DISQUS

PR NY · 11 months ago

We have to put everything in perspective.

Bandwidth can be expensive.

The world is getting free access to a wealth of information - some of which can be downloaded.

This is a small price to pay for this goldmine

Oliver King · 11 months ago

Yes ,we need to high quality videos.
And i think there are many ways for us to watch videos online ,not just YouTube. There is another way you can enjoy music videos whenever you want. You can download those videos to your computer.
Video Download Capture is exactly that tool for you guys to download online videos and music videos;the most powerful video download search engine will help you get any video as you want. It's also a great tool to download free videos. The built-in video editing tool will help you crop, trim, convert videos to any format and size. Get videos for your iPod, iTunes, iPhone, PowerPoint presentation, and PSP etc. If want to capture any online videos such as YouTube, Dailymotion, Google Video, Megavideo, iMeem, MySpace, and Yahoo etc, Video Download Capture is just for you.
Don't complain about those low quality videos again, with this tool ,you can enjoy whatever videos.

sunnie · 11 months ago

I totally agree! I think the quality of the videos need to get better in stead of this crap

PR NY · 11 months ago

.
We have to put everything in perspective.

Bandwidth can be expensive.

The world is getting free access to a wealth of information - some of which can be downloaded.

This is a small price to pay for this goldmine

Sky Xavier · 11 months ago

yes you are right. If the quality of the video decreases day by day the equal propotional effect will be on number of users.

krishna · 11 months ago

Yes, i completely agree with the points made over here. Google seems to be much interested in placing the ads wherever possible and annoying ads bottom of the video really sucks to me.

vonsydow · 11 months ago

Good point.

Will be interesting to see wether the format for video ads will end up being in the actual player or on the side. Balancing ad intrusiveness, user experience and ad efficiency is no picnic ;)

Anyhow, I find that Swedish startup Videoplaza - http://www.videoplaza.com - has a well balanced approach to overlay video ads. Worth checking out.

Cory · 11 months ago

Youtube was pretty unadulterated at first too. Once the popularity of a service grows, inevitably, so too will monetization.

munson711 · 11 months ago

Can't begrudge YouTube's money making, and they'll push ads right up to the point of losing viewers. It's posts like this that will influence the thinking there about finding the right balance between user experience and money making necessity.

Riot · 11 months ago

Businesses and personalities love seeing their logo on videos, so we will see more of this as more people figure it out.

As for YouTube becoming the future of television... YouTube is not unique and does not have staying power. Look at the big tech names before the first .Com crash and see just how few are in the same or better positions today. Someone always comes along with something newer, faster, and shinier. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. -- everyone is trying to milk all they can right now from these pools of users but the true visionaries are searching for the next big thing. Just because it's 2008 doesn't mean the rules have changed. Even the king of search will be overthrown someday and there's nothing shocking about it.

Alexandra Wharton · 11 months ago

YouTube and other video-sharing sites will keep adding these ads until the user experience is so diminished that it causes viewers to abandon. They think they can push the envelope on this but I don't think they can afford to - Hulu has the right approach - testing out more discreet and palatable ads and asking viewers what their tolerance is.

Jennifer Van Grove · 11 months ago

Alexandra, Hulu is just as culpable as YouTube. They're exploring just as many ways to make money and add in more ads. They've already transitioned from 30 second ad breaks to also include small pop ads that fade away. It's just the nature of online video at the moment.

Craig · 11 months ago

I agree, and I have been seeing more ads at the bottom taking away more of the video. You can click out of it, but by the time the ad is gone, you missed half the video. I've actually have used youtube less because of it. I'm sure others are like that as well.

Scott Jones · 11 months ago

Lately, I've found reliability to be a major issue with youtube..painful at times when it randomly decides it wants to load a vid at dial-up speeds.

chris · 11 months ago

wow...that song sux. lol

Nicola · 11 months ago

I agree that today could be a mess, but I think that we alle have to decide what we really want. Everybody would like to have all for free with best quality, but this is a short view... When we could watch good contents for nothing how do we pay all the costs of that content (and the creativity) and of the infrastructure we need to watch it? Maybe we often forget that major part of that costs are wages and salaries for the families and same people who would like to have it for free.
Of course we need to fight against speculation and abuses, but up to when we don't find some other working economic global system, companies have to monetize in some way their activities...

Mark Schoneveld · 11 months ago

One of the things I find even more annoying than ads is that a vast majority of YouTube's back catalogue was uploaded in a 4:3 aspect ratio. 90% of the videos (now that the player is larger) have HUGE black cropped letterboxing and look even worse than before. It's going to take a long time until 'widescreen' content surpasses all that old sub-par stuff. In the meantime, we suffer. Or watch Vimeo instead.

Andrew · 11 months ago

"It’s going to take a long time until ‘widescreen’ content surpasses all that old sub-par stuff. In the meantime, we suffer."

This sounds like a "first world" complaint to me. :) Is it really that bad? Are you suffering?

Hummie · 11 months ago

Amen!

Gadget Sleuth · 11 months ago

I always though 80% of the videos on there were junk, so that isn't news really. To be honest, i'm not sure i'd want to advertise on YouTube, because of the high noise-to-signal ratio on there.

mike · 11 months ago

Nice article. I totally agree. As a business owner with a youtube channel that's specific purpose is marketing. The current move really disappoints me. I personally can't bear to sit through the videos with over-the-top advertising and hate clicking out of the on-screen links and ads. It's pushing me to use vimeo more and more.

dave · 11 months ago

you're kidding, right? people are going to go to youtube and watch videos even if they have to look at half screen ads, because that is what the masses do, and youtube is built for the masses...it's just like people watching television with displays in screen corner and in top band, no different, just an alternate platform...if it's free, people will always take it with a side of shit...

Mella · 11 months ago

This was foreseen by many of us the minute YouTube first offered their embed code. The vast majority of Google's revenue comes from ads, so what did you expect?

That's why I've been adamant about creating custom video modules for my clients, forgoing YouTube's embed feature:
http://www.thomasyu.ca/page/music/

surfnturf · 11 months ago

Watching made for TV videos on the web is like watching a big screen epic like "Titanic" on a TNT movie classic channel complete with 28 commercials an hour; a whole lot is lost from the big screen debut. That said, some entertainment value is sifting through; these ads are just another layer of distraction reducing the fidelity of message originally created by its producer.

Personally, I don't think most video translates well to web in their current form. Most are pedestrian attempts to translate a previously successful model to a new medium. IMHO the future of web video is yet to be born (or perhaps in its infant stages) and will create a bidirectional experience that can only be realized by the web. But what the hell do I know...

Dennis · 11 months ago

I have a number of viral videos on youtube which so far have had over 4 million hits. YouTube has shown overlay ads on the bottom (now I am earning about $1,000 per month) and no one has ever complained in the comments section about the overlay ads although there have been thousands of comments!!

Dave · 11 months ago

I just want to know who Luis Jackson is.. :o)

Funny thing is i hardly have time to watch a whole video, I usually just post them for others to watch.

Stephen Tiano · 11 months ago

YouTube the future of TV? I don't think so. Maybe the future of testing grounds for the next wave of film/video talent. But for TV as it exists now, Hulu's the ginchiest.

Arsen Yeremin · 11 months ago

The ads must not abstract the video. Show the adds but don't block the content.

xavierv · 11 months ago

Here's a Website where you can post all the videos you want, watch millions of other videos, add audio legally, do all sorts of things with the embeds, network with other video producers, gain exposure, and find great features that are unique, beneficial and exclusively on Youtube... For free.

Yet this is not enough for some people...

Nicole · 11 months ago

Hi every 1 im new here !!!!!!!!!!!

Crunky · 11 months ago

Disappointing article. When I read the headline I didn't expect it to be to a pointless moan about the encroachment of advertising. Face facts, this is going to define web 2.0 from now on. The fun times are over.

My preferred solution would be a subscription service like Flickr - though that would probably be impossible to implement at this point.

I'm used to ignoring a whole mass of adverts (including on the Techcrunch site - which has a fairly offensive number in the sidebar, I might add!) so I don't think it'll be too hard getting used to the inevitable transition from the fan-friendly, free web to a more realistic one. Twitter lovers are going to cry and chuck their toys out, for sure.

Funnily enough, if YouTube does start to figure out how to apply adverts that work and don't cause a mass exodus, the next challenge will be how to adapt this for the mobile internet...

Santa SEO · 11 months ago

Couldn't agree with you more Stan, YT has been on the nose for some time..It's like overlaying a post with a popup add that you waste time on clicking an X. e.g. Revver and now so many others. Its one of the reasons I switched to www.motionbox.com for a measly few bucks you get unlimited space, HD quality, great BW, easy instructions and fast uploads. G.com/YT ares going the way of most mags...mostly ads with a reducing focus on actual content.

Santa SEO · 11 months ago

Couldn't agree with you more Stan, YT has been on the nose for some time..It's like overlaying a post with a popup add that you waste time on clicking an X. e.g. Revver and now so many others. Its one of the reasons I switched to www.motionbox.com for a measly few bucks you get unlimited space, HD quality, great BW, easy instructions and fast uploads. G.com/YT are going the way of most mags...mostly ads with a reducing focus on actual content.

Santa SEO · 11 months ago

Couldn't agree with you more Stan, YT has been on the nose for some time..It's like overlaying a post with a popup add that you waste time on clicking an X. e.g. Revver and now so many others. Its one of the reasons I switched to www.motionbox.com for a measly few bucks you get unlimited space, HD quality, great BW, easy instructions and fast uploads. G.com/YT are going the way of most mags...mostly ads with a reducing focus on actual content. Its like calling TV entertainment..20 mins out of every 60 mins air time you're forced to watch ads about crap you have no interest in..long live file sharing/no ads :)

Santa SEO · 11 months ago

Apologies for the multi comment..my dyslexic fingers again ..doh!

Kathy · 11 months ago

Question? Is it legal for people to display others videos on sites without permission ?

Santa SEO · 11 months ago

G'day Kathy..if the video has a visible embed code displayed it usually means its ok to use it on your website. YT and most others have the option to remove this option in the display settings if say, I didn't want others to copy my/your vids. Happy Holidays :)

MySiteComeTrue · 11 months ago

In my opinion, I think the ad in the video is fine, but the damned search bar is annoying. Also, couldn't they just make the widget a bit taller and fit the add below the video and not on top of it?

Roy · 11 months ago

If the youtube people cared what their customers wanted, and thought, they should realize by now that they are on a downward slide.
Money is the reason. As in any other business.

roboMachineMAN · 5 months ago

Do you mean people just post videos on youtube in order to promote their company/website?

Just like I am posting this comment for that exact same purpose!

roboMachineMAN · 5 months ago

Do you mean people just post videos on youtube in order to promote their company/website?

Just like I am posting this comment for that exact same purpose!