YouTube is increasing Premium prices in multiple countries, right after an ad-blocker crackdown
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Google is increasing the prices of YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscriptions in some regions, right after blocking ad-blockers.

YouTube is increasing Premium prices in multiple countries, right after an ad-blocker crackdown | You either pay rightfully for the video content you consume, or you live with the ads.::Google is increasing the prices of YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscriptions in some regions, right after blocking ad-blockers.

  • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1815·
    10 months ago

    YouTube has been in the red since day 1. Now Google wants their payback. OK. Seems fair. But I don’t have to participate.

    Everybody acting like Google is taking away a basic human right, or somehow “taxing” them is getting exhausting.

    Facebook is up to even more shenanigans, proposing to charge users to keep ads off the screen. Again, fine. I don’t have to use FB.

    “But muh free content!”

    It was very damned long ago that “content” was what you could see at the movie theater, see on your 4-channel TV selection or grab at the library.

    /old_man_rant

    • ormr@reddthat.comEnglish
      192·
      10 months ago

      Payback is fair? Even though these very digital megacorporations are just now facing antitrust lawsuits for very good reasons? The only argument for having to use these platforms as a content creator is reach. But if Google, Amazon, Meta, etc. only got their market-dominating positions by illegal means, nothing is fair about wanting payback.

      I am paying money to people creating content for me directly, even for some YouTube channels. If I were to abide by Google’s rules, I’d have to pay double. For the infrastructure & the people actually producing the content. Sorry… Why would I? I will not pity a monopolist because of their lost profits as long as I can circumvent it somehow.

    • abhibeckert@lemmy.worldEnglish
      183·
      10 months ago

      YouTube has been in the red since day 1. Now Google wants their payback. OK. Seems fair.

      It’s not fair, it’s literally illegal under antitrust law. The DOJ has been accused of “taking a nap” and not enforcing those laws for 20 years… but they’re awake now. Which is probably part of why Google is suddenly changing course. They’re involved in a few antitrust investigations as it is and don’t want any more.

      You can’t run a company at a loss leader until nearly all your competition is dead and then start charging more than customers are willing to pay (or showing more ads than customers are willing to watch).

      I’m happy to pay for video content - but I won’t pay the prices YouTube is charging and their ads are even worse.

    • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
      82·
      10 months ago

      Google offered content for free and so played a part in making generation(s?) of users expect content for free.

      I used to watch films in cinema before they started playing them on TV but now I 99.8% don’t care about them, or shows. I use Crunchyroll for a couple of anime but most of my content is only on YouTube.