• 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.

          • 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.

        • 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.

      • 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.

        • 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.

      • 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.

    • echo64@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      out of all the subscriptions, it’s probably the best one. you can get youtube for free but either you’re gonna get ads or you’ll block them, and the creators you like will start seeking other forms of revenue that are just as/more annoying, or just quit.

      yt-premium makes youtube an actually nice experience and keeps money flowing to creators. There’s a limit to how much that nice-experience is worth but it’s better than paying for netflix, and a bunch of netflix execs get paid, and the creators don’t. then the show you like is cancelled and removed anyway.

      • maegul (he/they)@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Yea I’ve been kinda watching youtube through this whole social media moment, suspicious that they’ve successfully taken a middle road here that will probably last. Ads and profiteering? You bet … but it seems that there’s a monetisation model for “creators” that kinda works (though I’m not sure at all about that). And so, for anyone that actually wants to make any sort of living doing the creative stuff that the rest of us lurkers want to consume, the inevitable question of how do you live within capitalism seems to have an answer of some sort in youtube while all the other platforms perhaps don’t have healthy or appealing answers.

        As for the fediverse, I think there’s a massive opportunity for donations and crowd funding to become a much more central and normal aspect here so that making some sort of living by contributing to and being a part of this space is actually viable. Even some sort of subscription model for platfroms that are essentially non-profit creator-driven would make a lot of sense here.

        That’s a problem that goes beyond any single platform though, and at the moment, cross-platform or fediverse-wide work seems to be lacking behind a little bit.

      • Riptide502@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I fee like premium is really the only way to make youtube more sustainable for content creators and the platform alike. However, youtube has currently deemed that demonetized videos should lose all youtube premium revenue. That’s incredibly stupid.

        Imagine if premium revenue went to creators you watched, regardless of monetization status. Premium subscribers would be highly sought after for content creators, since it’s a more reliable revenue source that gives them the freedom to make what they want. It’s good for YouTube/google too because thats less reliance on advertisers.

        It could use some adjustments, maybe taking some inspiration from patreon.

        • xts@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Personally I become a member of the channels I’d like to support or join their Patreon if they have them and then use AdBlock+SponsorBlock and uYou+ on mobile.

          If you pay for premium Google is still collecting all of your data and using it for their own gain. Why support them at all?

          • echo64@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            someone’s gotta do the hosting part, honestly that’s pretty difficult and I can’t see anyone else being able to make a youtube other than google. The platform itself does have value. I don’t think that value is 45% of the money but it’s not a case of they shouldn’t make any money.

            • xts@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Their yearly revenue has increased by $20B over the last 5 years alone, let’s not pretend YouTube is hurting for money here.

              And other video platforms do exist and are successful. I think more people would consider premium, myself included if three things were different.

              1. The price. Over $10 a month for no ads is insane. If it were $4.99 a month I probably would have it and not care. I hardly even remember that I pay for Plex pass each month. I don’t want or need YT Music, make a separate plan.

              2. Paywalling old features like being able to watch videos with your screen off on mobile. Most videos where it’s just a person taking and there’s no on screen content worth watching is perfect for that. But they removed it as a free feature locking it behind premium. That and being able to throw the app into the background and have the playback continue. I mean come on…

              3. Screwing over the creators. YouTube, much like Reddit, has taken the thing that made the platform what it is today, that being the content and those who generate it, for granted. The whole adpocalypse and constant demonetization of videos for stupid reasons is getting old. Things might be a bit better now? But I support most of my favorite creators off platform through Patreon or whatever so they get what they deserve and aren’t shafted by Google being full of greedy fucks.

              So yeah, really it’s YouTube shooting themselves in the foot. It’d be very easy to get tons of people to sign up for premium but they’re choosing profits over people. We all know how that works out.

              Google can go fuck itself. Ever since they removed the “don’t be evil” slogan they’ve been doing a great job of being shit.

              • focusedkiwibear@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                that argument of ‘they have money’ doesn’t make fucking sense lol. them having money has zero to do with them asking for payment in exchange for a service like every other company out there. the fuck does their bank account have to do with the costs of hosting millions of videos for millions of viewers? bupkus - that’s what.

        • radix@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I moved to YouTube Music from Spotify and I really miss being able to move the songs around in a playlist on the mobile app. I used to spend a lot of time curating playlists where order mattered (I might avoid having two songs back to back that are the same tempo/vibe, or I might tell a story with the progression of songs in the playlist).

          I’m also annoyed by the fact that sometimes YouTube Music will hang forever on a blank loading screen instead of accepting that there’s no connection and sending me to my downloaded songs. I don’t know if Spotify does better about this because I never had Spotify Premium.

          However, one good thing about YouTube Music is that you can find covers and unofficially released songs much more easily. I search for covers often, to see how others might interpret a song I like.

    • Jeena@jemmy.jeena.net
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      1 year ago

      Yes, the whole family watches YouTube on the TV, on the iPad/mobile phone apps, that it’s worth it not to see the ads there, plus background play of audio, plus the whole family can stream their music from YouTube Music so no need for an aditional Spotify subscription.

      Anyway, I just wish they’d remove the sponsor stuff on the apps like SponsorBlock does on the desktop for me.

      • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Question for you: I looked into trying this approach myself, but Google would not accept my non-Indian payment information.

        As it happens, they also refused to take my payment information when I visited Argentina and Turkey, too.

        How did you do it?

        • Calvin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          I used my credit card (Visa by Klarna) and it worked just fine. But it’s been a while since I’ve been there, maybe they changed something?