• snooggums
    link
    fedilink
    162 years ago

    As a free user they get engagement, which may or may not offset what they get out of those that do provide them income. It seems like that was good enough for a couple decades.

    • AnonTwo
      link
      fedilink
      3
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I…really don’t think it was ever about engagement. I think most free users just didn’t have an adblocker.

      I think ublock orgin’s adoption just picked up over the years, and it’s not as if Youtube gets cheaper (I’d imagine it just gets more expensive)

      I mean engagement is great, they make the algorithm work (well, “work”) but I’m pretty sure the ads were the selling point (for google) before premium was even an option.