Users who block ads often justify their "free lunch" because of the nefarious things that advertisers do - namely tracking and being a resource hog in their device. Sponsored segments on YouTube do neither of these. Also, YouTube creators who rely on sponsorships are often de-funded due to some pretty sketchy YouTube decisions, or just plain underpaid.
Rather than use a browser plugin, I'd prefer that Youtubers use the built-in metadata tool to mark their video as "paid promotion": https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/154235
A lot of Youtubers aren't marking their videos with that flag. (Many may be unaware of it.)
A screenshot showing what a "Includes paid promotion" title card looks like: https://wersm.com/youtube-creators-includes-paid-promotion-d...
An example video with the "Includes paid promotion" displayed at the beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4ijHIRaGXc
As an aside, I don't mind creators sponsored with relevant ads. They often show products that interest me. (This doesn't include generic ads like Blue Apron and Nord VPN that seem to be attached to any topic.)
Hmm, I don't know how I feel about this. I tend to find that with most content creators I watch, the sponsors they pick for their videos tend to be more relevant to their audience than standard pre/midroll ads might be. I'm okay with supporting their channel typically with a sponsorship.
Seems to be an unpopular opinion but I'm on board with this. I pay for YouTube premium so that I don't have to watch ads (on TV/phone) and I feel railroaded whenever somebody stops their video to talk about a product that are paying them to do so.
I manually skip these always if I'm paying attention. I hope this shows in their analytics. I include "buy my tshirt" and "look I have another channel where I interview my 5 year old" in this.
> There are currently 635 users who have submitted 5251 sponsors and saved a total of 7.37 days of people's lives.
> 7.37 days of people's lives
This is a really cool thing to track.
I wish this could be added to youtube-dl to (optionally) cut the offending content out of the downloaded video file.
Would this block the whole video about the Glass Age[0] by the MythBusters since the whole thing was sponsored? :)
I feel like Google did this to themselves. They had the adpocalypse, so creators had to resort to patreon and sponsorships, devaluing the paid version of YouTube. Why pay to avoid ads when the ads are now in the videos? Then Google puts 2 ads in front of some videos. Now people are writing tools to block out the in video sponsorships. If there hadn't been an adpocalypse we wouldn't have patreon begging, in video VPN commercials, etc.
This is a very cool extension. Most sponsored content is more deceptive and time wasting than Yotube ads. Thank you for making this and hopefully I can say goodbye to all those pesky nordvpn ads!
Just a thought but anyway to see which channels / videos / ads were reported the most? No reason, just curious.
Is there a place I can view all the sponsor segments I've submitted? It would be nice to see them individually, maybe with stats about how often each one was used and whether or not it is in good standing w/rt voting.
Would anyone use a similar service for skipping ads in podcasts? I've thought about creating an open database that contains the timestamps of ads in popular shows.
Oh by "report them" it just means to SponsorBlock and not that YouTube somehow doesn't approve of sponsorships.
I have an 'L' key. It works well enough for my needs.
Please don’t do this. It disrespects small creators. This isn’t like hurting big companies that can afford the hit. This is the digital equivalent of stealing money out of the till of the corner shop.
is there a way to actually skip the sponsorship without doing it manually or am i missing something?
for the dev, can you add a feature to skip to the end of the sponsored segment
My problem with ads isn't the time (as long as we're not talking minutes), it's the abrupt interruption in the middle of a video or exposing my system to ad network malware/redirects/viruses. If an ad is part of the content itself and doesn't disrupt the video, great. Many content providers generally promote the stuff their audience might have an interest in anyway.
Perfect addition to ublock origin.
Please no. If this takes off it'll devalue sponsor segments in youtube videos. That's the main source of revenue for a lot of creators. Sure some larger groups (like Linus Tech Tips) can probably take the hit, but a lot cannot.
I hate adverts, I run an adblocker, I hate youtube ads. But mostly I hate them because they are intrusive and non-applicable. Most of the sponsor segments in youtube are non-invasive. They tend to cater to the audience too. Many youtubers also make it easy to tell when the ad is, how long is left, and make it skipable manually.
I don't agree with this at all.
Sponsored segments are typically produced by, or use the same production values as, the creator who is providing the content you intended to consume. The sponsored segments are an accurate reflection of the content you're consuming and typically do not detract from the overall experience.
Like the normal web ads we see, they are intended to pay the bills of the individual(s) or company that is providing this content to us for free, so they may continue doing so.
By blocking the sponsorships, you're denying them the right to make profit from their work in a manner that doesn't execute unexpected code, intrusively collect your information, or otherwise violate mutual trust.