💾 Archived View for gemini.ctrl-c.club › ~stack › gemlog › 2022-12-30.youtube.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 03:25:28. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Normally I avoid the google as much as possible. I therefore avoid youtube, but a couple of days ago I realized that I am totally bored by Hulu, HBO, Netflix and Amazon Prime... So I reluctantly put the youtube ap on my TV.
I find it is much nicer to relax before sleep by doing something that takes me away from any real concerns. Like learning in great detail how a diesel locomotive works, or delving into the details of quantum chromodynamics. So much nicer than the idiotic TV shows...
The ads are annoying but I am really impressed. A lot of ads are 5 seconds long, which is about how long I can stand it. And a lot of the longer ads may be skipped by pushing a button. That was somewhat unexpected, and got me thinking.
Why would google allow you to skip an ad? Because it provides valuable information: that you are actively engaged and watching the ad! If the entire ad plays, who knows if you are still there watching or walked away... You can't skip for 5 seconds anyway, and now you had confirmed that you watched those 5 seconds.
I'd bet that the time between the moment you are allowed to skip to the time you do skip correllates with your interests as well. Did you linger a second more on some skipped ads? The ads with no interaction, even those that run full time, provide less information - who knows if you are really watching! Well, any kind of interaction with the app provides useful data about your interests and egagement level...
It's brilliant, actually. It looks and feels like you got away with something, but in reality, you gave something.