Is ad-supported media good for audiences and society?
In 2009 John said YouTube can't survive without advertising, yet both brothers dislike ads, saying advertisers value views over viewers and push away from content audiences love. From 2017 John says ad-driven platforms are built to hold attention for ads, and in 2025 and 2026 both praise apps that have no ads.
Axis: ads are a fair price for free media ... ads corrupt media and exploit attention
Concept: online advertising
Positions by date: 24 records in 24 videos. The position was refined (2012, 2013), never reversed, in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-07-14 | first on record | John says YouTube, and increasingly the brothers, can't survive without advertising. | Sell Outs! 00:02:37 |
| 2012-05-22 | refine | John: free services sell their users to advertisers, ads do change behavior and buy people for less than they're worth, so using them is agreeing to be commodified, not necessarily bad but a decision to make consciously. | You ARE The Product 00:02:15 |
| 2013-03-20 | refine | John: advertising incentivises the most views rather than the best and values communities by size rather than passion or achievement. | Ads Work...but for Whom? 00:01:24 |
| 2013-05-28 | restate | John: the internet's dependence on advertising is the underlying problem, since advertisers value view counts over the creator-viewer relationship and push away from content viewers love. | NERD FACTOR! (...And Why I Fear for Tumblr) 00:00:20 |
| 2015-10-27 | restate | John says they have always been uncomfortable with advertising and it's nice to see YouTube moving away from sole reliance on it. | Understanding YouTube Red: Paid Subscriptions and the Future of Online Video 00:03:05 |
| 2017-05-16 | restate | John says documentaries are really hard to fund on advertising revenue alone, which is why so few are on free streaming services, at least legally. | The Introducer, My Childhood Dream Job 00:03:03 |
| 2017-12-26 | restate | Social media feeds don't make you happier or better informed because they aren't trying to: algorithms are designed to maximize time on site and ad impressions, and do it very well. | LEAVE IT IN 2017 00:01:13 |
| 2018-01-09 | restate | John says all these companies want as much of our attention as they can get because that is how they make money, which is what they exist to do. | Your Attention 00:02:40 |
| 2018-07-03 | restate | John thinks YouTube faces big problems: it relies too much on flawed algorithms, and its monetization system often values advertisers over audience. | How Does This End? 00:01:29 |
| 2018-11-06 | restate | John's second problem: the companies running the social internet are incentivized not to give him accurate or helpful information but information that holds his attention on their platform while he ingests advertising. | Taking a Year Off 00:01:27 |
| 2025-08-19 | restate | John praises that the app collects and sells no personal data, needs no login and, best of all, has no ads: a clean, free, effective app is vanishingly rare in 2025. | The Problem with My Brother's Hit New App 00:01:30 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-03-25 (said on 2011-03-24, implied) | first on record | Hank says advertising is a little bit evil, often there to lie and make us do things we wouldn't, though not all bad; he mocks Geico and Toyota ads. | Hank is an Adorable, Drunk Princess 00:01:59 |
| 2012-05-25 | restate | Hank says he dislikes ads (contentless Geico commercials make him feel they wheedle into his brain) yet accepts that an internet built on free content leaves ads the only model. | The Subway Where I Used To Go (Somebody That I Used To Know / Gotye Parody) 00:02:21 |
| 2013-03-15 | restate | Hank says advertising is not the right model for content like the Brain Scoop and that he does not even like advertising. | Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes 00:02:48 |
| 2013-03-22 | restate | Hank says the brothers avoid pre-roll ads not only because they annoy him but because they undervalue the community's time. | How Much is a Human Life Worth? 00:01:37 |
| 2013-05-24 | restate | Hank: tech giants bidding for users' time, imagining it will be hugely valuable to be the lens through which people see the world, is weird and worrying. | What's Up with Start Ups 00:01:33 |
| 2013-07-26 | restate | Hank: advertisers value views, not viewers; they only care that you are watching, and educational content cannot earn enough through ads. | Introducing Subbable 00:00:37 |
| 2015-10-30 | restate | Hank, enjoying ad-free YouTube Red, understands ad blockers but has never used one, because ads are literally how he pays his employees. | Feeling Thankful in Portland 00:03:13 |
| 2017-04-21 | restate | Hank says ads are just worth less online: people dislike, skip and block them; and while his eyeballs are worth less online, his time is worth more, since it is active time. | The Adpocalypse: What it Means 00:01:31 |
| 2018-04-13 | restate | Facebook isn't the product being sold, since it is free: you are not the customer but the product, and on the social internet your attention is their dollars. | Who is in Control? 00:02:43 |
| 2020-07-17 | restate | In legacy media a few humans decide what gets made; there is less of that now, but advertisers still pay more for some audiences than others. | So Much to See 00:01:59 |
| 2021-10-07 | restate | The platform's incentive is to keep people on and sell more ads, so a feedback loop promotes righteously superior content, which more people make and consume, and groups then feel superior to each other. | We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong 00:09:40 |
| 2026-01-02 | restate | Hank thinks one reason Focus Friend won app of the year is that it has no ads, no data tracking and is free. | I Got a New Disease and I Kinda Liked It. 00:04:50 |
| 2026-10-23 | restate | Because Focus Friend launched to a lot of people, Hank says, it can run without advertising, tracking or manipulative subscription tactics, pro-social choices hard for other app makers. | The Best Email I Ever Got 00:03:57 |
Background
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-01-06 | background | Hank argues paid, ad-free Netflix beats cable, which charges and still shows ads, and that YouTube's pre-roll is far less advertising than TV. (playful) | Kill your TV 00:02:11 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).