• Humanius@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It really boils down to a few reasons:

        • I don’t like ads, and I prefer not to see them
        • Running a platform like YouTube is not cheap, and I understand that Google needs money to keep things running.
        • The revenue of Premium is split between YouTube and the creators, much like ad revenue is. So it also supports the channels that I follow.
          • Humanius@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            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.

          • Jackthelad@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            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.

            • Anamana@feddit.de
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              1 year ago

              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.

              • Wayward@compuverse.uk
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                1 year ago

                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.

            • xts@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              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.

              • Anus B. Samus @feddit.de
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                1 year ago

                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?

              • If_Its_Kitsch_I_Sits@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                1 year ago

                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.

            • Cryptic Fawn@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              If you don’t want to be tracked, you shouldn’t own a smartphone.

              You know there are ways to avoid being tracked, even with a smartphone, right?

            • SmallAlmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              You’re objectively wrong. You can have a fully free and open source android rom without any spyware (not even from google) and be free, and I also use Piped for watching youtube because I don’t have a google account. Check out privacy communities on lemmy.

              Edit: And about getting rid of all tech, of course you can’t be 100% independent and have 100% privacy, but you can mitigate most of it if you know what you’re doing.

              • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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                1 year ago

                Many years ago I tried that, and found out that privacy is possible, but the cost is incredibly high.

                By using pi-hole I was able to find out if my mobile phone was communicating with Google. As long as I had GAPPS on LineageOS, there was plenty of traffic. When I removed GAPPS, the traffic went quiet, but my phone became severely crippled.

                Sure, I still had some smart apps on my smartphone, but I was also cut off from my bank, so basically living without money in todays society. Not really a viable option. Also, updating apps from fdroid was incredibly inconvenient, but I hope that issue has been fixed now.

              • xts@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                No, sorry but you’re wrong. Your phone will still ping towers it’s near, those pings are logged. You’re being tracked as long as you carry a smartphone.

        • Anamana@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          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?

          • WxFisch@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It replaces the ad revenue the channel would otherwise have gotten from your view, at a higher rate than an ad impression.

          • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            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

          • Humanius@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I’m not entirely certain, but as far as I’m aware it is divided based on watch-time.

            • Anamana@feddit.de
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              1 year ago

              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.

      • ipipip@iusearchlinux.fyi
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        1 year ago

        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.

      • Iridium@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        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.

        • ToastyBanana@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          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

        • Anamana@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          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?

      • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        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

      • Relo@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        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.

        • Anamana@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          Dunno if you have iOS or Android, but on Android you can also just use Newpipe :)

      • _finger_@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I use it so much for work that I just can’t rely on a typical ad blocker and I can’t justify not paying for it at this point.

        • Anamana@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          Haha fair, I mean it’s cool that people pay for it. I was just curious what the reasons were, because I never thought about it.

      • Blackout@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        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.

        • Jaytreeman@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I’ve been so annoyed with the ads that I’ve started to go elsewhere for instructional content.

      • Humanius@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        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.

    • persolb@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • Kekzkrieger@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      you hopefully mean you had a prem subscription, the more people quit because of price policy the better it will be for everyone

      • Chozo@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Oh yeah, because historically, whenever a large internet platform starts losing money, things definitely get better for everyone. Nevermind Reddit and Twitter and Meta and Netflix and Hulu having to nickle and dime users for basic functionality of their platforms, things are definitely better. I love all those raised prices and lowered quality of service.

        Right.

      • Humanius@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I don’t think the prices in Europe are increasing (yet). My plan is still 12 euros / month.

        And regardless… It’s been 12 euros since it was launched in Europe in 2018.
        If the price were to go up to 14 euros in 2023, that would pretty much be in line with inflation.

        • whaleross@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I’ve got €6/m ad free but without premium features. YT tries to make me upgrade but this is enough for me. I wouldn’t pay €12/m but I’d rather go looking for adblockers and third party apps should it come to it.

          • Humanius@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            They introduced that tier a year ago, right?

            I remember looking into it at the time and deciding against downgrading. I’m not entirely sure why.
            I think it was because of the lack of background playback in the mobile app? 🤔

            (Bit expensive for such a tiny feature, but I digress…)