YouTube has gone to shit hasn’t it

[NewEnglandWeekend]

I realised how low it had sunk last night when, half way through the guitar solo in Free Bird, a fucking advert came on. And not a quick one, a series of them lasting 30 bastard seconds or something that couldn’t be skipped.

Also, didn’t it used to be better in general? I remember when not only did it not bombard you with ads but it actually suggested stuff to you that
I usually enjoyed and was to my taste. Now it just asks me if I want to watch things again that I’ve already watched!

They (and every other platform tbh) seem hellbent on making everything as shit as possible until we are forced to pay to upgrade. It reminds me of the Black Mirror episode with the brain implant that starts running adverts.

The most reliable ways to get rid of YouTube ads are to subscribe to YouTube Premium or use a browser extension or a different browser. For a subscription-based solution, YouTube Premium removes ads, offers offline downloads, and allows background playback on all devices. Alternatively, you can use browser extensions like uBlock Origin for desktop or the Brave browser on mobile to block ads without a subscription.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjSKe-IC7I&pp=2AEAkAIB

Yes, I agree. What annoys me about adverts that repeat at 5 min intervals on YouTube is the sheer pointlessness of them. If I'm not going to buy something, repeating the advert at 5 min intervals isn't going to magically convince me to buy it after all. If I am going to buy it, I'm more likely to be put off by seeing multiple adverts.

I understand that sites need revenue, and I will tolerate a degree of advertising in preference to paying, but there has to be a balance between revenue generation and user experience, otherwise people will just stop using the site. OK some might be prepared to pay, but in the current climate most people are paring down their expenses, not looking for premium experiences on websites which add to their monthly outgoings.

This is why I pay Premium. As much as I don't want to give YouTube a penny, the user experience is so much nicer.

If you don't want the ads, pay for premium..

I’m less bothered about the ads than the prevalence of “shorts” as opposed to actual videos and the way that when I search for something, only the top maybe 5 results might be relevant to what I’ve searched for. So if I do a search for, say, eye make up for blue eyes, the results will be a shitload of shorts which I then have to filter out, then few videos about eye make up for blue eyes, then videos about bridal make up, smokey eyes, a review of some palette, eyeliner style for hooded eyes, etc etc.

Same. Best thing I ever did was pay for YouTube premium. It’s crap and we shouldn’t have to but I use YouTube an awful lot

Their data must show it works though.

It's worse on our TV than on our phones - but yes on TV the ad breaks are too frequent for the content - more like US TV.

I think they are currently pushing the premium paid version.

I don't mind occaional ads - can be good for grabbing a tea - or can be funny though we are now paying somthing for app TV serivces that now also service up ads unless we pay more. At moment it's okay but if they increase we'll be doing without.

DH seems to be sticking with you tube - but it's putting me off.

Yes. Fuck youtube and their shitty ad policies.

I get it ad free via duck duck go web browser. Legal and good.

There was a good article I read somewhere about the enshitification of the internet. Here it is: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish

It is so true. I do wonder if the old traditional companies will get more business back. I use Argos and John Lewis rather than Amazon for this reason. I watch BBC, ITV and C4 quite a lot. But YouTube does serve up good suggestions for our family, so not totally shittified (yet).

@Rollercoaster1920that article sounds great I’m saving that to read properly later. Yes Amazon Prime is shit now too! I pay for Prime and then they expect me to pay again to watch anything good! Some of their output is so bad it’s like something a kid made on Screen Test (if anyone remembers that).

Those who pay for YouTube premium, are the search results and suggestions better or is it just the lack of ads? I might consider it if I could share it among the other people in our household, but would that mean I’d get all their suggestions and history on my account? I bet it would. Swines.

Get premium and share it with people. I pay for it for my whole family - 5 of us.

Also install Sponsorblock. It cuts out all the sections where they start banging on about hello fresh etc.

I use the Brave browser. I don't watch tv, and listen back to commercial radio and zap through the ads.

I’m mainly using YouTube on tv. It definitely seems to be worse that way though.

I agree and what makes it all the worse is that the adverts are for things I will never ever need or are fronted by fast talking Yanks wanting to help me improve my non-existent business.

It’s definitely worse on tv. The last really annoying one was the some rapper (I think) shot on an iPhone or something. I was sitting with my finger or the skip now.

It will be some third party presenting them with the data in a way that suggests it works.

Either that, or YouTube's majority of users are extremely guillible.

So I’ve downloaded the Brave browser and am mirroring my screen to my tv. But I cannot find a way to get the picture full screen without the top and bottom banners! I’ve tried clicking everything?

They should all be jailed for cutting off that solo.

In the bottom right hand corner you can see a very faint icon of two arrows pointing away from each other diagonally. Try pressing that 😊