Everyone hates online ads. But you don’t have to see them anymore. In fact you don’t have to see ads on any website ever. All of you have to do is download AdBlock.
I’m a Youtuber. I don’t make ad revenue when people use Adblock so people are often shocked when I recommend it. This is my response to some of the backlash coming from people who have a beef with Adblock.
“If too many people start using Adblock, Google could block it!”
Sure YouTube or other websites could block the ad blocks. But then somebody would make new ad block to block the ad block blocker! Because everybody hates ads! Google knows this so they let you download AdBlock free from their own Google Chrome web store.
“But I want to support youtubers! Doesn’t Adblock take away ad revenue from them?”
Most youtubers make only $1 every 1,000 views. That means you would have to sit through 1,000 ads for your youtuber to earn just $1… I value my time and attention more than that and you should too. If you really want to support a youtuber (and we do need your support) send them a donation.
“But Google needs money to maintain and grow youtube!”
Yes. But we don’t have to sit through mind numbing ads to generate that money. Youtube could stay a free site and just ask for donations like wikipedia. That might sound crazy but if you do the math and divide YouTube’s $5.6 billion in yearly ad revenue by YouTube’s 1 billion monthly users, that’s just $5.60 per user for a years worth of ad free youtube.
It could work. Accepting donations and crowd sourcing are great alternatives to traditional advertising. And more people are gonna have to start using them because more people are using AdBlock. If you want to be more productive with less online interruptions, I recommend you do the same.
And If you actually enjoy ads… Maybe you should start thinking critically and valuing your time more.