YouTube: Difference between revisions

YouTube
Basic Information
Release Year	2005
Product Type	Video sharing and streaming
In Production	Yes
Official Website	https://youtube.com

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Revision as of 20:49, 30 January 2025

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YouTube, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, is a global video-sharing platform and one of the most visited websites in the world. Acquired by Google in 2006, YouTube has since become the dominant platform for sharing videos on the internet.

YouTube's business model is built around advertising revenue, with creators earning money through ad views, subscriptions, and other monetization options. The platform hosts a wide range of content, including music videos, tutorials, news, vlogs, and live streams. YouTube has also begun offering subscription services, such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, for ad-free experiences, exclusive content, and live television.^[1]

YouTube has faced criticism and regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts. Concerns have been raised about content moderation policies, the platform's role in the spread of misinformation, and its impact on user privacy, particularly in relation to data collection practices. Additionally, YouTube has been under fire for its algorithms, which some argue promote harmful or divisive content to maximize engagement.

Anti-consumer actions

Advertising overload in YouTube

See also: Advertising Overload

Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue,^[2] but because the platform is run by a publicly shared parent company, it is forced to grow its revenue by any means necessary. This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform^[3] such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads, longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch^[4]^[5]), increased ad frequency in videos,^[6] and poorer quality ads.^[7]^[8]^[9] Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.^[10] Even these paywalls are beginning to lose their value, as users have reported seeing ads while paying for YouTube Premium.^[11]^[12]

Crackdown against ad-blockers

Related to the incessant usage of ads on the platform, consumers have been needing to use adblockers while on the platform merely to watch their videos. Unfortunately, Google sparked a game of cat and mouse, and has been attempting to integrate a variant of DRM onto YouTube to make consumers watch ads.^[13]^[14] However, these attempts usually only work for a short period before AdBlock tools find new ways to circumvent the advertisements,^[15] resulting in these actions taking place reflecting the Streisand Effect.

References

[1] "YouTube" - wikipedia.org -accessed 2025-01-30

[2] ttps://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/

[3] ttps://www.33rdsquare.com/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/

[4] ttps://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/

[5] ttps://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html

[6] ttps://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/

[7] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg

[8] ttps://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/

[9] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs

[10] "Background play so you can watch while using other apps or with your screen locked" Via: https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEB

[11] ttps://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/

[12] ttps://9to5google.com/2024/11/13/youtube-premium-ads-statement/

[13] ttps://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/

[14] ttps://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/

[15] ttps://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032/2

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@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 YouTube has faced criticism and regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts. Concerns have been raised about content moderation policies, the platform's role in the spread of misinformation, and its impact on user privacy, particularly in relation to data collection practices. Additionally, YouTube has been under fire for its algorithms, which some argue promote harmful or divisive content to maximize engagement.
-==Anticonsumer actions==
+==Anti-consumer actions==
 ===Advertising overload in YouTube===
 :<i>See also: [[Advertising overload|Advertising Overload]]</i>
-<!-- Needs citations -->
+Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/</ref> but because the platform is run by a publicly shared parent company, it is forced to grow its revenue by any means necessary. This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform<ref>https://www.33rdsquare.com/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/</ref> such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads,<!-- No article specifically states this, but whenever I use a device without an adblock, I have been seeing more static ads on the home page and video sidebar. I think it is reasonable to assume they don't mention it because they are distracted by the more annoying video ads - JamesTDG --> longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch<ref>https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/</ref><ref>https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html</ref>), increased ad frequency in videos,<ref>https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/</ref> and poorer quality ads.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg</ref><ref>https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs</ref> Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.<ref>"Background play so you can watch while using other apps or with your screen locked" Via: https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEB</ref> Even these paywalls are beginning to lose their value, as users have reported seeing ads while paying for YouTube Premium.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/</ref><ref>https://9to5google.com/2024/11/13/youtube-premium-ads-statement/</ref>
-Ads fund YouTube, but because the platform is run by a publicly shared parent company, it is forced to grow its revenue by any means necessary. This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads, longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch), increased ad frequency in videos, and of course, poorer quality ads.
-<!-- Needs citations -->
-Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as paywalling playing videos in the background. Even these paywalls are beginning to lose their value, as users have reported seeing ads while paying for YouTube Premium.
 ===Crackdown against ad-blockers===
 <!-- Needs citations -->
-Due to the platform's reliance on advertisements as a revenue stream, YouTube has been pushed into integrating more and more ads, especially those of dubious quality or ethics. This led to the increasing usage of ad-blockers on the platform. While remaining relatively niche in the beginning, Google eventually turned towards a tirade against adblockers.
+Related to the incessant usage of ads on the platform, consumers have been needing to use adblockers while on the platform merely to watch their videos. Unfortunately, Google sparked a game of cat and mouse, and has been attempting to integrate a variant of DRM onto YouTube to make consumers watch ads.<ref>https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/</ref><ref>https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/</ref> However, these attempts usually only work for a short period before AdBlock tools find new ways to circumvent the advertisements,<ref>https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032/2</ref><!-- Can someone add a source from ublock? Here's their site and wiki if anyone wants to chip in.
+https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki
-<!-- Note: this section will need to be revised since it mostly covers the aftermath and cites only speculation -->
+https://ublockorigin.com/ --> resulting in these actions taking place reflecting the Streisand Effect. <!-- SEO hates me here, want a source directly mentioning this but all I am getting slammed with is one specific adblocker in 2020 eating up RAM from a bunch of news sources. -->
-It is reported that in Googles crackdown on ad-blockers some users are inexplicably receiving hour long advertisements, in which speculations rise are a crackdown on ad blocking extensions.<ref>[https://www.androidpolice.com/youtube-hours-continuous-ads-google-says-not-bug/ "YouTube is serving up hours of continuous ads for some, but Google says it's not a bug"] - androidpolice.com - accessed 2025-01-30</ref>
-https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html
-<!-- End note goes here-->
 ==References==
 {{reflist}}