Want to watch a video on YouTube for free? Technically you can do that, but the asterisk at the end of that statement is that to do so you’ll need to sit through an advert first. That’s all well and fine, but for those channels that pride themselves on not subjecting their subscribers to a mandatory pre-roll advert of inspid content like influencers reacting to sanitary pads? Things are about to change.
YouTube recently updated its terms of service, and buried beneath the mountain of legalese was this point: “Ads can now appear on videos from channels not in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), and we will begin gradually placing ads on brand safe videos.”
Basically that means that if you upload content to YouTube, it will have advertising. End of story. Unless your content is disgusting and unsafe for human minds, you terrible person you. It’s unclear if these new terms of service will affect unlisted videos as well, but for those creators who prefer to rely on payment platforms such as Patreon to help produce their videos in exchange for not monetising their content on YouTube, this is going to take power away from them.
“This is part of our ongoing investments in new solutions, like Home Feed ads, that help advertisers responsibly tap into the full scale of YouTube to connect with their audiences and grow their businesses,” the update reads. These changes are currently being implemented in the US, and by the middle of 2021 they’ll roll out worldwide.
YouTube has been pretty aggressive with advertising its premium subscription offerings, whose primary draw is the ability to watch YouTube content without ads playing every 17 seconds. Bombarding its audience base with an increased frequency in advertising while knowing that there’s very little game in town to oppose it, may be YouTube’s ballsiest move yet.
Last Updated: November 24, 2020
PoisonedBelial
November 24, 2020 at 15:14
Enhancer for Youtube.
Great Chrome plugin that also blocks ads.
I can’t live without it.
Du4098
November 24, 2020 at 14:46
Oh boy! I can’t wait for Youtube rewind this year or to be more specific, people’s reaction to rewind. It’s like YT is trying to piss off both their viewers and content creators.
HvR
November 24, 2020 at 15:08
YT has one upped you, already stated they are not doing a rewind.
Du4098
November 24, 2020 at 15:14
Haha that’s probably wise considering the backlash over the last few years.
HvR
November 24, 2020 at 15:08
Their platform their rules but hell it seems sometimes they are doing their best to alienate the content creators and users.
Their moral compass also more crooked than your typical SA politician …. it is a sad world where videos that have grown adults spreading their cheeks and showing their brownholes to the sun is more acceptable than some of the best history educational material produced.
PoisonedBelial
November 24, 2020 at 15:14
Enhancer for Youtube.
Great Chrome plugin that also blocks ads.
I can’t live without it.
Kenn Gibson
November 24, 2020 at 17:28
Ad Blocker. Problem solved.
Kapitan Balalaika
November 24, 2020 at 19:43
YouTube Vanced for my phone. uBlock for the computers.
HairyEwok
November 25, 2020 at 09:12
I really want to know how effective this whole youtube ad thing is for the advertisers itself. I for one can’t wait to press the skip button no matter the ad.
I want to watch content not advertising, if I wanted to watch advertising I would switch to SABC 2 between 12 and 2pm or Discovery Channel on DSTV.
McGafter
November 25, 2020 at 10:01
I for one bought the premium with the family package.
The ads did not bother me as much, but if had to listen to my toddler scream and shout because an add pop up on the tv while he was watching peppa pig, i was going lose it.
It is a small price to pay to keep my sanity in check
Milesh Bhana
November 26, 2020 at 02:04
I did the the same. The only issue I have is that with YouTube Premium, I get YouTube Music, so the Spotify sub is redundant.
YouTube Music is … fine, but it’s not Spotify.