YouTube Ads

[Tosh McCaber]

Am I imagining things, or are there many more ads on YouTube than there used to be? I have to physically click them off (if I'm lucky, since I have to endure some prior to the clip being played). AdBlock doesnt seem to knock them out- are they embedded?

[mixture]

AdBlock doesnt seem to knock them out- are they embedded?

YouTube is an embedded format in itself (Flash based), so yes, all embedded into the binary.

[BEagle]

Agree - Flash is a real nuisance.

By the way, has anyone ever followed up on an Internet advert? I certainly haven't - in fact any advertiser polluting the Internet with unsolicited adverts is guaranteed never to win my custom!

[mixture]

Embedded yes but it still has to be downloaded as a separate SWF file from the server and then be played by the users Flash Player software.


You're very much teaching granny how to suck eggs here. I was trying to keep things simple for the sake of the original poster. :ok:

AdBlock Plus will let you click on Flash images and block them individually based on a rule that is created.

Erm yes... but the YouTube adverts are not images, they are short snippets before the main event. Does your beloved AdBlock Plus block these ?

Another Firefox add-on is Flash Block which will stop all flash content from being downloaded

Erm, you're missing the point. He wants to view the YouTube movie, just not the ads. Stopping all flash content is a bit useless in that respect.

Hopefully Flash will die a death as it is the scourge of websites.
With built in features in HTML5,there will be less of a need for Flash (which Apple have openly stated they will never ever support?).

Whatever you say. Flash is quite widely deployed, web developers quite like it, so I don't see it dying a sudden death any time soon.

I suspect your beloved HTML5 will suffer from the same advertisement issues when it's streaming stuff.

[Mike-Bracknell]

Whatever you say. Flash is quite widely deployed, web developers quite like it, so I don't see it dying a sudden death any time soon.

Not in my experience.

Anyway, what's getting my goat currently is the 'targeted' advertising. I've had to do searches on things recently to research the competition for my customers, and no whenever I open Youtube, PPRuNe!, or Facebook, I get these damn adverts for competitor products and services.

[mixture]

Guess it depends which websites you frequent Mr Bracknell.

Most I stumble upon tend to use Flash.

However, I'll give you that Apple banning Flash from the iPad (not sure if the policy is still in place ?) might help things in relation to HTML5.

[badgerbaitz]

The Opera browser has an add on that removes those youtube adverts on the videos.

Opera does not have all the bells and whistles that Firefox has now but it is still one lean mean browsing machine.
:rolleyes:

[AnthonyGA]

Whatever you say. Flash is quite widely deployed, web developers quite like it, so I don't see it dying a sudden death any time soon.

The main reason Flash still exists is its utility as an embedded video player. That's how Flash is overwhelmingly used; all other uses are incidental. When and if sites like YouTube switch from Flash to some other technology for content, that's going to be a very severe blow to Flash (and Adobe—but they are overdue for some disappointment).

Some Web sites have Flash splash screens or otherwise overuse Flash. It's very poor design. French sites are notoriously addicted to this, making them about 30 years behind the times. If I can't get past a Flash page, I just visit a different site.

I use Flashblock in Firefox. I never run any Flash content unless I need to watch a video.

[Tosh McCaber]

Hmm Anthony GA says that he never runs any Flash content unless he needs to watch a video. But arn't videos the whole point of YouTube?

I'm a simple soul, so I need to know more about techniques!

[Tarq57]

I think that ads that play in the flash player as a prelude to the clip can not be removed. I haven't noticed any unusual ads on the youtube web pages, nor in clips viewed.

You need to watch a different type of clip, if the ones you watch predominantly have ads. ;)
You could probably download them, and then use suitable software to remove the advert section I guess. Edit it out.

[hellsbrink]

Erm, you're missing the point. He wants to view the YouTube movie, just not the ads. Stopping all flash content is a bit useless in that respect.

I believe you missed the point of the suggestion to use flashblock.

Installing flashblock stops all flash items from being shown UNLESS you click on the item. So when you load in a youtube page you just click on the movie part of the screen to see the movie, and you can always set up an exception in the whitelist to allow only flash objects from youtube.com and not the google, etc, ads (like I have done with flashblock in SRWareIron) so you don't even have to waste a millisecond of your life actually clicking on something.

It works perfectly, and no annoying flash ads

[mixture]

Another Firefox add-on is Flash Block which will stop all flash content from being downloaded


"Stop all flash content" sounds very much like what he does NOT want to do !

[Tosh McCaber]

"Another Firefox add-on is Flash Block which will stop all flash content from being downloaded."

Just tried it. Sure enough, no Flash ads. However on clicking on the YouTube clip, lo and behold, there is the emnbedded video, prior to me watching the clip! Also, I went over to the BBC online site, to find that I have to click on all their boxes, which have now been blacked out, except for the Flash Block button to activate them!

Not really ideal.

PS 5 minutes later- That first one was an advert that I had to watch before the clip. I started watching, and another (GOOGLE this time) advert jumped upin a box, that I had to pysically delete to watch the clip in peace!! Google should be sued!!! I'll stop there- as you can see, I'm getting more and more angry!

[hellsbrink]

Tosh

Can you pm or post a link to a vid with these ads in them because I normally don not see that.

I want to check things and if "my method" works then I should see nothing apart from the vid.

NOTE: DON'T use the youtube thingie here, just the link to the page.

[AnthonyGA]

Hmm Anthony GA says that he never runs any Flash content unless he needs to watch a video. But arn't videos the whole point of YouTube?

Yes. Videos are the only type of Flash I will run. Flashblock stops all Flash content unless you explicitly click on a Flash animation in order to download and start it. The only Flash content I click on is Flash video on YouTube (or occasionally on other sites that stream video).