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YouTube says goodbye to decade-old video player UI, but users hate the new design
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this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2025
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And you think people will do anything more than just bitch about it? Noooopppppeeeee
With recent events, yeeeeeeep. More and more people are protesting with their wallets. Either google getting told to break off companies and/or sell them (e.g. Chrome), they’re going to make some crazy moves for your dollar and that will trigger the peak of the outcry and you’ll see it happen. It’s not a noppppe or yepppp situation, it’s “when”. Better now than later.
You're not wrong. But it won't happen because of this change, and it's not going to happen tomorrow. So, as of now, they're just complaining. I say 'they', because I left yt when they started video ads. I didn't mind the banners, but the unskippable video disruptions were what broke my camel's back (some of the early ones, if you recall, controlled your volume levels and turned themselves up). You're right, eventually, everyone will hit a breaking point, but if the 60-120s unskippable video ads weren't that point, this simple UI change won't be that for the vast majority of users.
Oh, I just block those.
And while that's possible for now, it won't be for much longer, based on the A/B testing yt has been doing. We're giving them too much power and relying on tools to bypass the stuff we don't like, but those tools have their days numbered, regrettably.
Using the tools is fine IMO because the moment those tools stop working, people will move their time to Twitch/Instagram/Bluesky/TikTok/etc. 60-120 second ads will push away all, except for iPad toddlers.
Makes me wonder if Google knows this, and is deliberately adding these ridiculous ads, but not patching those tools, so they can keep their user metrics up while pushing the uninformed/indifferent into YouTube Premium subscriptions...
The day I can't avoid advertisements is the day I drop the service. You want my money? Provide a product that isn't trying to wring me and my data dry.
Video is expensive to host, I get that. I'd happily give a few bucks a month (which is way more than my ad views would be worth) but their asking price is laughable.
Gonna have to pay tbh. But once I am paying, I would rather not pay Sundar the creep.
But we ain't got a viable YouTube alternatives as of now
I'm not paying a dime for Google or YouTube. (I know, I'm the product.) So how am I to vote with my wallet? Happy to stay on YouTube until they block my ad-blocker, then I'll look around.
They do block
yt-dlpfrom downloading at least some account-and-login-required-to-view content now, which wasn't historically the case, so they are slowly cracking down to some degree.Viewers can't do shit but watch where the creators are. Up to creators to organize. I see tubers bitching about payment and copyright. Can cry me a river, if they only offer videos on a single platform.
I was perfectly fine with YouTube before monetization.
Yes we can. Third party front ends exist for yt and there are other (admittedly not as polished) alternatives for the entire platform. When enough viewers use them, it will force the hands of the posters to use other, less abusive avenues (maybe in addition to yt). I'm fine with monetization, but not when it degrades my experience. There are better ways. Yt isn't the only one, nor is it the first. It's just the most popular currently.
Youtube 3rd party apps do nothing but deal with privacy issues and still rely on YouTube infra which means also dealing with the censorship and copyright systems. Meanwhile you're just seen as a leech, including by creators since they get no ad rev from you watching. I adblock too, so that includes myself.
What are the viewers watching on alternative platforms with no video creators besides crypto bros and political extremists too edgy for YouTube?
Realistically I don't see anything happening besides the usual tried and true method now:
They self own their own website so hard with repeat scandals until an exodus happens and hope it's your new decentralized platform instead of another corpo centralized platform.... which is most likely because the way I see it done is with big bags of money and contracts with creators.
YouTube has a pretty strong hold because video hosting and streaming is extremely expensive. That's why most platforms have strict file limits for them. In the pre-Google days of YouTube, most accounts could only upload <15 minute videos, and that limitation is still in place if you have an unverified account.
I don't see how we'll get any alternative to YouTube unless it comes from another large corporation, though I'd love to be proven wrong in that.