adblocking has been ruled a constitutional right in Germany. Let them try.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43838308

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (20 children)

What's the endgame here for users?

Do we just want a reasonable subscription price? Something we can genuinely afford?

If youtube doesn't play ads then they cant remain a service. At least not as it is today. Hosting costs money.

Im not shilling for them, i dont want ads either. And google are a terrible company. But im trying to be realistic.

Do we want cheap subscription?

Or a reduced service that can be maintained without so many ads

Do we just want 5 second skippable ads back?

Im just seeing this fight progressing to the point were youtube becomes subscription only and the ad blocker users have to pay or lose the service they obviously want to access.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I remember the days of tasteful ad banners on the internet. Those are long gone. Now everything has to be an obtrusive unskippable autoplay 30 second ad or cover half the screen.

It is not reasonable to browse the internet without an adblocker anymore, regardless of privacy concerns...

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I remember when banners weren't tasteful and the internet was the wild west

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago

They're already harvesting my data. The greedy fuckers can fuck right off if they think I'm going to pay a subscription for that. It's not as if Google isn't profitable as it is. They just want more, and it will never be enough.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

I think the baseline of what I would want is:

Have actual moderation of the ads. Don't allow malware ads, don't allow porn ads etc
Don't allow obtrusive ads, or at least categorize them and have preferences. Do NOT play my ads 2x the volume of whatever I was watching.
Don't interrupt my video with ads. Play before or after. Ideally after, but I can see why that would not be feasible. I guess it is also feasable if the creator marks ad breaks, like the current-day sponsor segments.

I genuinely think Youtube premium is alrightish as it is. I wouldn't pay for it; though, since I do not want to give my money to Google. They are getting enough out of me that I don't want to give them.

I honestly just want the alternatives, like PeerTube, to have a funding model, which allows creators to get paid. Donations? Sure. Optionally ads? Sure. I think peertube having opt-in ads that go to the creator would go a long way.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I think this is going to continue to the point we have AI adblockers that edit the files free of ads for us in real-time. Then hopefully the technology jumps to Televisions etc.

Google's really helping it along in that direction.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Ever since YouTube started this nonsense I moved to invidious and haven't looked back

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago

I've been seeing the black screen on Firefox. Still better than an ad, but it would be nice to be gone lol

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago

While that’s certainly a better experience, it does waste precious seconds of our time

Time not having [corporation]'s advertisements shoved in my face is time well spent

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago

I rather see a black screen than an ad. Pretty much what I do with twitch, those corpo fuck heads can fuck off with their shitty cringy ass ads that make you loose a braincell everything it plays.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (2 children)

When I stream YouTube to my TV, I get 15-30 seconds of unskippable ads with the ability to skip enabling at the 15 or 30 second mark. The full length of the ad is 90+ seconds (according to the timer that never goes down). Would this implementation work similarly? 6 seconds of a silent black screen is fine; 90 or more seconds because the skip button is also missing would be more annoying (or be a nice time for a bathroom break).

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