Currently, Youtube has banned the usage of adblockers. This is a problem for both users and Youtube.
I do watch Youtube and can figure out that a share of the revenue comes from ads. The site needs either enough people to support Youtube by buying premium, watching enough ads, or a combination of the two. Youtube does need our support to thrive well, but how Youtube chose to give us ads is a problem. The ads Youtube gives us are low in quality. There were studies that people can watch ads, and like well-crafted ads. Personalized ads are also generally higher in quality, but there are still problems. For example, I like video games. But I can still barely find an ad I am interested in.
The current state I find my ads to be is that I can find a “Worthy” ad in around 100 or more. But out of the 99 ads that I skip or refuse to look at, I can count around 70 to be repetitive, annoying, untrue, and generally bad ads. I understand the need for Youtube to try please both users and advertisers, But the thing is they are just from a few companies. The company is just lowering its reputation with its bad ads. Everyone that has even just watched three of their ads can easily discern that they are a bad company. Youtube does not need to lose its support because of bad ads.
A small portion of companies hold a large amount of low-quality ads. If they are removed and replaced with new, creative ads, and more diverse topics from new advertisers, we can easily feel that Youtube is increasing in ad quality. Allowing diverse ads from many advertisers is better than many repetitive ads from a few companies.
For advertisers, YouTube could consult with them more to better understand their needs and how to deliver ads users engage with. More two-way communication could lead to a win-win.
Allowing some user customization over the frequency of ads or types of products could also be interesting to explore. Giving users more say may increase the tolerance of ads.
Currently, low-quality ads generally are:
Untrue and False info on how the product is
Low effort put into the ads
Generally features cartoonish characters failing extremely easy tasks
The people who use adblockers are mostly tired of bad games and their ads and chose to do this to get a better viewing experience. By removing the bad ads, many would like to watch creative ads. Banning adblockers can maybe have the opposite effect, causing more people to bring their attention to the problem.
People would like to support good companies. I do consider Youtube to be a good company. Many people watch it every day. Bad ads hamper the support people are willing to give. With the current user base, an increase in quality could result in massively increased support from the community. Removing bad ads is a mutually beneficial decision.
