@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

Libb

@Libb@jlai.lu

A 50-something French dude

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Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

Hi,

Trying to do it myself but I’m stuck with YouTube.

I mean, I need a gmail account to pay for the Premium sub. And then, most creators are still using YouTube not the few alternatives… How do you guys do?

Libb, (edited )
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

I’ve read it. Since you asked my opinion, here it is ;)

As of now the most basic one is 14usd/month, how much of that money gets to the creators that you Want to support?

(to be precise:) I don’t pay 14/month to support creators. I pay 14/month to be allowed to skip the ads that support those channels while still supporting the creators and YT. That’s what I’m paying for, and that’s what’s advertised in big bold face when you look at the YT Premium sub page:

YT Premium ad

OK, that plus YT Music but I don’t care much about that forced bundle (I use Apple Music). Not a word on supporting creators… Because we know its ads that are supporting the creators, not the premium subscribers. As a premium, I just pay to skip ads. The difference is essential.

Suppose you are subscribed to 28 channels and the sub money gets distributed evenly, that’s 50 cents a Month to everyone, not much “paying their due” in my opinion.

Creators do chose to sign upon YT knowing it’s ad-revenue that will pay them, not the viewer’s money (unlike say, on LTT Floatplane). As a a viewer, YT gives me the choice to a) watch those ads (knowing a small share will go to the creator) or b) pay a Premium sub to skip them (knowing a small share of my Premium will go to the creator). I chose b).

Is it enough revenue for each creator? It’s not to me to say. Not more than it is the creator’s job to worry if I, as a viewer, earn enough money myself to be able to afford the price of the YT sub ;)

Imho, a much more interesting question to ask would be: how much money to a creator gets from YT ads versus how much does the creator gets from a Premium viewer watching the same video? I’m willing to bet they get more from a premium than from the same viewer watching ads or at the very least that they get the exact same value but, quite obviously, I have no idea at all.

In the end, it’s a simple question of offer and demand. I want to watch X creators. Most are on YT. I can skip YT ads for a fixed amount of money, knowing that if i pay that money all creators will be compensated at least the same as if I watched the ads. Win-win. If it happens those creators consider ad-revenues are not enough, it’s a whole other issue. An issue they should discuss together between creators, and with Google. Not with the viewer or… only if it is to discuss the possibility of leaving YT and see how many viewers would be OK to follow them elsewhere and to pay to support their work.

edit: typos & clarifications.

Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

not sarcasm joke, really curious

I take your question without sarcasm.

Disclaimer: I use uBlock Origin myself, as I really don’t like being forced to see ads.

That said, I don’t think paying for content is ‘barbaric’ either. It’s a personal choice. Either you want to pay and you can, or you don’t want to, or you simply can’t. All three are fine by me.

As a teen, back in the 80s, I could not and did not pay for content (it was not online back then but copying music, books and even movies, or computer applications was a thing). Since then I got a few jobs, and the money that come with them. So, I can support the creators I like and I don’t need to spend time copying anything or searching for workarounds to access it. Be it on YT, or anywhere else. I would love to not pay Google, mind you, but since so, so many creators are still only hosted there, and since YT premium makes it so easy to pay them (a single monthly payment)…

Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

judging by how big corpos operate things most of that sub money probably will end up in the company account, not the creators.

Agreed. Suffice to see the valuation of those corps. It’s not the tooth fairy that gave them all their coins ;)

That said, it is YT that host the gazilion of disk space required to store the videos, it is them who manage the website and all our accounts and payments, it is them who deal with comments and moderation, it is them that finds advertisers for creators, and it is them that provide everything else I’m not even aware of. Do they dot it perfectly? Nope ;) But they do it and they too should be compensated for that. And it certainly not free: disk space cost real money, as people’s salaries, even for Google. COudl they share it more generously? I’m willing to bet yes. But it’s up to the creators, not to me the viewer (I would view them on any other platform they chose).

Wouldn’t you say that using an adblock and supporting creators directly (hot take here since you could want to support 50 people), be a more reasonable and better approach?

Better, I don’t think so: it’s the exact same money that is spend in a way or in another. It woudl also ends up costing me more. Which I probably would not agree with.

Reasonable? Well, it can. It depends your priority. Mine, as a viewer is not to have to spend too much of my free time in managing subs and payments. What I want on YT is to watch stuff and have a good time, not turn that into another job of mine (or then I should get paid, like for any job ;)

To be clear, if I had to micro-manage every single creator I like to watch, I would watch… a lot less of them. A lot. I can only think about two, maybe three.

And that would not be good thing for either the other creators and for Google/YT. As a publicly traded company, Google, needs to be perceived as successful (aka, having a lot of views at every single second) and creators themselves, they need the views in order to, well, become popular. No view, no popularity (no popularity, no sponsors). Note that I did not say they need ‘Premium/paid views’ or ‘ad-supported views’. They need all the views they can get, even the ones behind ad-blockers. Ever wondered why YT doesn’t punish users of ad-blockers by not counting their views as legit views? ;)

Ads are fine,

Not by me. I think they are not. I consider ads (and the constant profiling that comes along) a major threat to our society (very personal opinion, but mine nonetheless).

That’s why I’m happy to pay to skip them (while still using an ad-blocker and multiple browsers, to make sure tracking is really screwed). That’s also why I pay for my search engine (kagi.com: zero ads, zero tracking), that’s why I have not owned a TV set since the very early 00s (when TV ads become so prevalent in my country, France): since there was no way to skip ads on TV, I stopped watching TV (I value my time, and my peace of mind, much more than any series or show… and then I can now watch them ad-free on Netflix or anywhere else if I really want, which is not that often). That’s also why I use iOS and not stock android (less tracking less ads, less Google), that’s why I also use a GNU/Linux Debian laptop and a Mac desktop. And that’s why I will never use a Microsoft product ever again: I stopped using Microsoft the day they decided to introduce ads in their OS, making it obvious to anyone all the tracking that was going on. I refuse that. Ads in the OS, ffs…

but while the company is being obnoxiously intrusive and predatory towards Its customers, it’s hard to just pay to not be inconvenienced.

Sorry, I’m not sure I understand that sentence (I try my best to get better but my English is still so limited). Would you mind explaining it otherwise?

Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

Not the OP, but I tried encrypting my files before uploading them to OneDrive. Microsoft did not liked that and was constantly bugging me regarding potential threats.

For the moment, lacking any better solution/knowledge, I put DIY encrypted cloud backups on hold (and went back to using iCloud which as far as I understand is encrypted, and as I’d rather not have MS nor Google constantly sniffing my personal files at all) but I will have a look at Hetzner offering. If it’s doable for a non-geek like myself to configure a Storage Box for automated backups, I may decide to use that instead. Being EU-based makes it a + as far as I’m concerned.

Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

I’ve been using Kagi for a little over a month now and I would not want to go back to before that time. As a matter of fact I switched to their yearly paid-plan less than a week after I started using their free trial version. I was hooked.

Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

Thx for sharing.

This article makes for a real nice and clear summary I will share with people around me that don’t get it or can’t be bothered with too much details.

Let’s hope it will be enough to encourage them to reconsider their choice of browsers and online services.

Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

Yep… There is a lot of teaching/educating to be done.

Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

Lol what will you say them? Your IP won’t be shared to other websites, but only to Google, switch your browser now! That will be so dumb…

I won’t tell them much. I will suggest they read it and let them know I will gladly answer any question they may have after reading it.

They’re just ignorant of the technical considerations but they still have a fully working brain, and given some lead they should easily understand the topic at hand (a bit like, say, if I discussed the differences in the process of painting watercolor versus oil or gouache while you have yourself never painted a canvas in your live I would not consider you too dumb to understand, or laugh at you, I would instead take some time to explain you what are those essential differences and why they matter. Well, this article will do exactly that in regard to Google, for those persons).

As I wrote in my first comment, this article is a nice and clear summary of the issue (Google privacy-washing) and should help them understand or, if you prefer, realize that this issue may be worth getting more into it. Then, could begin our discussion.

Don’t you agree that understanding there is an issue is a required starting point for anyone to take any decision in order to try to correct said issue?

As for the rest of your well thought-out comment, here is my take: I hope they will change, and not just their browser, but I certainly will not tell them to change or to do anything they don’t want.
I know we live in this strange new world, where hostility and mockery is becoming the norm, but barking orders or Loling at the face of people is not what a discussion is supposed to be. Maybe that is something that’s worth repeating, no matter how dumb it sounds.

Libb,
@Libb@jlai.lu avatar

Agreed, on all points.

For me, the main issue will be to get people who have not considered the big picture to realize that even if it helps reduce a real issue, and it does, the solution may be worse or much more costly than the issue. Even more so in the long run.

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