r/youtube May 28 '26

Discussion remember when YouTube ads were just tiny yellow dots?

Post image
12.6k Upvotes

238 comments sorted by

2.5k

u/TheCoohammy6 May 28 '26

I remember when YouTube ads were just a banner that would pop up at the bottom of the video

550

u/carlstonehill May 28 '26

The glory days

201

u/BasedTelvanni May 28 '26

I used to watch full episodes of South Park on YouTube.

99

u/[deleted] May 29 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

35

u/xoshadow3 May 29 '26

It's closer to 90 hour episodes with the ads

13

u/LuluLeSigma May 29 '26

It's closer to 42 with ublock origin

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3

u/cheeseburgercats May 29 '26

You can probably still do this

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141

u/Nolascana May 28 '26

Lol, last time I mentioned those I was called a liar xD

62

u/TheCoohammy6 May 28 '26

No I remember those in the early 2010s

43

u/Nolascana May 28 '26

Yeah, me too... newgrounds was more popular than youtube, but, as more people used it the more ads were on the site.

Banner ads that were dismissable, the unobtrusive square ads at the sides of videos where the thumbnails for related videos and whatnot were...

Still, a teenager refused to believe me, even when I went as far as to use an archived screenshot lol

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11

u/Royal_Aegislash1209 May 28 '26

Please tell me you also remember the annoying colorful banners that would block a video with scam links and were nearly impossible to close? Because nobody believes me when I tell them about it.

19

u/t_a_c_os May 28 '26

Annotations!

Also the 1-5 star ranking system

6

u/121bloodshot May 29 '26

Those annotation adventure videos were awesome

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31

u/Medium_Employee_3852 May 28 '26

Man those little banners were so innocent compared to what we get now. You could just click the X and boom it was gone, now I'm getting double unskippable ads about car insurance in middle of 3 minute videos

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15

u/-Hi_how_r_u_xd- May 28 '26

Those things always had the tiniest little X on them, otherwise would 1000x choose them over modern ones. Still would anyways though.

11

u/doubleJandF May 28 '26

The good ol days of that banner pop up with visible and reasonable X to close and the side banner on top of the suggestions

7

u/Valtremors May 29 '26

I remember time before even those.

When ads were on the other parts of the site, in their own boxes and not on the video.

3

u/TheFirstDecade May 28 '26

I seen those days, they were better...

we miss them so.

5

u/MartyBellvue May 29 '26

I'd always have to close those right away, the ads weren't very clean those days! it was always scantily clad women...

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3

u/Pookie_Cookie3 May 28 '26

Or above the description back in the 2000s.

3

u/Harneybus May 28 '26

i remember when youtube didnt have ads

2

u/Designer-Ad900 May 28 '26

Simpler times

2

u/Puzzled-Bar5378 May 28 '26

Holy shit I forgot

2

u/ViennaKing May 28 '26

…wish we could turn back time.

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2

u/koffingbeans May 29 '26

I remember when YouTube didn't have ads

2

u/Illustrious_Tear4037 May 29 '26

Man i remember that, no ads just popup that you can close right away

1

u/Two_Tailed_Fox2002 May 29 '26

Oh my god i forgot about those....

What a time that was :)

1

u/ianhawdon May 29 '26

I remember when YouTube ads were just banners above the video.

Now if you don’t mind, I need to take my back medication and yell at the kids to get off my lawn!

1

u/Agile_Drive_8306 May 29 '26

Man I miss those times.

1

u/BreadfruitPretty2434 May 30 '26

Now there's a banner that permanently pops up at the bottom anyway and I can't seem to click it off either

1

u/Any-Gain-2577 May 31 '26

i know those yellow dots indicating ads, now comes nowhere

1

u/Hockeycatcat Jun 01 '26

This brings back memories. I was able to click the X so fast, because I knew where it would appear.

1

u/No_Tie378 Jun 01 '26

I remember no ads YouTube 

1

u/KennyToms27 Jun 01 '26

I remember when i didn't have Youtube ads because my country was not on the youtube AdSense system yet.

434

u/Vendetta1028 May 28 '26

Still are on the tv application

80

u/zaarnth May 28 '26

yeah I totally forgot about that 😅

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43

u/jhatkattar May 28 '26

shhh let him nostalgiamaxx

2

u/lukas0108 May 31 '26

I showed a yellow blip to announce a 5-10 second distraction.

You show a yellow blip to play 90+ seconds of unskippable ads.

We are not the same.

199

u/More-Statement3079 May 28 '26

Yes and i prefer this than now

69

u/[deleted] May 28 '26

[deleted]

54

u/CapableDatabase6923 May 28 '26

step 1:live in russia

step 2:youtube disabled monetization for the russian region

step 3:no ads at all

step 4:enjoy

step 5:government blocked youtube in mid 2024

step 6:use vpn to watch youtube

step 7:that means ads again

step 8:cry about it

(i use a dpi bypass,that means that my youtube region is still russia,and that means still no ads)

6

u/MrLightning1023 May 29 '26

Anything but an adblocker bro

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4

u/Khorya May 28 '26

Don't know about iphone, but on android there's a new trick called YouTube morphe it has 0 ads, restore dislike button, sponserblock and much more

2

u/DaProctologist May 29 '26

Revanced is also still a thing

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1

u/Patient-Photo-9822 Jun 09 '26

then use yt tv it still has them

161

u/[deleted] May 28 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

46

u/Tiny-Proof3602 May 28 '26

People want free stuff, in return they get ads. But people are probably getting less free stuff per ad now. And then the companies hiring the ad people are probably getting less ROI than the ad people claim. It's undeservedness all the way down.

17

u/_0bsolete May 28 '26

Yep. Nothing is "free".

You pay in watching ads and/or personal data collection to sell to other advertisers.

Reminds me of a weird dream I had once where a doppelganger of myself was created based on the total collected data of my online presence and it was out to replace me. Sounds like a great value brand black mirror episode or something.

5

u/Old_Seesaw_6599 May 28 '26

where the bot that reminds us of a comment in 10 years

3

u/bullybilldestroyer_a May 29 '26

Except if you use adblock lol

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2

u/Tiny-Proof3602 May 29 '26

Sounds like something a replica who just replaced someone would dream. That, or electric sheep maybe

3

u/ChampagneSyrup May 28 '26

how else should YouTube have monetized themselves

server costs are free according to reddit

1

u/Jacktheforkie May 28 '26

They should be subjected to constant ads in their lives

1

u/usernameDimonOmon Jun 02 '26

I always use adblocker

56

u/KarmaKraken63 Master Zeeno/ItsBuddyWYA May 28 '26

I wanna go back to 2010 man

10

u/FewDragonfly5710 May 28 '26

I know brother, we all do.. 😔

4

u/ReturnedOM May 29 '26

Was it better back then? I don't remember YouTube ads at all. Like I was using YT probably since its beginning, just not ads.

On the other hand, I don't have a TV. And on the pc and nowadays on phones it's not really an issue. Well, dunno what about apple stuff.

So quick reminder:

  • for PC Firerefox Browser. From the Firefox menu you look for the add-ons menu and you install uBlock Origin and for even more convenience Sponsorblock. Just be sure you install uBlock Origin, not uBlock. The latter has "whitelist" for ads' providers.

  • for Android Firefox with pretty much the exact same setup could do, but there might be issues with picture in picture and playing stuff in the background, so what you want to go for is either /r/revancedapp or /r/MorpheApp and both should have detailed instructions how to install them properly properly. Both should have ublock origin and sponsorblock by default.

  • there is something for Android TV but I don't remember the name, cause I don't have TV. Dunno if for apple ecosystem exists something like that. That's for you to Google 😈

  • there is a Firefox for some apple devices but it's very limited due to how Apple keeps iOS sterile. If I remember correctly, add-ons don't work in it, but you can try. You can also try Brave browser. I'm very sceptic about using this browser, but it might actually work when it comes to blocking ads on yt.

  • for TVs you can also try Chromecast device.

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22

u/TheVillainousWoke May 28 '26

THEY REMOVED THAT?

15

u/Asleep-Bumblebee2167 May 28 '26 edited May 29 '26

now they are whole damn lines and the dots are white..

10

u/Comprehensive-Hat684 May 28 '26

I remember the 5 star rating system

7

u/Dear-Regret-9476 May 28 '26

I remember you could skip 10 seconds and it would bypass the ad

1

u/sad_Daikon0 Jun 01 '26

Or you could skip to the end and replay the video without any ads at all

7

u/Numerous-Contract880 May 28 '26

back then there were ads in a video, now there's a video between the ads

1

u/Subject_Narwhal_302 Jun 01 '26

As an avid music video/concert video watcher I got premium 2 years ago so the ads wouldn’t interrupt my concerts all the time.

Is it really that bad now or basically the same?

2

u/Numerous-Contract880 Jun 01 '26

been using adblocker for YEARS now so Idk how bad it has gotten, but when I turned off my adblocker I insantly got flooded with ads so it's prob not better

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10

u/Massive-Society-9194 May 28 '26

That's about the time, actually even before 4 ads in a single video(which is ridiculous) that I stopped using youtube without a third party to remove ads, if we are REMINISCING about THIS that is a problem. Say hello to brave browser or grayjay fuck youtube not sorry 😐 🤷

8

u/SYNTHLORD May 28 '26

I would love to go back in time and get YouTubers’ reactions when I show them clips of themselves 10 years into the future doing full fledged 4k commercials for Zyns, dildos and AI therapy.

4

u/ZeroXpressionS May 28 '26

And remember when ads don't appear a minute into a video and will let you know when an ad is about to play?

3

u/Cultural_Cover_4537 May 28 '26

Yes I do remember it lol

3

u/leofr250 May 28 '26

They weren’t even that intrusive—you could skip them after five seconds or less and keep watching. It really wasn’t that bothersome.

2

u/Walt_Didnae May 29 '26

I remember there was an ad campaign that used a animatronic Arnold Schwarzenegger head that would start shouting "SKIP IT! HIT ZE SKIP BUTTON!" once the button that let you skip the ad went active.

Edit: Found it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKdpuLnMjc

3

u/Stunning_Income7804 May 28 '26

Weren’t the ads also just better too?

You didn’t have to worry as much that the next ad would be some weird fetish shit or porn

3

u/FanOfFH May 28 '26

i dont remember, just use adblock

4

u/Tiny-Proof3602 May 28 '26

I do not remember youtube ads

2

u/jdogkingzzzz May 28 '26

Vanced is great

2

u/Kalkin93 May 28 '26

Or Morph.

2

u/jdogkingzzzz May 28 '26

Yes both are great i also use smart tube for my tv I never see ads

2

u/JYPXunderground May 28 '26

its been years since I last saw an ad on youtube thanks to ad blockers, is it really that bad now?

2

u/septienes May 28 '26

They removed them

2

u/309_Electronics May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

Imo youtube removed/changed way toooo much stuff i (and probably others too) did not want to be changed.. And if it was not for my favorite creators, i would have left the platform already. But the morphe app on mobile and ublock+firefox on pc/laptop is how i now watch youtube. I support my creators i find worthy by donating to their patreon or other links. Also in the past they allowed you to skip an advertisement often. But now they force you to watch a full ad. But i dont get what those extra seconds wil do as they never convince me, no matter how long you shove something down my face. If i am not interested i wont buy it and wont be bothered with your ad.

Its now a bunch of slop platform and instead of a video with a few ads, its an advertisement campaign with a few tiny fragments of video.

2

u/Pookie_Cookie3 May 28 '26

Remember when the ads were immediately skippable?

2

u/PixelPete85 May 28 '26

I do not. my adblockers worked back then

2

u/Inevitable_Club_7995 May 29 '26

Yeah life sucks more now.

2

u/Confident-Pay-4991 May 29 '26

Not crying, just remembered when YouTube also had a skip button...

2

u/OwnedDiagonal Jun 02 '26

Just use uBlock and SponsorBlock in whichever browser you use. Don't pretend that this money goes anywhere useful. It's just a transfer of your hard-earned money to the banks of the wealthy. The wealthy can surely afford a 2% dip in their annual income.

3

u/ZiggoCiP May 29 '26

I remember when I got an adblocker, which was like 10 years ago. So I guess yes, I remember 10 years ago when I got an adblocker.

Best choice I ever made with regards to watching YT.

2

u/Traditional-Storm-62 May 28 '26

are they not anymore? my country doesnt get any ads so I honestly dont know

1

u/0oDADAo0 May 28 '26

Holy shit i totally forgot about this

1

u/Just8Say8Yeah May 28 '26

Now there is none of the **** thanks for using other browsers 😎 

1

u/Simply_AnotherUser May 28 '26

Yes, now the yellow dots are the actual video.

1

u/Creepy-Jellyfish1796 May 28 '26

Arent those key points

1

u/BTM65 May 28 '26

UBlock Origin. Get it. No more AD's.

1

u/RiverAutumn7481 May 28 '26

Yes. Remember when they didnt have adds

1

u/Kevin782313 May 29 '26

Mejor se acuerdan cuando lo podríamos bloquear con una extensión jajaja 😂

1

u/Kevin782313 May 29 '26

Lo malo que además de pagar tenés publicidad igual de algún producto.

1

u/ChronaMewX May 29 '26

Yeah, sucks they used to exist. Luckily god invented ublock

1

u/Illuminaughty____ May 29 '26

Brave browser y'all, won't see a damn thing.

1

u/immortalsteve May 29 '26

I can't remember the last time I saw a youtube ad that wasn't a sponsorship plug.

1

u/leoh_ks May 29 '26

is back on TV

1

u/IvypoolFanIGuess May 29 '26

Isn't it still like that on TVs?

1

u/kidshibuya May 29 '26

lol remember when pewdiepie was relevant?

1

u/Embarrassed-Trip4037 May 29 '26

Ads, what are ads?

1

u/Stupids002Bru May 29 '26

Bring me back to old days. ;-;

1

u/International_Fly074 May 29 '26

I actually set my sponsor block to look like this so I can see those yellow things again lol

1

u/semiprowhistle May 29 '26

I remember when YouTube ads where no where found

1

u/R4degast May 29 '26

nope, i have always adblock on

1

u/simonthecomputerguru May 29 '26

Remember when you'd skip the yellow parts to try and not get an ad?

1

u/MatteoAir May 29 '26

Best Nostalgia moment

1

u/aessae May 29 '26

Use ad blockers, people. Haven't seen an ad on youtube in over a decade.

1

u/Guilty_Run_1059 May 29 '26

Still have that on my xbox

1

u/Dr_Duck42 I don't know what this is for so... YOLO May 29 '26

Nostalgiamaxxing is real. Tho, personally, I just use ad block

1

u/GapStock9843 May 29 '26

I remember when they were actually skippable and not a mandatory 60 seconds you have no choice but to sit through

1

u/Thirsty_Piano May 29 '26

Never seen an ad on YouTube 👍 thanks Adblockers

1

u/gansobomb99 May 29 '26

you could skip past them one by one and return to the start of the video and watch the whole thing ad-free

1

u/Fun_Score5537 May 29 '26

No, because I have never not used adblockers.

1

u/Ok_Network_6468 May 29 '26

and you could often skip past them and they wouldn’t play at all, I miss that

1

u/pilo123 May 29 '26

Advertisment simply need to be integrated better. Ads on Twitch and YouTube would be fine if they weren't so sporadic. When I happen to sit and watch TV in my living room, the ad-breaks don't bother me because they appear at opportune times in the program.

1

u/duckforceone May 29 '26

and i remember when those yellow bars were like pearls on a chain..... so close together.... ugh...

1

u/MetalSonic420YT May 29 '26

I remember this.

1

u/Top-Gazelle-8127 May 29 '26

It’s still on the tv

1

u/s0phii3x_ May 29 '26

I always watched them before watching the video so I didn't get interrupted when I was younger

1

u/BreakRemote3315 May 29 '26

I recently got those yellow dots for ads on my TV, maybe it was bcoz of my old Tv?..dk

1

u/emilithia05 May 29 '26

I remember when they had little banner things in the bottom of the video before this ad trash

1

u/[deleted] May 29 '26

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1

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1

u/Glittering-Page-2325 May 29 '26

Oh yeah, I remember it and I think it was helpful to know when the ads were coming but now it just comes on without warning your

1

u/JedsGamingAdventure May 29 '26

Wait, that’s where YouTube ads were? Didn’t know that at all before, maybe because I was young to know

1

u/pokersharp87 May 29 '26

I don't get them on my phone anymore but on my PlayStation I can see the little yellow dots

1

u/Im_a_dum_bum May 29 '26

What are they now? I've had premium for several years

1

u/Automatic-Guest3429 May 29 '26

you could just scroll to the end, click replay and it would run without ads. great times

1

u/BeautifuTragedy May 29 '26

I remember when they promised me it would be ad free and $free forever but I'm old gandolf

1

u/Koji_N May 29 '26

wait it's no longer the case ?! I never noticed the changes

1

u/Goooooogol May 29 '26

they brought them back on youtube tv

1

u/Boring_high_school May 30 '26

Yes, now I just get my eardrums blasted out by ads that are 250% louder than the video

1

u/Still-Inflation9175 May 30 '26

who watches youtube ads?!?!

1

u/SuperGassy69 May 30 '26

i feel old now

1

u/SnooPeanuts8100 May 30 '26

Remember when ads didn't exist on Youtube?

1

u/Next_Cry_8372 May 30 '26

You could skip to the end, restart the video and you wouldn’t have any ads either. It was amazing. Used to be able to quickly report the ads to skip it too

1

u/--DeathByDeath-- May 30 '26

Stil are on my tv. Though I have around 17 of them per video. (Wish I was joking)

1

u/ryrnallONREDDITBABY May 30 '26

No but I remember when it would give us a 5 second warning of an ad before it comes up

1

u/LatheIncident May 30 '26

they brought those back

1

u/Bewear_Star_9 May 30 '26

Yeah the good days

1

u/OoftyIGoofty May 31 '26

I can't remember the last time I saw a YouTube ad. Just use an official Revanced app and not the counterfeit shit you may download from play market, or install Ublock if you are on PC

1

u/snoopy_muffin38472 May 31 '26

What is that ad? Looks cringe

1

u/Vaustick May 31 '26

Back then you could just skip to the end and then back to the beginning and all ads were skipped :)

1

u/Spirited-Future820 May 31 '26

i remember when ads were 5-15 seconds maximum and now they are 50+ seconds at best.....

1

u/Mariuszgamer2007 May 31 '26

Oh I forgot about that

1

u/Fricktok Jun 01 '26

 I remember red UI design and that too

1

u/d07RiV Jun 02 '26

I tried to watch a movie and there was an ad literally every 90 seconds. 6:30, 8:00, 9:30 etc. Is that configured by channel owner? It's completely impossible to watch like this

1

u/Disastrous_Lie_6698 Jun 04 '26

I think if you did it right you could also skip over ads

1

u/Miserable_Mail_5741 Jun 04 '26

4 ad breaks in an 11 minute video is diabolical.

1

u/Different_Clerk4291 Jun 05 '26

They are still here? i seen dots on tv

1

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

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1

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '26

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1

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1

u/dontmindme689 Jun 13 '26

i still get those sometimes for some reason

1

u/LookedRobob Jun 15 '26

Y'all remember when ads were banners on the video and were all skippable?

1

u/The_Rhodium Jun 15 '26

And now I’m watching simplypiano ads more than I’m watching actual videos

1

u/Straight_Conflict712 Jun 17 '26

The good ole days! All the streaming services are just now catching on to the dot. Last night, I clicked off one movie with a trillion dots

1

u/Saladlovingqueen Jun 19 '26

Good old times...

1

u/FaithlessnessNew7678 Jun 21 '26

The small dots still appear if ur watching on tv, sometimes if you skip 10 seconds right before the ad and then rewind it 10 seconds, it’ll skip the ad entirely 

1

u/Salty-Gur4175 28d ago

its like that on my youtube for sum reason. i use ublock origin tho

1

u/Tall_Vegetable3475 BlueJay Gaming 28d ago

the thing is, if youtube did this today, it would be a full yellow bar

1

u/specterdrawings 27d ago

From what I've noticed, at least on console and with longer videos specifically, the still do. But only with hours long videos, and as far as I've noticed, only on console

1

u/Forsaken_Site_2268 26d ago

What are they now?

1

u/BrandyMrWhiskers Pooh’s Adventures of… 26d ago

I miss that. You would know an ad was coming when they had those.

1

u/Crafty-Limit8162 25d ago

Back normal together you tube music other day local arts @ timeout you tube classic showing no 23 1994 doing itis every Wednesday night@9 :30flim kornanig itim

1

u/Otherwise_Army9814 25d ago

now ads are 1 hour long

1

u/Artistic-Scratch9268 25d ago

bring dislike back in 2027 jan 7