Delaying the video stream for the ad length would do most of the work. Since they manage that server side there is no way to request the video sooner. Blocking technically works, but you would have to stare at a blank screen for the ad duration.
How exactly “can” they? They’ve been trying pretty hard for quite a long while now and nothing has ever worked. It’s also pretty logical why they can’t: they don’t control your device. Whatever they implement, you can always “fake” being a normal user. Which is exactly why no one using Firefox + uBlock sees anything of what’s mentioned in this article (as long as no other addons/settings trigger the adblock detection).
Only the environment they do control is affected, which is essentially like “controlling your device”: Chrome.
Jako301@feddit.de 1 year ago
BURN@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Twitch started embedding ads into the stream video feed. So if you blocked the ad you also blocked the stream.
It’s been really effective at getting me to watch less twitch. I’d love to see statistics on how many people click away immediately after an ad starts.
TSG_Asmodeus@lemmy.world 1 year ago
A streamer I was watching was playing PUBG, made it to a 1v1, and then an ad played.
A good 99% of the chat was just ‘WHAT HAPPENED?!’ and we came back to an empty chair, with the streamer in the background.
I haven’t watched since.
(The streamer won with an insane pan-throw over a small hill, so it wasn’t even a lame win)
Zana@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I open a stream, get a 45 second ad, close the stream, and go do something else. Congrats, you just killed any enthusiasm I had about your platform.
tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk 1 year ago
Preroll ads never made any sense… those first few seconds are when you’re deciding whether to watch that streamer or go elsewhere. An ad makes me go elsewhere without the streamer even getting a say.
Some streamers never use ads, but I think the bigger ones are contracted to do so.
BURN@lemmy.world 1 year ago
100% of the time I do the same thing. I subscribe to 1 streamer max per month and get ad free there, and pretty much don’t use the platform outside of it
squirrelwithnut@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Staring at a blank screen is better than watching an ad IMO.
LukeMedia@lemmy.world 1 year ago
To be honest, I’d take that over ads. I’d use YouTube a lot less, but there’s some content from creators I like that’s not available elsewhere.
A2PKXG@feddit.de 1 year ago
Netflix is able to only serve paying customers.
Sure, granting view credits for ads is a little more complicated, but definitely within googles scope.
So they can block everyone, unless you either pay or watch ads. Unpopular, sure. But they have a huge library and a constant stream of new content, so enough people would put up with it. They can also start soflty, and only tighten the screws later. Lets start with one ad per day.
Azzu@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Sure, granting view credits for ads is a little more complicated, but definitely within googles scope.
How exactly? What stops someone from creating a program that behaves like a normal user earning view credits for ads, but never showing that to the actual user, only letting Google think the user is legitimate? Afaik nothing. Yes, turning it pay-only like Netflix would technically work, but YouTube itself only works because it’s “free”, so yeah.
deur@feddit.nl 1 year ago
There are audits that try to determine if the view credits are legitimate. They’ll cross reference a selection of data (what segments did they fetch, what was the timing like, did each ad checkpoint get crossed, etc) because companies don’t like paying for ads that arent watched.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That can all be faked, just grab all the segments at a timing that would match playing it. This is why Google wants to do that trusted client thing, because there’s no way to guarantee that a user is watching something on their own device unless the software and hardware on that device prevent it and the server makes the user prove they are running that software and hardware and nothing else.
Aux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They can easily embed ads into the main stream, so ad blockers will have nothing to block. Not sure why they haven’t done so already.
Azzu@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Because those can also be skipped. They are required by law to label sections of ads. This labeling can be read to figure out how long the ads are and thus be skipped. That’s how twitch ads are blocked.
Aux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The label can be a part of the stream as well. There are no issues to stream everything and make it non-blockable.
Azzu@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Then how hard would it be to use some pattern-based image recognition to detect this label? Not very hard, I have a friend that does something similar at work.
virtualbriefcase@lemm.ee 1 year ago
If they did that then they’d have to re-encode videos for each veiwer (which would require an insane amount of processing power), or give up on tracking and have contextual only ads.
Their only real option is to have ads as separate files and then use the magic JavaScript to tell your computer to play one file then the next, which is where adblock comes in like “naw, let’s not do that”.
Aux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Not really. That’s not how modern streaming works. No one sends plain files like it’s 2000.
virtualbriefcase@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I didn’t mean like they just strait up embed video.mp4 on page for the video, but as far as I understand on their backend they still have actually video files of various resolutions and such that they serve to you.
Even if the page isn’t giving you a copy of a strait up file in the way it might in 2000, the player is still pulling a copy of a pre processed video file stored on YT’s servers, and in order to have the ads as part of that same file in order to make adblock very hard to implement they’d need to re-process it any time they want to show an ad that hadn’t been already inserted into the video.
ProfessorProteus@lemmy.world 1 year ago
My pessimistic opinion is that they’ll lobby ths shit out of governments to get laws written which make it illegal to circumvent this stuff somehow. I’m not sure that’s even possible, but it’s my irrational fear.
If it does happen, I’ll convince myself that I don’t care about any of the content on YT. Let’s face it - 99% of the shit on there is emotionless-face-with-open-mouth-and-red-arrow/circle hot garbage. Sifting through that sewage is so exhausting.
Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
A surprising number is videos don’t even need the video component. Just go for a walk, and leave your phone in your pocket while you’re listening to whatever you would normally watch. Try that out and you’ll realize that there’s hardly any reason to see what’s on the screen.