YouTube Launches Video Ads; Everyone says ‘Piss Off!’
- 13
- Add a Comment
Google wants to make money with YouTube. Problem is… the site is expensive as hell to run, and they just can’t seem to run enough ads to pay for it all. What’s the solution? Make the user experience as crappy as hell, so they use less bandwidth as people stop coming to the site, AND make money during the entire process! Do I smell a hint of BRILLIANCE?
The banner at the top got bigger and bigger. Fine. The square ad on the top right appeared. Fine. Then it started to play videos. Annoying… but whatever. Then little image ads appeared at the bottom of certain videos you had to X out of. What fun. Now YouTube wants you to sit through two commercials per ‘special’ video, one at the beginning, and at the end. Screw that.
Why the hell do I have to watch TWO 30 second ads, so I can watch a 20 second promo for the next episode of Survivor!?! It would be one thing if the commercial was for a complete EPISODE of survivor, but a commercial to watch a commercial!? How greedy can these people get?
So far the feedback on YouTube’s new ads has been pretty clear. Every video that has these ads has a solid 1-star rating, along with 1,000s of comments damning the ads, along with the publishers, straight to hell and back. YouTube is quickly dying right before our eyes, and they would be lucky to get another year out of it at this rate.
YouTube was great because you could quickly hop back and forth to random videos, discovering some long forgotten show you hadn’t seen in years, discovering new music to melt your ears with, or getting a quick laugh from some idiot who wanted a quick 15 seconds of fame/shame (mostly shame). Now all of the interesting videos are being pulled or buried in ads, and all the random crap is left for no one to care about.
It’s so stupid. Companies spend millions every year on marketing, trying to make some silly viral ad campaign take off. Most of their attempts fail, yet they continue to pull videos that would accomplish just that. How many people would honestly know who the hell Rick Astley is if the “Never Going to Give You Up” video was pulled because of a take down notice?
I see publishers left and right dropping from YouTube and switch to services like Blip.tv. I rarely go to YouTube anymore, since most of the people I’m interested in have pulled out already, like the Nostalgia Critic, and FireBall20xl. If Google keeps pushing more and more ads like this, so will everyone else. There are plenty of other sites I can piss an evening away on.
Good-bye, YouTube. Enjoy your ads.
13 Comments
Youtube Launches Video Ads; Everyone says ‘PISS OFF!’ ~ Griff’s …
April 5th, 2009
at 11:25pm
[...] Youtube Launches Video Ads; Everyone says ‘PISS OFF!’ ~ Griff’s … [...]
What do You Treasure Most in Life? | Chris Pirillo
April 5th, 2009
at 11:53pm
[...] YouTube has launched video ads - and the public isn’t happy. [...]
Kevin
April 6th, 2009
at 12:04am
Sounds like they got the same guys who helped flush Yahoo down the crapper…
Anyone remember this past Christmas - where EVERY single page on the site had this god-awful talking GAP ad (with these two mooks doing some sort of “interview” schtick).
I’d bet good money that this single ad alone is responsible for the woes they are going through at this time - and it looks like youtube is destined for a similar fate ;);)
Deji D
April 6th, 2009
at 5:47am
Ah, I couldn’t have ranted any better. Audio from videos are being removed. WTH! Why don’t they just pull the whole video? The first time I used Youtube a few years ago, I was in awe. Every single video I ever wanted to see or missed seeing was there…but now, there’s hardly anything interesting.
So sad.
Ron Knights
April 6th, 2009
at 5:47am
I can understand the frustration of watching commercials.
Don’t you think it costs money to post all those wonderful, amusing videos?!
Just how do you think Google is supposed to pay the bills?!
Would you be willing to pay a subscription fee in order to upload or watch these videos?!
Do you expect Google and YouTube to condone copyright violations (law breakers)?!
Do you expect Google to go to court to protect law breakers?!
It’s all well and good to stand up on your soap box and protest… But you might want to think about Reality and the Law first.
f
April 6th, 2009
at 6:15am
if they make me sit though ads at beggining
good bye
i am willing to x out of a ad
but
not sit though 30 seconds
and since most of the stuff like like 20 seconds anyways
and how many videos i watch
i would waste so much time
dede
April 6th, 2009
at 6:37am
oh god here we go…
so this basically means that there is going to be a sh***y user experience??
oh well….Blip.tv, HERE I COME!!!!!!!
ThatGuyOverThere
April 6th, 2009
at 8:40am
THAT IS GONNA SUCK!!! All of the adds they have been using never really bothered me exept for the ones where you had to x out of them, but if they do this, im gonna just totally forget youube, i wont be able to stand watching so many commercial!!! Ughhhh!!! DONT DO THIS GOOGLE!!!!
Good-bye YouTube. Enjoy Your Ads. « Tech–for Everyone
April 6th, 2009
at 11:52am
[...] onto its site YouTube, written by Griff and posted on LockerGnome. You can read the whole article here, and see the details, but I would like to say some of you may find the language a little salty [...]
Anthony Coons
April 6th, 2009
at 7:23pm
I understand all that bandwidth gets high (I Know)! I feel it would be fair to charge uploaders, a small fee, but not viewers! This is what MegaVideo does to support thier cost, and well it works. YouTube will shut down, if viewers decide to leave, due to lack of users, to support the advertisers. I use YouTube myself, and I would consider paying to upload, but not much, since the views are not substatial. I think they should charge per minute of upload. Lots of you will disagree with me. I simply understand bandwidth cost money.
Roelof
April 6th, 2009
at 10:50pm
I totally agree with Ron Knights. In fact I was going to say pretty much the same as he did, but he got here before me
I think the anti-ad comments are shortsighted. How can you expect everything to be free and then complain about ads? I read somewhere else that Credit Suisse Bank estimates the loss of YouTube in 2009 at 500 million dollar. You can’t expect anyone to let that slide.
Yes, I hate ads just as much as the next guy. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Ads are the price you have to pay for your free videos.
Kevin
April 22nd, 2009
at 10:07am
Good riddance!
Now only if they could take Myspace with them ;);)
Jonathan
June 4th, 2009
at 4:19am
Gorilla marketing in today’s economy is everything, marketing to get through the recession!
If your interested in web optimization for your site, there is a free site for uploading video ads for your business, they also have image uploads if you are not yet up to videos. The more sites you can link to the greater your market will be. They have a free link exchange as well.
http://adwido.com