So, I’m sure we all know about the WEI thing at this point, which is bad and weird enough; and also the sudden move to block ad-blockers on YouTube. I don’t know how that’s going to work out, but it’s pretty irritating. Not to mention, going to the gym, coming home, and suddenly getting loads of fitness-related ads piled on top of you… so I’m clearly being tracked.
Now I’m hearing that YouTube, which seems to just want to pile AI-topic-related tabloid TV on me in its recommendations, is now increasing its price per month for premium by a whopping two bucks, to $13.99. That’s as much as Netflix. So I can be ad-free on freakin’ YouTube, with contented created basically for them, for the same price as a network that actually takes responsibility for its shows.
The clear problems with Netflix notwithstanding, that’s another subject for another day.
It’s one thing after another these days. It’s been a while since I was a web designer/developer, but what does it look like from the front lines? Exactly how much hot water are they in?
On a further note, I’m reading the writing on the wall at this point and am wishing to begin to entirely remove myself from dependency on Google services. Docs, Drive, Mail, everything. Not easy, I know. Is there a list of competing (and possibly fediverse-ish) products out there somewhere?
Advertising spend has dried up and the shareholders are looking for growth. I don’t mind paying for YouTube Premium but I get it much cheaper than that because I connect via VPN when I pay for it. I use Romania but other people recommend Turkey or Argentina or any of the other countries that are having issues with their currencies.
Ad spend probably dried up because they’re fucking over the advertisers.
I work with Google ads every day, it’s my job.
Google for the last 7 years have been trying fuck over their customers constantly,pushing changes that make them spend money on irrelevant searches, pushing automation and telling them it’ll be better (it never is).
Confidence is just at an all time low, and they keep finding more ways to make it worse. I have to literally warm my customers not to listen to the Google reps because they’re third party sales companies hired to push these new tactics that end up costing them more money with less return.
You’d think they’d try and impress customers with great sales figures, but instead they seem to just be pushing short term profits and fucking everyone over, making the platform a minefield
Wow, I didn’t realize that it’s been going on for that long… Stone Soup, I suppose.
Yep that’s the best way in my opinion. People recommend alternative Youtube frontends all the time but there’s none that works cross-platform, unfortunately.
The discounted rate through other countries is the best way to get Premium perks without giving Google a shitload of money they certainly don’t deserve.
I registered through Turkey. Last month’s bill was 1.04€.
I’ve wondered what their figures are looking like now that alternative platforms are gaining popularity. Possible shrinkage of users? I know that a lot of content creators are publishing on multiple platforms now. When that happens a company typically starts to milk existing customers for more money to maintain shareholder value (short term).
Yeah, but supporting Google & their practices still might not be the best thing … If possible, I avoid Google services