Dear Youtube, We met long ago and you already know this but let me remind you again; I love you, it was love, true love, at first sight You were the complete person i was looking for, be it cat videos, music or documentaries, it was you that we turned to. Funny videos to make us laugh, sad video that made us cry; you had them all. I know you moved near that google guy but with that you’ve only gotten better. Your flirted with the G+ but finally relented and apologized, so it was good. But then you’ve been bitten by this new bug called “monetization”. Our conversations aren’t the same anymore, you’re always trying to sell me something; it started as a mild nuisance when you would weirdly start a random conversation ever time we spoke, but you were manageable back then, you allowed me to skip over those ramblings of yours and make meaningful talk. But now you’ve grown more persistent in your pursuit to pitch me something, there isn’t a word you say without plugging something or someone first. Feels bad to say this but you’re not the YouTube that i fell in love with. Now don’t get me wrong YouTube, you’re still amazing but you can’t keep stuffing random adverts into my face every time we talk. Those random things, those crazy ideas, those funky ideas; well this might come as a shocker to you but i actually like watching them! Who doesn’t want to hear about new,crazy, random things; i love those ideas and adverts as much you do. But i can’t tolerate the way you interrupt me. Just when i’m about to watch Gangnam style for the billionth time or putting on some Pink Floyd to soothe my soul, you spring upon me your random adverts. Imagine my plight; speakers plugged in, lights dimmed low, mood set to listen to some soothing melodies when you throw my way this jarring heartache of an experience. You’ve interrupted me with those ads when i’m trying to show someone a 2-minute video and have to bear with a 30 second ad before it, creating a little hatred inside me because of the annoyance. Now i did tell that you that i love listening to those ads, didn’t i? Well why don’t we set aside some time every week to catch up on all the ads you want me to see. I’d love to rate, comment, like and give you feedback on those ads but will do so only when you show them to me with my permission. When you show them to me with my permission, you will have my full attention rather than the annoyance i feel every time you interrupt me. This is just one idea, i’m sure you have some of your own I think we can work something out here, what say? Your lover The main idea i’m trying to drive here is that YouTube can monetize with video ads without inserting them before every video i play. People love good ads and i’m sure they don’t mind watching a few bad ones too. The general way people think about monetizing user bases is by stuffing adverts into the product and hoping they don’t run away. We treat users like some adversarial cow who we have to milk and make money off of. Now in the case of video, YouTube has the advantage that we already have high quality ads being produced for television which fit directly into its advertising system. People would love to watch those ads because they’re some of the creative and emotionally moving pieces of storytelling that we have to offer . But these great advertisements become supremely annoying when they’re interrupt your video watching experience. What we need to do is allow people to watch the ads when they choose to.

How about we create a place where people watch ads when they’re comfortable/have a few minutes spare and build up a something like a viewing credit (either explicit or implicit) which allows them to watch videos whenever/wherever without any disruption from ads.