Youtube ads before EEVBLOG- now gone political

[reagle]

It appears the last island of sanity- watching EEVBLOG is now being squished  by political ads pushed by Youtube
Is there any way  Dave you could set preferences to not allow that type of ads? Agilent flogging the latest gear- sure, other related stuff- fine. But not loud and obnoxious political stuff, (unless it's Dave talking )

[Rory]

Adblock+ in Firefox. Never see ads on Youtube.

[nilium]

Adblock+ in Firefox. Never see ads on Youtube.

Adblock and Adblock Plus available for Chrome as well! "Works a treat!" 

[reagle]

Doesn't help with native Youtube app on an Android phone though

[peter.mitchell]

I deal with the ads, it's the ad views that give the content producer some revenue, use adblock for all I care, just don't encourage others to, please.

[EEVblog]

I don't have a say in it.
Google tracks everything you do and display the ads it thinks you like, it's not putting the same ad for everyone on my channel.
That is the magic of google and why they are rich.
For example, if I search for baby clothes tonight, I'll get baby clothes ads on my own videos and website tomorrow.

[EEVblog]

I think the recent political rants have told Google's Ad serving algorithms that politics is a fruitful topic.

Nope, nothing to do with it, as mentioned above. It's either your own fault, or some political party is paying huge $$$$$$$ to plaster every channel with forced non-context sensitive ads.

There is a method I can block ads from certain companies I think, which is useful for content producer that say have a paid ad from one company, and don't want the competition to display their ads. But I have never tried it, and I would only ever be chasing my tail. So basically impossible to stop from my end, except remove ALL ads from all videos.

[amyk]

I don't have a say in it.
Google tracks everything you do and display the ads it thinks you like, it's not putting the same ad for everyone on my channel.
That is the magic of google and why they are rich.
For example, if I search for baby clothes tonight, I'll get baby clothes ads on my own videos and website tomorrow.

You can clear your cookies (or just set them to blocked) if you don't like this tracking.

[reagle]

I don't have a say in it.
Google tracks everything you do and display the ads it thinks you like, it's not putting the same ad for everyone on my channel.
That is the magic of google and why they are rich.
For example, if I search for baby clothes tonight, I'll get baby clothes ads on my own videos and website tomorrow.

I dunno about that- the ads are the exact opposite of what my political views would be. So it's either Google's bug, or it's on purpose, to try to change them.
Anyways, I know they pay Dave's bills, so oh well

[EEVblog]

You can clear your cookies (or just set them to blocked) if you don't like this tracking.
[/quote]

Fraid not. Google can track you without that.

[EEVblog]

I dunno about that- the ads are the exact opposite of what my political views would be. So it's either Google's bug, or it's on purpose, to try to change them.

There are two types of ads advertisers can pay for. Adsense, which is targeted to your search history, and traditional mass blanket advertising to everyone. Political parties definitely pay for the latter.

[grego]

You can clear your cookies (or just set them to blocked) if you don't like this tracking.

Fraid not. Google can track you without that.
[/quote]

They can't as long as you block the cookies and are not logged into Google in any way.  If you're logged in in some way (mail, blogspot, whatever) it doesn't matter if you block cookies since they track you on your session.

But you have to block cookies, you have to tell Flash to not to accept cookies, you have to not be logged in, etc, etc, etc.  It's kind of a pain but doable.

[rsjsouza]

I am almost 100% sure that, if you launch a private browsing page (and do not log in) the tracking will happen only during that active session. I use that to search for dummy things at amazon.com (similarly as Dave, I also search for baby stuff) without having an invasion of adsense related content.

[HKJ]

They can't as long as you block the cookies and are not logged into Google in any way. 

It is not that difficult to track a browser: https://panopticlick.eff.org/
Looking at your IP address will make it even easier.

[EEVblog]

They can't as long as you block the cookies and are not logged into Google in any way.

Tracking by IP is trivial, and google does that too of course.

[Tepe]

I dunno about that- the ads are the exact opposite of what my political views would be.

It would be a waste to push an agenda you already support.

[jancumps]

...
Google tracks everything you do and display the ads it thinks you like
...

I wish that wasn't the case. Google's algorithm categorizes me as a boring person.
Based on the ads I get, I have no life. Or at least not the life I want to live.
 

[wblackledg]

I dunno about that- the ads are the exact opposite of what my political views would be.

that makes sense. no sense preaching to the choir. 

I haven't noticed any political ads lately.

[hikariuk]

I dunno about that- the ads are the exact opposite of what my political views would be.

that makes sense. no sense preaching to the choir. 

I haven't noticed any political ads lately.

If they could they'd just target the swing voters with adverts, they're the people who decide the outcomes of elections.  People who support you will vote for you anyway, people who support your opposition won't vote for you no matter what you say.  Although most of election day is spent chasing known supporters and making sure they've actually gone out and voted.

[jancumps]

...Although most of election day is spent chasing known supporters and making sure they've actually gone out and voted.

In my country voting is a must, so that part can be skipped.

[FrankBuss]

I deal with the ads, it's the ad views that give the content producer some revenue, use adblock for all I care, just don't encourage others to, please.

I don't like ads, so I use AdBlock, too. But if you like the content, then it is fair to donate a bit. Lots of possibilities for EEVblog, e.g. PayPal, Bitcoin or each time you buy something on Amazon:

http://www.eevblog.com/donations/

[nitro2k01]

It is not that difficult to track a browser: https://panopticlick.eff.org/
Looking at your IP address will make it even easier.

There's a difference between could and would. Sure, Google (or Amazon etc) could track anyone using browser fingerprinting so that even if you clear your cookies and connect from a new IP address. But would they?  Google is targeting the majority with their ads, which means the low hanging fruit. Ie, regular cookies and IP address tracking. It simply doesn't make economical sense to keep such a database to keep track of the last 1% who are trying to avoid the ads.

[Orpheus]

Also consider adjusting your http://www.google.com/settings/ads settings

[mikeselectricstuff]

I dunno about that- the ads are the exact opposite of what my political views would be.

..surely that's the point - no point in advertising to their own side!

[smashedProton]

I dunno about that- the ads are the exact opposite of what my political views would be. So it's either Google's bug, or it's on purpose, to try to change them.

There are two types of ads advertisers can pay for. Adsense, which is targeted to your search history, and traditional mass blanket advertising to everyone. Political parties definitely pay for the latter.

Why?  Political ads are target the social classes that would have the strongest opposition.  They also have very different ads to convince people with similar convictions to go and vote.  They are structured differently and lose their meaning if the wrong audience is targeted.