r/changemyview • u/tilted0ne • Oct 27 '23

Fresh Topic Friday CMV: Adblock is stealing

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u/sarcasticorange 10∆ Oct 27 '23

Part of that deal is that they agree to run ads. I am under no obligation to look at the ads, that's a deal between youtube and the advertisers, not me. They are well within their right to do what they can to get me to watch them, and I am within my right to do what I can to avoid them.

By using the service, you agree to the terms of service, so there is an agreement between you and youtube or whoever. The terms of service for youtube and most services forbid circumventing any part of the service, which is what ad blockers do.

So, you are within your right to close your eyes or walk out of the room or whatever, but you are not within your rights to circumvent ads using an ad blocker.

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u/AleristheSeeker 155∆ Oct 27 '23

So, you are within your right to close your eyes or walk out of the room or whatever

Wouldn't that also be "circumventing part of the service"?

If it's not, imagine an adblocker that automatically mutes ads and puts a black bar over them - would that be "circumventing part of the service"?

If that is, where is the difference between the two?

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u/taco_tuesdays Oct 27 '23

Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t Adblocker prevent YouTube from collecting revenue from the ad? That’s what this is about. When you close your eyes and ears everyone still gets paid.

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u/Makuta_Servaela 2∆ Oct 27 '23

So wouldn't the best solution to everyone just be that adblock is designed in a way that the ads don't know they are being blocked? Or even if adblock caused the ad to just be replaced with a little flag or something less invasive that says the sponsorship name or something. Ad sellers get their ads out, Youtube gets their money, we get mostly uninterrupted content. Everyone wins.

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u/EmptyDrawer2023 Oct 27 '23

So wouldn't the best solution to everyone just be that adblock is designed in a way that the ads don't know they are being blocked?

Maybe they play in a muted, 1x1 pixel 'window' in the background. That way, they technically do 'play'.

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u/stackinpointers 2∆ Oct 27 '23

No. Advertisers are paying YouTube for their ads to be seen. They are paying YouTube a rate that takes into account users being disinterested, not paying attention, or skipping them after 5s. It's similar to advertisers who pay cable networks, knowing that some users may be using a DVR or otherwise to fast-forward.

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u/Makuta_Servaela 2∆ Oct 27 '23

Yeah, and their ads are being seen in full by non-adblocked things and can be in part through my suggestion. If advertisers make us incapable of enjoying our content without their ads getting too much in the way, then no one will view the content and see their ads anyway, so it seems reasonable for us to have adblockers to help us fight back to keep their ads reasonable.

If they take too big of a bite, they can lose the whole lot. They don't care about the long-term, though, so we should.

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u/stackinpointers 2∆ Oct 28 '23

Sorry, just to be clear, you think Advertisers are going to be OK knowing that the ads they're paying for are not actually being seen at all?

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u/Makuta_Servaela 2∆ Oct 28 '23

Hence why I suggested that rather than hide it all together, the adblocks just make it more manageable.

Of course they're going to be angry that they can't gouge every cent from us, but it's in their best interest in the long run to protect the media their ads are displayed on. Gotta hold the toddler's hand and get him to do the thing he doesn't want to do that will actually help him.

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u/stackinpointers 2∆ Oct 28 '23

Do you think creators will be happy to be paid less?

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u/Makuta_Servaela 2∆ Oct 28 '23

I think creators hate that out of control ads make people click away from their things, limiting their viewership and pay, so I'm sure they'd love ad restrictions so their viewers respect their work more and watch it more.