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Why do podcasts have preroll ads now? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by cralder@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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I don't know when this started but I noticed it for the first time a few months ago. Some podcasts will have preroll ads that are obviously tailored to me since they are not in the same language as the podcast, instead they are in my native language and if I connect to a VPN in another country the ad will change to one from that country. They also seem to appear regardless of podcast app. I have used both AntennaPod and Spotify. AntennaPod is free so I guess they source their podcasts from some third party website that could be adding in the ads. But since I am paying for Spotify I am expecting not to have to listen to any ads. So who is adding in these ads? Can I get rid of them or am I just stuck with them?

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[–] VintageGenious@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Problem is that we don't know how long the ads take, we need to look how sponsor block will handle youtube new ads

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

i hit the skip button like 8 times and listen for the podcast, if i hear it i back up once until i hear the end of the ads.

[–] delirious_owl@discuss.online 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You could also add telemetry. If >50% of your users all skip in the same spot, its an ad break

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 3 points 1 month ago

Well, someone could. I'm just some schlub listening to podcasts.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

damn, 8 times? Are your ads too long or is your skip too short?

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

the skip is 15 seconds and theres usually 2-3 adds on the ad breaks

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

ah my skip is 30s and I've only seen 2 ads in a row, max

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

IME ad times are pretty consistent by podcast feed when they're artificially inserted like that.

When we're talking product promotions during the podcast recording, they're only consistent for a given episode, but that's what sponsorblock is for.

[–] pe1uca@lemmy.pe1uca.dev 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

IIRC they mentioned is next to impossible without actually processing the video and guessing when then ad stops on your client (since the ads will change per user, so it can't be done on a server for all users)

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

video controls change when an ad is playing on YT, which would be a pretty reliable indicator for an extension running at the client side. But that's more a UBO issue than sponsorblock when it comes to YouTube, as I'm not sure sponsorblock could do anything if the controls are frozen.