Odysee, a decentralised YouTube alternative focused on free speech, is officially ending the serving of ads on the platform, starting today. The post:
“Dear friends of Odysee, Starting today, we’re removing all ads. We don’t need ads to make money as a platform and we are confident in the development of our own new monetisation programs that will help creators earn a living and at the same time keep Odysee alive. Ultimately, sacrificing the overall user experience to make a few bucks isn’t worth it to us and nor is it even sustainable for a platform that wishes to make something truly open and creatively free.
As we take this decision, one thing is certain to us, media platforms (even ones that market themselves as ‘free-speech’) typically devolve into advertising companies and end up becoming beholden to their paymasters. It’s been that way for centuries and is never going to change.
As we see YouTube become more aggressive with their ad deployment and ‘Free Speech’ platforms try to build their own ad businesses it’s apparent to us that we’re building a model for Odysee that will keep it sustainable not only financially, but in its ability to provide an incorruptible user experience.
Our approach may be considered niche or unconventional, that’s fine by us. Odysee will be used by the world on terms that are agreeable to its users, and we know our users don’t like ads.
Best, Founder & Creator, Chief Executive Officer. Julian Chandra”
rozodru@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
that’s a lot of words to say “no one wants to advertise on our pro-nazi video site”
gentooer@programming.dev 3 months ago
I remember liking the idea of Odysee, but that turned rather quickly
OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 3 months ago
Thank goodness we have Lemmies ensuring no alternative tech can threaten YouTube. I was worried people might actually be against Odyssey in the comments
rozodru@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
oh please. I’m all for alternatives to youtube, just not ones that are backed by crypto schemes and appeal to and embrace nazi’s.
But you go ahead and give them your money, I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.
tomsh@lemmy.world 3 months ago
This Lemmy community is actually more pro-mainstream than Reddit and YouTube combined. Thank you for pointing this out. Time to go.
Emerald@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Yep. Use FastLBRY, not Odysee
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
You just made an excellent point without realizing it. #mayflies
Blubber28@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Didn’t know about its existence but as they were proclaiming free speech that immediately sets off alarm bells. Sad to see my suspicion is once again correct.
starman@programming.dev 3 months ago
Most of advertisers don’t care.