this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023
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I have a YouTube Premium subscription
Why
It really boils down to a few reasons:
You pay and you're still the product, they continue with all the tracking they do.
That hasn't stopped me from using other Google services like Gmail, Docs, or Drive either.
If I ever decide I want to opt out of Google's ecosystem I'll just serve them a GDPR data deletion request.
That's what I did when I deleted my Twitter account as well.
If you don't want to be tracked, you shouldn't own a smartphone.
Because let's face it, you're never going to be able to stop it unless you get rid of all your tech.
Imo it should be a choice whether we are tracked for monetary gains or not, and not a necessary evil. But with most basic services/devices you are not even presented with that choice. E.g. when buying a phone.
And if you do have a choice, sometimes accessibility is restricted so much that you can't participate in our networked society.
I think we have to find ways to provide access to the most basic services with a minimum of tracking. Anything else should still be an option of course.
How to achieve this? I don't know. But EU regulations certainly wouldn't hurt for now.
I agree it should be a choice. But at the moment now, it’s not. And there’s content and entertainment I get out of it that I can’t replace with other options.
I pay for it as well. The AdBlocking options I use on my other devices aren’t as easy to implement in others (like SmartTVs or in YouTubes own app), and YouTube ads are worse than websites page ads in a lot of cases, so it’s worth it at the moment.
Since I’m already neck deep in their services for Gmail, drive, etc at the moment, there’s no benefit from distancing myself from YouTube. I’m working on transitioning to either self hosted (which is fine for a calendar or a shared drive, I don’t care if they’re down for maintenance/failure) or privacy focused alternatives, like ProtonMail, I’m currently testing it to see if I like it before I debate if it’s worth the coin.
Tracking != taking all of your data and selling it for profit. That’s what Google does with YouTube, even if you pay for premium. So I see no reason to pay for it.
Not to mention a premium sub costs more than most streaming services out there, including double the price of lots of Plex shares that have thousands of movies and shows to watch.
I don't understand the Google selling data argument. I thought Google was an ad broker. Someone goes to Google and says I want to play ads on YouTube for my awesome baking book, play it for people who are into baking. YouTube has the watch history of people and is able to tell who watches a lot of baking content. That's not selling data to someone in my books as the advertiser does not receive any personal details about the people where the ad is played. He is just buying impressions. Or am I missing something?
I see your point, but it assumes I want other streaming services or content. I have YouTube Premium to avoid ads. The content I watch is almost exclusively YouTube creators.
That and paying for other services isn’t free of tracking either.
I guess I’m resigned to being the product in some instances.
You know there are ways to avoid being tracked, even with a smartphone, right?
I didn't know the channels get some of the revenue. Do you get to influence who the money goes to? Like a twitch prime sub?
It replaces the ad revenue the channel would otherwise have gotten from your view, at a higher rate than an ad impression.
Thanks
Basically a percentage of your premium is divvied out based on watch time. When I signed up it was half of my payment went to creators, I don't know the current split though
I'm not entirely certain, but as far as I'm aware it is divided based on watch-time.
On your watch-time? I mean then it's cool, cause you don't even have to do anything. On the other hand I would probably have to log out to watch content I don't want to support financially.
For me its solely because of a ad free experience on my TV, since its the primary device I’m using it on. And i got it relatively cheap from turkey so it's not that big of a deal. I might reevaluate if the price increases though.
If you have an android tv device check this out. YouTube without the ads. Use it on my Amazon sticks. https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext
Thanks for the info. I played around with my parents old TV and managed to get it adfree with blockada and another YouTube app. But it's definitely a pain to set up and many people probably prefer the official app.
It’s not bad if you max out the family subscription (5 members) and use YouTube music.
Still, I’m a hypocrite because I absolutely hate their habit of hiding features behind the paywall, and making ads more obnoxious to irritate users into paying for premium.
Ya'll should just VPN to Argentina and get the sub for cheap, it's a few bucks per month compared to the obnoxious 13.99.
I pay around 2€ for mine per month plus the VPN fees, it's a no-brainer
Just sign in via a turkey tunnel and sign up from there?
Ah ok, certainly makes sense for ur usecase. I didn't meet anyone who was YouTube music yet. Does it have high quality audio or is it just YouTube quality?
It has 256kbps AAC, which is the same as Spotify (in the web browser anyway - I think the Spotify apps do 320kbps)
I dont like ads on my iPhone.
Well, you can use AdGuard free version to block them 🤷♂️
Does that work for the app itself? Or do I have to use safari? I use PiP all the time and don’t want to lose that either.
Only in Safari. If you want to use PiP, I recommend you to get Vinegar app, which lets you do both things on Safari.
Because I use YouTube more than every streaming app and my Plex server combined. And the creators I watch get money and I don't have to see ads
Fair enough
I got premium because I have ADHS and need to listen to something when I want to sleep or do chores. With premium I can turn my phone screen off of let it run in the background.
Dunno if you have iOS or Android, but on Android you can also just use Newpipe :)
As blockers don’t work on Google TV
How does it compare to a Netflix subscription, or whatever you got?
I would dump Netflix before cancelling YT Premium. Everything on Netflix I can stream for free from pirate sites to my TV. YouTube actually has tons of informational and educational content and a premium subscription lets me support it without the ads. I probably watch YouTube twice as much as all my other vid subs combined.
I've been so annoyed with the ads that I've started to go elsewhere for instructional content.
I'm technically still sharing a Netflix account with my parents, though I rarely use it at this point.
Whenever I want to watch a movie, and I check Netflix, they don't have it. (It's worth pointing out that I'm not in the US)
In contrast, YouTube Premium gives me pretty much exactly what I seek from it. Videos from channels that I follow, but now without ads.
I watch a lot more YouTube than Netflix, personally
Ditto. It is my most used subscription.
I watch more YouTube than cable (never) or Netflix (maybe one binge a month).
I use it for music in the car and at work.
I play audio from some sciencey channels while I try to goto sleep.
I’ll probably keep paying. I do get value out of it.
You should do an AMA