SponsorBlock – Skip over sponsorship segments on YouTube

Blocking 3rd party network ads do deprive creators of revenue; but using uBlock Origins does have these important benefits:

*Protects you from malicious attacks through 3rd party ad networks.

*Keeps your browser fast from trackers.

*Stops intrusive ads that literally take up 30% of your screen and move the website around making it difficult to read an article.

But sponsored segments built into the video itself? It has none of these issues. A lot of creators do what they love, but they still need income. If you value the content they create these sponsored posts allow them to keep doing that or you can chip in a few bucks to pay for an ad-free feed.

Video is a lot of work.

Source: made my own DevOps video course that I had to video edit + now part of a video D&D podcast that I thankfully do not have to edit or subtitle.

> Blocking 3rd party network ads do deprive creators of revenue

That is true and if you are using this extension consider disabling "Sponsor" auto skip.

i agree with your points except:

Stops intrusive ads that literally take up 30% of your screen and move the website around making it difficult to read an article. But sponsored segments built into the video itself? It has none of these issues.

any ad disrupts the viewing experience and makes a video difficult/annoying to view.

a̶l̶s̶o̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶m̶p̶a̶c̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶p̶o̶n̶s̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶s̶u̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶a̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶v̶i̶e̶w̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶i̶d̶e̶o̶,̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶a̶r̶d̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶d̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶.̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶ ̶a̶m̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶e̶s̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶d̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶b̶l̶o̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶v̶i̶e̶w̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶b̶s̶o̶l̶u̶t̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶d̶i̶f̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ (whereas adblock not loading an ad may reduce the exposure count) (correction: apparently youtube does show engagement over time, so it may be possible to figure out how many people skip ads)

> the impact of sponsor sections can only be measured based on the total views of the video

I don't think that's true at all.

1. There are video analytics to measure what parts of the video were watched.

2. Even if you generally dislike ads, there is a chance that you will see an ad you are interested in that you will check out, which will contribute to the ad's effectiveness, and can be measured. If you automatically block ads, the effectiveness becomes 0 in all cases.

That's cool, but content creators don't get to decide what ads I see or don't see, or what ads I mute or fast forward through.

Would you ever use a DVR to skip television commercials? To me, it feels similar.

If we assume you watch free-to-air TV (not that I do, personally), or at least used to. Do you walk away from the TV while an ad is playing? Or perhaps you have a DVR setup that lets you skip ahead if you're watching on a slight delay.

Is that any different to skipping a sponsorship segment?

Listen, man. You care about trackers. I don't care about trackers. You care about these malicious attacks. I'm not that worried about them. You care about these intrusive things. I just don't go to those websites.

I care about the time spent on sponsored segments. You don't care that they're there.

All this is just different preferences. You're not better than me. I'm not better than you.

Tracking aside, ads are essentially malware for the mind.