Tag: ads

YouTube Reportedly Testing New Method to Disrupt Ad Blockers Amid Ongoing Crackdown

YouTube is reportedly developing another way to crack down on third-party ad blockers, as the video streaming platform looks to increase revenue from users who don’t have a YouTube Premium subscription. It is speculated that this change may combine the video and ad streams, preventing popular browser plugins from blocking these ads from being displayed. This development comes weeks after users reported about videos automatically skipping to the end when using third-party ad blockers on the Alphabet-owned video streaming service.

YouTube reportedly combining video and ad streams

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), SponsorBlock a plugin that skips past sponsored sections of YouTube videos claims that YouTube is merging ads directly to the video stream. At present, videos and ads are said to be two separate elements. The player automatically pauses the video to display the ads at specified timestamps.

With this change, the video stream is a continuous one, meaning third-party ad blockers may not be able to block them anymore, according to SponsorBlock. The open-source browser extension said that it may not be able to function properly if server-side ads are introduced, as “all timestamps are offset by the ad times.”

YouTube’s crackdown on ad blockers continues

Users with ad blockers enabled reported last month that they were facing another issue – videos have started to automatically skip to the end. In the YouTube subreddit, a user reported that they were unable to watch videos when an ad blocker is turned on. The user also allegedly tried to skip to certain sections of the video, but it appears to fast-forward to the end automatically.

In some cases where some users were able to circumvent this issue, the audio playback disappeared. This meant while they were able to watch the video, the audio was missing.

This crackdown is speculated to be part of YouTube’s “global effort” taking on ad blockers. As per the video-streaming platform, these programs, often presented as browser plugins, violate its API services’ terms of service.

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Infinix Note 40 5G India Launch Date Set for June 21; Design, Colour Options, Key Features Revealed



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Disney Using New AI-Backed Advertising Tool For Disney+, Hulu Ads

Walt Disney is harnessing artificial intelligence to power a new advertising tool that will help brands tailor their commercials to fit the mood of specific scenes within a movie or television series.

Dubbed “Disney’s Magic Words,” this tool introduces a new form of contextual advertising for the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services. It uses a combination of AI and machine learning to analyse and tag scenes across its library, identifying the contents, brands, images and mood.

Brands can use these descriptive tags, known as metadata, to identify a specific scene or mood and then personalise messaging to match.

“What that means is leaving broad demos (demographics) behind and buying specific audiences,” said Geoffrey Calabrese, Omnicom Media Group’s chief investment officer. “These magic words are literally going to be able to connect me to the emotions of the consumer, at an audience level. And for us, that’s really a game changer.”

Omnicom is one of six global advertising companies taking part in an early beta test of this advertising product, Disney told Reuters. The other beta partners are Dentsu, GroupM, Horizon Media, IPG Mediabrands and Publicis Media. The company announced the new ad features last month, at a showcase at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Rita Ferro, Disney’s global head of ad sales, said the feature allows advertisers to maximise the impact of their messages “because it resonates with concepts that the viewers experience.”

Disney’s investment in streaming ad technology comes as advertisers are moving away from broadcast and cable TV, along with viewers. The company’s advertising revenue fell nearly 3 percent in its fiscal 2024 first quarter to $3.35 billion (roughly Rs. 29,100 crore), according to LSEG, reflecting declines in traditional TV viewership. Researcher eMarketer estimated Disney+ accounted for about $790 million (roughly Rs. 6,600 crore) in revenue last year.

Disney does not report its advertising revenue.

CEO Bob Iger told investors during the company’s quarterly investor call on Wednesday that the ad-supported version of the Disney+ service has attracted more than 1,000 advertisers in the first quarter, a tenfold increase from launch.

“Our revolutionary approach to technology ensures that our entire streaming portfolio will be the ultimate destination for brands in the years ahead,” Iger said in a statement to Reuters.

Half of consumers who sign up for Disney+ opt for the less-expensive version of the service, which includes advertising, said Joe Earley, president of Disney’s direct-to-consumer business. He said the company has spent years refining ad technology that has been designed specifically for streaming. Its Hulu service launched as a free, advertising-supported service in 2008.

“Disney+ didn’t have to ramp up,” Earley said. “It hit the ground running.”

© Thomson Reuters 2024

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Amazon Prime Video Said to Include Limited Ads From January; Option to Pay Extra to Stay Ad-Free Available

Amazon will start incorporating advertisements within their Prime Video streaming services soon. A report citing the company’s intimation to Amazon Prime users in the US claims that the standard Amazon Prime plan will show ads while streaming movies and TV shows. This, however, is not a sudden move. The company announced the move in September this year and stated that it would go into effect in early 2024. Now, the action has a date of commencement in select regions. Amazon has not yet confirmed when this limited ads feature will be effective for Prime Video users in India.

A report by The Verge claims that Amazon said in an email to customers in the US that starting January 29, advertisements will be included in movies and TV shows streamed on its Prime Video platform. The move will let them continue investing in great content and increase the amount spent over time, the company claimed in the cited email.

Amazon also noted in the email that they intended to have significantly fewer advertisements than broadcast television and other streaming TV providers. They explained that the current price of Prime membership remains unchanged for all Amazon Prime users in the US and they did not need to take any additional action because of this move.

However, if a user wishes to continue to enjoy their ad-free Prime Video experience, they can enjoy the same by upgrading their current Amazon Prime plan. They will be required to pay an additional $2.99 (roughly Rs. 250) per month. Currently, the standard Amazon Prime subscription costs $14.99 (roughly Rs. 1,200). From January 29, users will need to spend $17.99 (roughly Rs. 1,500) each month to continue to watch movies and TV shows ad-free on Prime Video or continue on their older plan with occasional ads.

Notably, Prime Video membership can also be bought individually, without subscribing to the standard Amazon Prime plan. Presently, users need to pay $8.99 (roughly Rs. 750) per month to access only the Prime Video streaming service. Once the limited ads feature goes into effect, that plan will increase to $11.99 (roughly Rs. 1,000), according to the aforementioned report. Another report by The Guardian claimed the same action will start in the UK and Germany from February 5.

Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 alongside the Galaxy Tab S9 series and Galaxy Watch 6 series at its first Galaxy Unpacked event in South Korea. We discuss the company’s new devices and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Google Chrome Resumes Transition to Manifest V3 That Will Cripple Ad Blockers in 2024

Google Chrome will complete its transition to its Manifest V3 extension specification in 2024, the company recently announced via a blog post. The switch to Chrome’s Manifest V3 from the previous version is expected to severely limit the functionality of extensions on the world’s most widely used web browser — including several popular ad blockers. Google’s changes are expected to affect several other browsers that also rely on the Chromium engine, while Firefox and Safari are unlikely to be affected.

The search giant recently published a blog post with an updated timeline for transitioning to Manifest V3 for Google Chrome. Google’s updates to the specification will change how ad blocking extensions interact with the browser while also adding limitations on how much access they have to the browser and how they function on a user’s computer — some of these changes have been made to improve user security, according to Google.

The company was expected to drop support for Manifest V2 and complete the transition process last year, but faced intense pushback from privacy groups, developers, and users who rely on extensions that would be hindered by the move. More recently, YouTube began a global crackdown on ad blockers that prevents users with ad blockers from viewing videos on the platform, while raising the price of its ad-free YouTube Premium subscription in seven countries.

Google says it has made some changes to Manifest V3 that accommodate some of the changes requested by groups that are opposed to the upcoming changes to the extension specification that would affect ad blockers. These include scaling back restrictions on the Declarative Net Request API and improving support for content filtering — functionality offered by ad blockers.

While Google has made some accommodations for ad blockers that have allowed some developers to create addons that can offer similar functionality as Manifest V2 extensions, an Electronic Frontier Foundation staffer told The Verge that Chrome’s Manifest V3 limits developers of extensions and that everyone would end up relying on Google to update its API to be able to block advertisers and trackers via extensions.

As per Google’s updated timeline, extensions that support Manifest V2 will be disabled on three Chrome channels in June 2024 — Canary, Dev, and Beta. These changes will be introduced with Chrome 127 and later. Users won’t be able to install older Manifest V2 extensions (these will lose their Featured badge) and existing ones will be disabled on the browser, according to the search giant.

There’s no concrete timeline on when these changes will arrive on the stable update channel, where it will affect the largest number of Chrome users. Google says it expects the process of observing and stabilising the changes to take “at least a month”. Meanwhile, Google has urged extension developers to complete the process of migration to Manifest V3 before June 2024.

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