[benja.minwilliams.net ~]$ cat "How Youtube's adblock policy is driving me to podcasts"

Why I use YouTube

YouTube has been the go-to platform for user generated content for a decade. It’s highly performant. Pages and videos load lightning fast. The videos have amazing quality for a “free” streaming platform.

But most of all… It’s the content.

YouTube has everything. YouTube has everyone. If an audio visual creator is on the internet, they are on YouTube. Because of this, all my favorite content creators are on the platform. Even the ones on other platforms like Twitch have clips re-uploaded. It’s the de facto platform. It’s the only platform for most.

I have dabbled with other platforms like Odysee. I found it to be slow, the app is not as nice. But mostly it is missing 99% of what I want to watch.

YouTube has an adblock problem

The amount, frequency and quality of ads on YouTube make it unusable. The ease of blocking ads with a browser extension mean the recent attempt to block adblockers come as a shock to users. A screen warning that you are breaking the TOS. Another screen warning that your will be blocked from viewing any videos after 3 videos. Users are not going to disable the adblocker. They are not going to pay for premium, they are going to dig in their heels. People will either continue to view YouTube ad free, or find another platform.

Podcasts?

The vast majority of YouTube I consume could be audio only. My viewing history is full of talking heads, news and video essay’s. It made me realise I basically use YouTube as a podcasting app.

Jumping into a podcast search like PodcastIndex.org, I quickly discovered that nearly everything I want is there.

Over the coming weeks I will trial podcasting as an alternative and work out a easy workflow. Initially I am self hosting Airsonic Advanced, with DSub on Android