I get that it started for free with less intrusive ads, but YouTube has had a huge impact on the way we all share and consume information. Understanding how much money it takes to run a service with the technology needed to provide high definition videos on a site that is up 99.9999999% of the time, I have no issue paying for a service that has changed my life in many positive ways. Now I do hate price gouging like everyone else, but it’s inescapable from gas & groceries to all streaming platforms.
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You like it now, just wait though. In another year “YouTube Premium” will probably split further into basic and premium plus tiers. Basic will cost exactly the same except you now have to watch “limited” ads again, while Premium Plus will cost twice as much and be basically the same thing you’re paying for now plus some new bullshit feature no one cares about.
This is what YouTube has become. It’s what all the corporate services that like to make you think they care about you do. As long as we all keep shelling out more money for less services they will all just keep pumping us for every dollar they can possibly get.
It’s an unethical strategy called a “loss leader” where these companies offer a service they actually lose money on for a limited time until they get you to the point that you take it for granted. Then they make that same price point terrible and jack up the price for the good service you’ve come to expect.
Same with all of them. Remember when Netflix was $8 and you got all of the features? People said back then that they didn’t mind paying for it either.
I miss that :( my partner and I always talk about how that was such a nice time. I gave them my $8 every month and had access to all the shows I wanted to watch and it was great. I completely gave up on piracy, and I was more likely to rent/buy the occasional movie that wasn’t on Netflix.
Same for Disney, it was $7 a month in 2019, it is now $16. That is an increase of over 40% in 5 years.
Technically that’s a 228% increase increase from what you were paying 5 years ago. Now, inflation is a thing… but I don’t think it’s up 228%.
No. That’s an increase of 129% to 229% of the original price.
You are right that you always use the original price as the base, but if it were still $7 that would be a 0% increase, not 100% as by your math.
Well as a counterpoint, that’s when you bounce. I had HBO MAX for years but their latest price hike was unjustifiable for me. I suppose I should prob shitcan Netflix too. And of course Amazon Prime went the exact direction you’re talking about.
That’s always an option sure, but since EVERY company does this now it means we all just stop watching TV basically. Maybe that would be the best thing after all though lol
Upvoted for a truly unpopular (and valid) opinion.
In a vacuum, I agree with you. Had it started off as a paid service, or if the paid version was substantially better, I’d consider it. But in order for them to incentivize people to pay for Premium, they intentionally made the “standard” experience worse. I just cannot bring myself to reward that behavior/business practice.
I’ve been a youtube premium subscriber since like 2017, long before the enshitification went terminal. I have a family plan so my kids can watch videos on the TV or on the tablet for the older kid without being bombarded by ads. I get not wanting to encourage youtube’s shitty behavior these days, but I’ve always gotten plenty of value out of my youtube subscription, more than I ever did out of hulu or even netflix or paramount most months.
I’m not rewarding them for bad behavior, I am paying them for running a sophisticated system that delivers any and all information in a digestible format to my fingertips. I do agree their free service has gone to shit, but it should have been a paid service from the start. I’ve built my own personal cloud and it is prohibitively expensive for me to have it stream HD video. Definitely more than a YT Premium subscription.
I also upvoted for an absurdly unpopular opinion, this is a shocking take.
It’s like paying for Exxon Mobil “premium” oil out of respect that they were one of the first oil companies.
I’ll pay Tubular (NewPipe) / PeerTube first.
I also post for it and I also don’t mind. I watch a lot of YouTube (nearly 2000 hours so far), I listen to a lot of YouTube music (nearly 4000 hours) and I find it to be a reasonable price.
What I dont get is most of the people shitting on it pay for premium on Spotify…
Google play music was awesome, and rolled into YouTube Music, which is decent.
It comes with YouTube Premium and at least used to cost similar.
No ads on YouTube was just an extra.
inescapable
Upvoted for a truly unpopular opinion.
How voting works: vote the opposite of the norm.
If you agree that the opinion is unpopular give it an arrow up. If it’s something that’s widely accepted, give it an arrow down.
I don’t mind paying and I do pay but I do mind this disgusting bootlicking, OP…
You need to think big picture where this is going. Big tech has no limits or regard for us.
This is an adverserial situation and you are trying to be a good faith actor.
Never forget who you are dealing with here.
With that said… This is likely unpopular so got to upvote haha
I’m not bootlicking, I just recognize the value their platform adds. Do I wish there were a better alternative? Absolutely, but I have not done the work to figure that out and am able to pay without issue. I have been working on Tech for nearly 2 decades, so I am acutely aware of who I am dealing with.
recognize the value their platform adds
You are shilling for a bad faith actor who is also the enemy of the people…
I doubt Google would ever give you the same decency.
If I’m shilling for anyone, it’s the content creators. The platform wouldn’t be what it is without them. I don’t consume YouTube, I consume the videos it makes available which is a big distinction.
If this was true, you’d use an ad blocker, and donate directly to your favorite content creators. They’d see way more money, and you wouldn’t be supporting an evil organization.
They’d have more freedom to switch platforms as their revenue isn’t directly tied to youtube, but rather their viewers. Freedom to switch platforms gives youtube incentive to run a better site and charge a more reasonable fee for premium features.
But this isn’t what you’re doing. You’re supporting youtube directly and supporting all their business practices in the process
I already paid for a lifetime of free Google services with all the data they stole from me before I had any sense that something so massive and invasive could even exist.
Thanks to ReVanced and Freetube and some others, Google can effortlessly pay out their equitable share.
Would rather pay the creators directly instead of it going 80% to anyone in ceo position and maybe 5% to the creator.
I wouldn’t mind paying for YouTube Premium, if:
- They did not track or keep selling your info for money after buying it
- It wasn’t so expensive
But both of them seem like things that can never become true (especially the first point), so yes. I am hoping for PeerTube to get attention when YouTube starts breaking down.
Even if YT Premium was cheap AF, I wouldn’t pay for it because:
- I know they will raise the price non stop (we all know this).
- It doesn’t come with Sponsorblock, that is already a downgrade.
It also does not come with downvote count.
You are right.
I seriously thought about it but I wasn’t down for paying $80 a month.
Unpopular opinion, I agree.
