Tag: social media

YouTube Premium still gives you ads. You just don’t notice them

Warren TangLeave a comment

When you pay for YouTube Premium you are led to believe you are getting an ad-free experience. But this is further from the truth. Let me explain.

Before I joined Premium I watched videos which were interspersed with ads that popped up in the middle (sometimes several times) and at the end. Usually, they are random and unrelated ads to the video that either require you to skip or wait until they finish. Furthermore, I could not play videos in the background.

My experience with Premium is that more I can play videos in the background, not having to skip the ads, and I can multitask. YouTube is much more enjoyable.

But why is it more employable? That is because of the convenience now offered. But more subtlety, I am getting different content. imagine watching the normal content I watch now without Premium. It would mean I would get not only the in-video ads but also the interlaced ads that normally come up. But that is not what makes ads annoying. It is the need for me to skip ads that is annoying. In other words I am paying for this privilege and convenience.

I still get ads. They are still in the videos pumped to me by the vlogger. They are less annoying and also more relevant to the content. It is basically a version of good ol’ television … except I am paying for it.

Some things are too good to last

Warren TangLeave a comment

There is no doubt Periscope is a great live-streaming app. The unparalleled interactiveness of the apps unlike any other similar apps will come to an end after 6 years from its release. at its best text comments and verbal replies can be achieved in under ten seconds, far quicker than any other live-streaming app. Perhaps equal in speed to instant messaging or Usenet (and likely using such technologies) it made text/video online conversation and dialogue enjoyable.

YouTube Live, for example, while does something is nowhere as interactively engaging because of the lag. I suspect the lag exists because older minimal (not minimalist) technology is used. The frustration not only shows in the broadcasters face but also in the viewers messages as well as them voting with their feet (that is, exiting the broadcast midway).

As I have said many times I would have paid for the service to broadcast. A monthly fee of, say, USD5 would have had me forking it out for its service. The exchange should have been between me and the service provider, not between me and the viewers with the service provider taking a slice of the action.

While the business model is similar to television (this reflected in its name PeriscopeTV) it really did not work that way. Banking on broadcaster content when broadcaster content has not the manpower, time and money invested in it, did not work.

But, in the end, whatever the reason that Periscope is coming to an end it is sad and will be truly missed.