alt Hacker NewsI am so reliant on YouTube Premium that I forget people even see ads on there. I watch an awful lot of long form interviews, lectures, podcasts -- most downloaded for offline. It's the easiest $8/month of all my subscriptions.
Replies
I pay for YouTube Premium and I still use ReVanced on mobile.
Being able to remove Shorts from the app and to revert Alphabet's many incoherent design decisions makes the whole thing usable.
Firefox + uBlock Origin + Sponsor Block (includes "skip to highlight feature) + 'Improve youtube!' = no ads, no clickbait thumbnails, and no friction plus tons of optimizations.
iOS Safari + uBlock Origin + Vinagre extension = no ads, free background play.
I used to be have a premium family suscription, canceled it the moment google increased the price by 30%, I considered such a jump unfair compared to the rest of the economy where salaries are hardly getting adjusted to the inflation.
Yeh, for all Google's faults in this arena, YouTube Premium is such a good buy. I consume so much YouTube I think it would be unethical for me not to pay.
(I still use uBlock of course)
I'm the same as you: long form and essays. I use freetube for Linux and Tubular for android, so no ads at all. I follow only youtubers who have a patreon and I support all of them (10 or so and one via kofi).
Removing ads and downloading videos are both available for free.
Wait a minute, why is mine $13.99 a month?
But agree, totally worth it if you at all value your time.
I’m the opposite. I’ve almost entirely given up on YouTube because I know that, even if I pay, I’m subjected to the consequences of ads.
Content creators have paid sections in the video itself, the format optimises grabbing your attention, some legitimate-presenting channels are just real state for product placement...
You can’t win in that platform.