YouTube

Im getting way too many betterhelp ads. Is that still a scam? Cause if it is then Youtube is very negligent to keep that service be advertised

It may or may not be a "scam" in the legal sense, but we've heard a lot of things about it being fairly unethical. Anyway, it seems clear enough that Google doesn't care about anything that isn't outright illegal.

Why can't these ads be sued for false advertising?

I think that many of these games feature what you see in the ads as a minigame of sorts, so that they can say that they're technically not lying about what was advertised to you.

Yeah, much the same way as toy commercials can show the toys being animated, or driven by magic, or whathaveyou. You can get away with a lot in commercials.

We literally got a game entirely about those fake game ads: Those Games.

Ironically, the trope page for that game does nothing to explain what the game actually is.

I've heard that the reason mobile game companies can get away with false advertising is because if a person must pay money to find out that you lied, then you officially ripped them off. But if the person can obtain the product for free and only then discover that you lied, you didn't lie to take their money... at least not directly. If they lied about the contents of microtransactions, then they'd be breaking false advertising laws.

Really? If so, that is an incredibly thin line to skate on.

I suppose it makes sense: to sue, you must have standing, and if there are no provable damages then you weren't injured, hence no standing.

Edited by Fighteer on May 3rd 2024 at 9:29:30 AM

Companies trying to steal money from you will always stand as close as possible to the line.

A somewhat related example, in Quebec, gambling is illegal if it's not done under the umbrella of a state organization called Loto-Quebec, which regulates everything from casinos to scratch tickets to betting. You can't even have random drawings in Quebec because that counts as gambling (to make such contests, companies will include math questions in their giveaways so that they are technically skill-based and not random).

In the past couple of years, casino and betting websites/apps have figured out a way to advertise in the province by creating free casino and betting apps. The Canadian/Quebec-based apps are 100% free to use and use fake money, but they are blatantly trying to attract you to their paying versions, which are based in the US where the Quebec law doesn't apply to them.

What's up with the Youtube Membership thing that many creators are putting up? After all the ads and such, Youtube still likes to steal money from them by making creators do more?

I assume they are trying to get their viewers to sign up for membership so their viewing experience improves, and because they can potentially make more money off them that way.

And yeah, there's plenty of gauging and scraping going on on Youtube these days. At least when you watch TV, the host isn't pestering you to subscribe to cable or something...

Edited by Redmess on May 5th 2024 at 4:20:28 PM

Channel memberships offer perks for loyal viewers, you can support the creator directly instead of relying on YouTube's algorithm to dribble them money for ad impressions, it lets certain people feel more ethical when they use ad blockers... it's a win/win. Nobody's making you do it.

Digital ad revenue rates are pretty low these days, so if you want to make a pure-You Tube career (as opposed to one that also uses say Twitch) other forms of revenue are needed. It’s going to be easiyer to use You Tube membership compared to Patreon and such as it will be integrated into You Tube for the distribution of rewards.

It’s technically not You Tube that is responsible for the low-return on ads, but Google own both You Tube and their own advertising service (and take up plenty of ad space for their other products) so it still ends up being Google’s fault.

It’s important to note that unlike Twitch Subscriptions being a You Tube member doesn’t let you avoid ads.

Edited by Silasw on May 5th 2024 at 3:25:32 PM

They meant that with a membership, you can still provide some revenue to the creator, even while using adblock on their videos.

Sure, but you’re also then still stuck doing all the work of the arms-race between Adblock and You Tube. It seems silly that at a time people want to avoid ads and want to provide direct to creators Google don’t do the obvious solution and let people buy channel-specific ad exemptions

It’d even give them a justification for upping the price of You Tube premium.

Edited by Silasw on May 5th 2024 at 3:42:14 PM

Compared to the price of getting a membership for every channel you like, YouTube Premium is freakishly cheap. And there's no reason why you can't do both if you have that much discretionary money to spend.

Edited by Fighteer on May 5th 2024 at 10:43:17 AM

Honestly the perks for these things never really feel worth it. I think a lot of people just do it because they want to support creators they like.

I thought it was focused on getting early content and exclusive videos for subscribers.

The only membership perk I know of is exclusive content.

Yeah I've seen exclusive videos thing.

Ugh, okay. As the apparent resident expert, here is a possibly incomplete list of perks that can be offered for YouTube memberships:

• Exclusive/early access content
• Custom badges on comments and livestream chats
• Higher visibility on comments
• Members-only communications
• Free SuperChats on livestreams
• Access to premium Discord channels
• Discounted merchandise
• The ability to gift memberships to other people

Patreon memberships can also offer some of these benefits, but not ones that are specific to the YouTube platform.

In general, the point is that you find a creator's content sufficiently valuable or entertaining that you want to support them directly. That's really all there is. It's a voluntary interaction.

Why do I need to subscribe to individual channels, anyway? I don't need to subscribe to individual programs on TV either, much less pay them.

Ideally it would be because you like to the content on the channel and possibly better access to the content creator.

But then, the subscription models for everything is driving me crazy.

You don't need to do anything. You don't have to get up in the morning; you could lie in bed blowing snot bubbles until you die of thirst. Why this focus on "having to" do things?

There are a number of different models of funding for content creators across various media:

• The platform shows ads and the revenue from them is used to pay for the content.
• The government funds general media using tax revenue.
• You purchase a broad package (like a cable subscription), and the revenue goes into a general pool that pays for content.
• You purchase a-la-carte content (like a movie ticket), and [a portion of] the revenue goes specifically towards that.
• You patronize a specific creator or group of creators because you want to support their content in particular.
• You donate to a group that supports general artistic efforts, gaining perks (such as free tickets) thereby.

None of these are right or wrong; it's just a matter of how you choose to allocate your discretionary entertainment spending. This "why should I" stuff is a child's view of the world.

Edited by Fighteer on May 5th 2024 at 12:04:05 PM