We need an alternative with people on it.
this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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Technology
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Or to come to terms with needing to pay for the services you use. YouTube has a paid option that supports the platform and creators much more that watching ads.
Of course, I also upload my videos to PeerTube. Seems like the best alternative I've seen thus far.
It's so fucking funny though. I would love to pay YouTube. But I will never pay a company that abuses my data the way they do.
"unskippable" laughs in ublock/revanced
Oh no, the ads I block are getting even longer!?
I just purchased a new travel router that will have options for ad blocking built in. Would that block ads on any device sharing that connexion? TV, phone, PC, smart fridge,...?
Those will not block YT ads.
They'll block ads at a DNS level, but YouTube ads are delivered in video stream.
Depends on how they're served but mostly, yes
But, topically, will not block YouTube ads
Honestly, it varies. Businesses are starting to get wise to DNS adblockers, and are serving more ads from their primary domain (this is part of why you can't block YouTube ads with a DNS blocker anymore - you can't block them at the DNS level without blocking all of YouTube).
You'll see a noticeable downtick in phone ads from web browsing and ad-sponsored games, but something like a TV or fridge will probably be unaffected because the ads will be served directly from the same host as the content. You'll see fewer ads but far from zero.
Also why are you connecting your smart fridge to a travel router? Do you travel with a smart fridge?
Not youtube ads, sadly, if they are blocking based on domain names. For YouTube, you can use pipepipe, which do block ads as far as I have seen.
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Firefox with ublock origin for desktop and mobile. Grayjay for mobile (integrates Nebula too so you can get both your feeds at once). Android TV with FCast and Smart Tube Next for your TV. Never see ads again.
got anything for samsung tvs?
A/B testing is showing they are going after people with ad blockers: https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-is-apparently-punishing-ad-blockers-by-hiding-comment-section-3320581/ But your specific combo seems good.
They keep trying. The adblockers keep winning. I've had my fair share of videos sometimes not loading, or regularly needing to update apps to keep up with Google's latest bullshit, but the minor glitches and headaches are worth it for all the time I don't spend staring at a greyed out skip button.
All you have to do is close the window every time they try that bullshit and that shows up in stats. Get enough people doing it and they’ll back off
Pretty sure several engineers from google itself might be contributors to some of them, fortunately.
That genuinely would not surprise me in the slightest.
Wait, YouTube's idea of punishing ad-block is removing the most toxic, worthless part of the site?
Nobody tell them. Not one fucking word. We might even get them to remove Shorts, too, if we pretend this is a bad thing.
Please Google don't get rid of shorts! Especially the ones with the wonderful AI voice over and karaoke style closed captioning! Please don't do that! Or else I'll keep using adblockers.
Why would I ever want to see youtube comments? Literally zero impact for me.
was going to say, shoot I'm gonna install an adblocker just for that feature!
Are they really threatening us with a good time? No YouTube comments is a benefit, not a punishment
Hiding comment section? Oh no! What will I do?
Unless I'm missing a "freeze pane" option somewhere, scrolling down to read comments prevents me from actually watching the video.
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My friend told me recently about TizenTube which is a youtube app with adblock/sponsorblock for Samsung TVs
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I set my VPN to Albania. Ads on YouTube are banned in Albania.
On the web, I be Albanian.
I often entirely forget that youtube and most of the internet is plagued with ads. It's a shock to use a family member's phone or laptop that does not have adblock
The Internet is practically unusable without adblock. Rawdogging the web you get a postage stamp sized amount of content bordered by flashing ads and video ads. No fuckin thanks homie
That's unfortunate for the content creators. I realize that majority of their revenue comes from ads, but this is probably going to drive viewership down. The average person doesn't have that kind of attention span anymore.
Ads are already a nuisance, making them unskippable will turn people away from the video especially if they also decide to go down the route twitch went of you having to physically be present and not minimize the ad. Creators already resort to their own product placement in their videos, which fortunately can be skimmed through. I just try to buy THEIR products to show support, if they offer.
Also, nothing makes me want a product less than intrusive annoying ads. That's a product I would steer clear of.
SponsorBlock let's you skip a lot of product placement. Without uBlock Origin on desktop, Revanced on Android, and SmartTube on TV: I wouldn't be watching YouTube.
physically be present and not minimize the ad
That’s only a problem on mobile. Desktop browsers don’t disclose the state of the window to the JavaScript API. What this means is: YouTube can tell if you switch tabs, but it can’t detect if you open another browser window in the meantime and let the ad run in the background.
Nebula is pretty good these days, I can't remember the last time I deliberately watched something on YouTube.
Yeah, Nebula is awesome.
Nebula doesn't have the random crap I watch.
This is what I found.
With Nebula and CuriosityStream, most of the things I follow are still on YouTube.
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What's nebula? Where can I find it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_%28streaming_service%29
It has a bunch of popular YouTube channels.
It doesn't really have a recommendation engine but if you already have a bunch of creators on there it's a cheap way to go as free.
They also have a bunch of Nebula exclusive series, like the guy who makes Not Just Bikes going to cities and trying all their transit in one day.
Alright thanks, will check it out
Make sure to sign up via a creator's link! (the ones they'll put in the sponsored section of a video where they are "sponsored" by Nebula as one of Nebula's creators)
Gets you a pretty good discount and drops it to about 30 bucks a year.
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I recently set up a local instance of Invidious. All the devices on my network can use it and there are 0 ads. There are some free public instances, also.
Not as easy (or portable) as ad block, but I’m a fan.
This is going to end up affecting mostly house-bound poor people.
I used to pay for premium a couple years ago because I still wanted to support the creators I watched, but ever since they started implementing AI everywhere and stealing peoples videos for training data I figured Google doesn't deserve my money no matter how small. I'd much rather watch with uBlock and spend that $20 I used to spend on YouTube Premium on the various YouTubers Patreons.
You know that's not a bad idea at all I think the cut is better for them that way too they probably make significantly more for an individuals watch time from a donation on Patreon vs that person watching their video once or twice.
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