Channels & viewing

[PSlacker]

Strange that I get almost no ads on my Samsung tablet when using its YouTube app, but an absolute ton of them when using Roku's YouTube app. This doesn't seem as simple as "we at Roku have no control over this", and it feels disingenuous for Roku to merely suggest that we pay YouTube a hundred bucks a year to solve the problem.

Surely you don't expect me to believe that if YouTube has tailored the Roku version of their app to be far more annoying than YouTube's own Android app, there's nothing Roku can do about it?  Is Roku a powerless victim of mean old YouTube? ie "we're going to give your customers a worse experience than on other platforms, and since we're YouTube you just have to accept our terms" ??

Maybe it's time to look into other products (especially with Black Friday coming soon).

[atc98092]

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@PSlacker wrote:

Strange that I get almost no ads on my Samsung tablet when using its YouTube app, but an absolute ton of them when using Roku's YouTube app. This doesn't seem as simple as "we at Roku have no control over this", and it feels disingenuous for Roku to merely suggest that we pay YouTube a hundred bucks a year to solve the problem.

Surely you don't expect me to believe that if YouTube has tailored the Roku version of their app to be far more annoying than YouTube's own Android app, there's nothing Roku can do about it?  Is Roku a powerless victim of mean old YouTube? i.e. "we're going to give your customers a worse experience than on other platforms, and since we're YouTube you just have to accept our terms" ??

Maybe it's time to look into other products (especially with Black Friday coming soon).

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I get just as many ads on YouTube with my Shield as I do with any Roku device, and it's an Android device. It is not Roku doing it. Perhaps Samsung has some sort of deal with Google to reduce ads on their devices. And yes, Google certainly could be the "mean old" provider that wants everyone to use a Chromecast device. And yes, there's nothing Roku can do about the user experience on any channel they did not develop. Roku themselves are only responsible for The Roku Channel and Roku Media Player. 

[Frankw2]

they make SMART YOUTUBE ( NO ADS ) for android. I use it but not for ROKU. I saw a video showing it but did not understand how they did it. Google should make a ROKU app.

[fluke]

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@Frankw2 wrote:

they make SMART YOUTUBE ( NO ADS ) for android. I use it but not for ROKU. I saw a video showing it but did not understand how they did it. Google should make a ROKU app.

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Google did make an app for Roku.  The YouTube available on Roku is from Google.

"SmartYouTubeTV" by Yuriy Lyskov is not Google.  His app is not available through official methods (either Google Play or the Amazon App Store).  Instead, using it requires using what Android refers to as "Unknown sources" which is disabled by default.  There are trade-offs in installing apps through this unofficial method.  It is important to understand the security/privacy risks doing this.  However, explaining in full detail about Android goes beyond the scope of this forum.  I will leave it up to the reader to research for themselves.

It should be noted that the type of fearures Yuriy Lyskov provides is similar to an YouTube app written by Microsoft for the Windows Phone.  Google blocked the app and forced Microsoft to remove it from distribution.  Several articles written at the time included a statement from Google that the Microsoft's YouTube app violated YouTube's Terms of Service.

The fact Lyskov's creation exists outside of official channels is not an indication Roku can do the same thing.  Rather, Roku would just be forced to honor Google's demands just the same as Microsoft was force to.

Which brings us back to that YouTube for Roku is made by Google and works exactly the way Google wants it to.  They give three official ways to deal with YouTube ads:

(1) Watch the YouTube ads

(2) Or pay $12 per month to get YouTube Premium ad-free

(3) Or do not use YouTube

There is no middle ground provided by Google and the situation is outside of Roku's control.  If you find political ads troubling or upsetting, there is no option to opt-out of only political ads.  If you find it upsetting to get the same ad over and over for a "newspaper" that is known for spreading misinformation (and even had it's ads banned by Facebook as a result), there is again no option to opt-out of just that.  It is all or none, you either reward Google with $144 per year in payments to get rid of all the ads or you do not.

It should be noted that there will be no YouTube Rewind video for 2020 to celebrate the "positive" contributions YouTube provided this year.  So, maybe they are waking up to how horrific an experience YouTube has been this year.  But I'm not holding my breath.

[Chris109]

I've basically given up on Roku.  My TV keeps rebooting for one, and when it comes to youboob with it's ads, they are non-stop.. I had a video for my cats to watch birds on the screen.  After about 30 minutes, and ad came on that was 60 mins long.  I'm done.  Roku went into the garbage.  I now have Firesticks.  You can download an app to get rid of ads on youboob.

[fluke]

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@Chris109 wrote:

I've basically given up on Roku.  My TV keeps rebooting for one, and when it comes to youboob with it's ads, they are non-stop.. I had a video for my cats to watch birds on the screen.  After about 30 minutes, and ad came on that was 60 mins long.  I'm done.  Roku went into the garbage.  I now have Firesticks.  You can download an app to get rid of ads on youboob.

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I was able to find plenty of videos of birds without ads on the Vimeo app on Roku.

Also, you should keep in mind there is two types of advertisements on YouTube:

(1) Ads that YouTube injects that are usually between 15 to 60 seconds long

(2) YouTube Videos in which the entire video itself is an advertisement

If YouTube put an 60 minute video in your next play queue, that is not Roku's fault.  Also, since it is not an ad injection, apps that claim to do automatic skipping won't skip it.  The basis of automatic ad skipping is to not play the injections, poorly selected next play videos will still play.

I understand that your tv rebooting has soured your experience to Roku in general.  But based on other statements you have made, I would recommend that YouTube may also not be the app you are looking for.

[Chris109]

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@fluke wrote:

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I was able to find plenty of videos of birds without ads on the Vimeo app on Roku.

Also, you should keep in mind there is two types of advertisements on YouTube:

(1) Ads that YouTube injects that are usually between 15 to 60 seconds long

(2) YouTube Videos in which the entire video itself is an advertisement

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I know that there are lots of bird videos, but you don't know what you'll get in way of ads until they are played.

As for the 60 minute ad, it was not at the end of the bird video.  It was within the bird video.  Yeah, I could skip it, but if I was not right there to click 'skip ad', it would have played the full ad.  If you were a cat watching birds, would you wait for the commercial to end?  (^._.^)

[atc98092]

I have never seen an ad in YouTube that lasted more than 15 seconds. Well, maybe one or two that reached 30 seconds. Any chance that ad is something the video itself has embedded in it? 

[EddiePadre]

Only with android 10 with apk applications we can eliminate youtube ads. Roku not have nothing for this problem. Amazon Stick, Goggle new Chromecast etc its better than Roku in this issue.

[atc98092]

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@EddiePadre wrote:

Only with android 10 with apk applications we can eliminate youtube ads. Roku not have nothing for this problem. Amazon Stick, Google new Chromecast etc it's better than Roku in this issue.

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Roku doesn't run on Android, so APKs can't be installed.