Same, found it about a year ago. This video led me to realize I hadn’t ever hit the follow button on Spotify, but now we’re good and I hope that helps. Hank, Ceri, and Sam - please do an episode on the physics of stringed instruments!
Most valuable ad…retired educator here… You know, education theory and advertising theory have connections - for sure…”the teachable moment… planning to deliver new content early - like 5 minutes into a lesson… chunking learning…spiral learning….number of impressions…. Brilliant video- this would wake up a whole lot of education majors - Ed 201! IF I were a university professor - we’d watch this during our first class! Thank you!!❤❤❤
As someone based outside the US the number of meal boxes and mattresses and linnen bundles I have been advertised to that I cannot physically buy is mind wrecking. I wonder how long till the geography of the impression is relevant.
Not only that, but they are SO often >completely< irrelevant to me. There needs to be ads of like, anime, or twitch streamers, or video games. I will absolutely not ever buy a subscription clothes service forever in the future of ever. So many of the ads out there are so irrelevant to me that it un-brands it to me, that I will begin to actively detest such a service. There is such low diversity of ads between podcasts, too.
@@StrangeChickandPuppo Agreed. I can't think of the last time I heard an ad on a podcast that was remotely relevant to me (or likely to become relevant in the future). Whatever they value these impressions at, it's probably inflated (Sorry, Hank).
Could be worse, could be the ads Behind The Bastards gets, like Raytheon (proud producers of knife missiles!), the Washington State Highway Patrol, and gold scams!
@@StrangeChickandPuppo yep, and it can get so bad that they are just showing you the same few ads over and over and over again. There is nothing that makes me want a product less than hearing an ad for it seven times in two hours.
lol that's why perversely I love them. the advertising is irrelevant to me, yay, more money saved! I feel like a captain observing the alien species that is us population
Geez, you jokers have short memories, eh? I'm really thankful that he's not anywhere as crook as he was, and looks to making a great come back to health!! Good on ya', mate!!
For the most part it doesn't matter. They know not everyone will listen, but billing by impression is much simpler than billing by result. After 1 advertisement they know an average ratio of impressions to conversions and can gauge the quality of a podcasters audience for their brand. You might skip most ads, or even all ads. But if one is for a product or service that genuinely solves a problem you have or makes your life easier you'll listen. Even if you never do, many other people will.
I'd watch more ads if They had redeeming value, like education or art (not a tangled mess of manipulation trying to pavlov me with the right set of shocks and whistles) The products were worthwhile and of use (unlike the 2000th ad trying to convince me to take out boat insurance for my nonexistant yaucht) They talked about the product in a meaningful way, not coating it in impressions and sugar and ignoring downsides (show me undoctored clips of it performing, what it's good for, how it works, tell me about the company's history of responsiblity and service) And they'll never do that because they want to upsell you on crap you don't need with built in planned obsolescence. If ads were honest a lot of their products would look like crap. I'm tired of being hawked crap all the time by marketers that don't know or care about the product.😂 Some media ads are decent, media people know how to show off media - marketers seem trained to pavlov the hell out of products.
I actually do sit through ads for my favorite creators. It's literally how they get paid for doing something I enjoy. Plus, I've never ONCE bought something from the ads, so sitting through the ad is the least I can do. Without ads, 90% of creators would be done for. Do you not understand how the content creation business model works??
@@hayuseen6683 It's amazing how all these radio hosts and podcasters all got poached from public radio with VC money, and now it's our fault for not making number go up
What's wild is that I pay Spotify to bring me an ad free experience, and they have their own in house service to run ads during the podcasts I listen to. You'd think a reasonable company would cut the ads and pay the pod but that's not where we live.
wait, ad-free spotify doesn't include spotify podcasts? i... what? spotify music and spotify podcasts are different? i thought if they were separate at all that they'd function like UA-cam for ads, where paying for UA-cam Premium gives you UA-cam Music Premium as well. Truthfully, never using it, I figured they weren't even particularly separated. A different tab of the same site/app. I'd imagine that means the ads are baked into the pods, particularly when they're posted cross-platform, so the ads don't actually belong to spotify, so it can't offer to remove them, I guess? so weird
@@blaireshoe8738Spotify ads don't play during podcasts with premium (no idea if they play on free but I don't see why they wouldn't at least play between episodes). The podcaster's ads on the other hand....
I'm surprised that the contract doesn't define impressions independently of how Apple defines them, or at least uses the definition as of the date of the contract. A non-party to a contract being able to redefine the terms of that contract is wild to me.
Yeah, and this could certainly be challenged in court. It's a difficult problem for a court to solve, though, since there's now a lack of the original metric. Might actually void the whole contract potentially.
Apple didn't redefine the terms of the contract, and they are still using the terms from the date of the contract. The contract effectively says something like "1 download = 1 impression" and requires N impressions, and now Apple is not auto-downloading, so they get fewer downloads = fewer impressions.
@@SeanTBarrett It is a little more than that, apple now also tracks if someone skips the ad, so ad impressions are way down. there is sadly no easy fix for the podcasters except get fucked in the short term because advertisers are greedy bastards who will knowingly screw someone over just because it saves them a little money. Let's face it, if they had enough to buy an ad a year in the future, they have enough money to eat the "loss" that does not even exist for them.
Love Scishow Tangents! It's the perfect before-bed or "i have a migraine" show because it's funny and wholesome and distracting enough but also it's not about current events or heavy topics
When I have migraines they are particularly severe, so I simply can't understand the concept of wanting ANY form of sensory stimulation during a migraine. Any form of sensory input is knives.
@@PlantZoneUSA Not if it's a book. They haven't (yet) figured out how to hack paper thankfully. 😅 And truly, the level of stalker required to see if I was reading something I already had open on my phone during an ad playing on my computer would be so insane that we'd have bigger fish to fry than ad revenue.
Until like last year, all the ads I heard in podcasts were host-read. This new growth of dynamic ad insertion is honestly ruining the podcast advertising ecosystem and I absolutely hate it.
Dunno about ads, but you can tell podcasters who never DL and check their own stuff because the music volume knocks your hat off, episode after episode.
i probably wouldn't, tbh. ive kind of stopped listening to the sporkful because there are so many ads. two minutes at the start, five full minutes in the middle, not counting promotions for the hosts other projects, and then another ad at the end. the episodes are usually only 35 minutes total! theyre 20% advertising! its really intrusive
I absolutely refuse to use listen to podcasts on a vertically integrated platform like Spotify rather than an app that just downloads an mp3. I'm not yielding this one last refuge where the only data they get is "did they download it or not?"
Since the definition of what an impression is changed, you'd think the contract would just be nullified. Like if I had a contract to deliver a truck on a specific date, then suddenly a "truck" was redefined to be a vehicle with treads and a cannon on top, you shouldn't be liable to suddenly have to deliver a tank. But rather what a truck was defined as during the creation of the contract. Isn't this why most legal documents have massive sections that include definitions for everything?
I have seen several people pointing this out. But the issue is not that apple just changed the definition, they changed their system so those extra downloads are not occuring. So things are not being counted anymore and, since the platform is the one providing the metrics, those are the only ones you got.
As someone who doesn't pay for a data plan who listens to podcasts on the go, this is actually an annoying change for me, I couldn't actually figure out why my podcasts weren't downloading anymore, now I know.
Agree it’s annoying- if you’re interested in suggestions Overcast is a pretty straightforward iOS podcast app that still does auto downloads and you can customize them
Providing new analytics on who is skipping ads shouldn't make any difference. "Impression" is defined in the contract. It doesn't take on a new meaning just because more information has become available. If it is defined as podcasts downloaded then it means podcasts downloaded. It doesn't suddenly start meaning podcasts listened to without skipping the ads just because that information has become available. Using downloads as a proxy for listens and then the ratio of downloads to listens changing is a risk you take when you use a proxy for information you don't have. You could stick to adds with a direct call to action and then link the payment to people taking that action - ie. how many people use the discount code. That way, you have all the information required. It shifts the risk of an ad having a poor conversion rate from the advertiser to the podcast, though, which is probably why they don't do it. Instead, they take on the risk that their proxy for impressions shifts relative to actual impressions. Risk is part of business, I'm afraid.
To be honest, the REAL solution was for Apple to have a grace period notifying the changes 6-12 months before actually making the switch, so that people could transition easier. Its the sudden change that caused the issue. A grace period would have fixed it.
@@eragon78 Perhaps. I don't understand why it is such a big deal, though. I've looked up what the change is and it only affects old episodes (more than 7 days old) when downloads are unpaused. When you are either low on storage space or haven't listened to a podcast for a while, Apple pauses downloads. It used to automatically download all the episodes you missed when you unpaused it. Now it only downloads new episodes - any episode more than 7 days old is not downloaded unless you do it manually. I can't imagine that represents a particularly large proportion of downloads - how often do people unpause downloads? And I would assume the contracts only count downloads within a particular time period after release, so automatic downloads of very old episodes wouldn't have counted anyway.
@@thomasdalton1508Makes me glad I use an actual decent podcast player that lets me decide and automate which episodes to download. How is this better than if it was a setting?
@@dvdbzn I don't use Apple either, so I'm not sure how it works. I assumed this was just the default behaviour and you could change it if you wanted to. Most people keep the default settings, though, so changing the defaults affects a lot of people.
The point regarding impressions is: if they were specified as being synonymous with views in the contract, then the conditions of the contract are fulfilled in viewership terms. You can't change the goalposts in the middle of a contract. You can obviously respecify goals in new contracts, but those are, like, new contracts. Just pay out to the old goalposts regarding old contracts and factor in new timestamp viewing verification tracking technology for new contracts.
"the internet used to be slow… now thats ridiculous in 2024" Hank says…… as the video is buffering & so low-def that the only reason I can distinguish where his eyes should be in the big off white blob is his glasses
I don't think counting skips was the right thing to do at all, because it creates pressure for me to not skip ads in my favorite podcasts, at the cost of further rotting my brain. As a consumer, I really don't support providing that information to advertisers. Actually quite upset about this. I guess it's useful information for the industry, but as a consumer I have no desire for advertisers to have more useful information. Maybe that useful information increases the value of ads and supports creators, so maybe indirectly it's good for creators, but I'd rather they find other business models like Patreon if at all possible. I don't want to be manipulated into listening to more ads.
100% agree. The end of the video made me guilty for skipping ads, but I didn't sign any contracts saying I was going to watch an ad. I'm a little pissed off about having that guilt now. It's not my responsibility to consume an ad so that the podcast creator can uphold their end of the contract. Don't blame a consumer when you sell their information/attention but don't actually get the view that you wanted from them.
Overcast is a really cool podcast app! I switched once because I had a technical issue with the native podcasting app on my iPhone and I never looked back. Highly recommend it!
A lot of the ads I get are repetitive, so I know from the first second that they're not relevant. One of the worst offenders right now is gambling ads. My dudes, I am not going to your casino. I loathe casinos. DraftKings, I am not setting up an account with you; I loathe both gambling and watching sports. I was never gonna be a customer. Just let me get on with my day. Also, I wish they'd stop feeding me ads in languages the podcast isn't in. My Spanish is okay, but I swear one of the ads was in Mandarin. I was listening to an episode about LGBTQ themes in Old Norse literature at the time, too ... are there a lot of Mandarin speakers who are into gay Viking poetry?
Anytime I am watching an older video, the "Most replayed" marker is exactly where the first ad ends. Kind of crazy all these UA-camrs put the most interesting part of their video right after the ad break!
I think the cause and effect is flipped. The specific spot after the ad is the most replayed, because people were trying to skip the ad and found themselves there.
Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. The advertisers knew that counted impressions and actual impressions were never the same number. Now they're demanding that many actual impressions, which isn't what they actually paid for or what they ever got before. Some podcaster needs to sack up and get a court to force their advertiser to accept the new count understanding it's exactly the same number of real impressions.
If the contract says "one million downloads" then that means one million downloads. I can't see a court concluding that it means something else just because it is being used as a proxy for something else. As a general rule, contracts mean what they say.
@@thomasdalton1508 It never meant that though. And the advertiser knew it. And they know they're trying to get something for nothing now. If the podcaster leaves out the extra ads, there's no compensation for the advertiser to get by suing, because they got what they were always going to get, whether the numbers line up or don't. If the podcast has to sue to get paid, well, they delivered what the advertiser expected and are due the payment for it. And it's pretty sus that the contract never had a force majeure clause, if it didn't. I don't think a court is going to side with an advertiser that wants free ads because the metering got better.
@@blairhoughton7918 Both parties knew it was a proxy and that's what they agreed to. It is inevitable when you agree to use a proxy that it will be a source of error. Courts won't modify the wording of the contract unless it is essential to make it work. These contracts work fine, they are just a bad deal for the podcasts. Courts don't protect businesses from bad deals they've done with other businesses (they might sometimes protect consumers from bad deals with businesses, but these are business to business contracts). This isn't force majeure. It was entirely predictable that something might happen to shift the ratio of downloads to impressions. They could have included wording to allow for that, but it would be very difficult to come up with something sufficiently objective. They went with downloads because, despite being an imperfect proxy, they are simple to objectively measure. They now have to accept the consequences of that.
@@thomasdalton1508 What is a download though? At what point does something become a download? When it starts? At 100%? When it's listened to in part? In full? If you delete the download and then re-download, is that two downloads? A word can mean multiple things, and if Apple suddenly renamed "impressions" to "fluff-a-bugs" then the advertisers can claim there are now zero impressions. The context in which the contract was negotiated and the understanding the parties had of that context matters, and this is 100% a valid legal argument.
I somewhat disagree with your conclusion. If Apple want to run half the smartphones in the US, that's fine, but they should be responsible and tread more carefully with changes like this, and announce them well ahead of time. It's also a shame (but thoroughly unsurprising) that advertisers can't be chill about this and acknowledge that the contracts mean a different thing now. I wonder if the FTC or another regulatory body could do something here? Maybe publish some guidance or something. Sucks that Apple are doing a tech company and advertisers just get to squeeze small podcasts because of it.
At 5:20 you say "nobody did anything really wrong" but that's acting like the ad agencies are force of nature without moral culpability? Like, they know the numbers mean something new now, and holding people to the old meaning anyways extorting as you said "a lot of free advertising" from people. It's legal, but it's not right.
It's not extortion in this case. A contract is a two way street. The advertisers are providing the up front funding for the thing you're getting for free based on a metric that got more complicated. Most of these companies do well, but not most of them are mega corporations. They're buying a couple minutes of the listeners time and it's not free for them. They're not gatekeeping the existence of podcasts, they're providing the funds which increase and improve the quality of something good in your life.
It would actually be illegal for advertisers to hold people to the new meaning, since that would be breaking the contract they agreed to. There's some legal ambiguity due to the meaning of "impressions" changing, but trying to navigate that in court would likely result in the contract being nullified until they could be re-negotiated, which would mean podcasts would go through a period of not having any ads and not getting any ad revenue. Letting advertisers get free advertising until existing contracts expire is the least bad option.
Hire Tomska, that funny fella knows how to put an entertaining ad together (may get you in trouble with the advertising standards agency but that's another matter)
I don't know if I'd use the term "right" here. I am sure Apple must have been aware how long in advance people arrange contracts. Did they give podcasters a heads up a year in advance, or did they not care? Look, I am glad Hank has done well for himself, but this could leave people suddenly finding themselves in a situation where they can't pay their rent. Out of nowhere. Our society doesn't have to be like this.
Im sure it was developed over several months if not longer, and obviously tricking systems like this already exist. So yeah complete shame on Apple for screwing creators. Id say sue apple but it's unfortunately a David v Goliath situation.
It's a very privileged definition of the word "right", unfortunately, and one that (for obvious reasons) is focused on the outcome for creators and not the listeners.
@@JosephDavies as he mentions though, this is short term bad for the viewers and the creators. It is only short term good for the advertisers. I don't think the creators are loving losing money, retention, or viewership because they really got stuck in a damned if you do damned if you don't.
Nobody is going to be left unable to pay rent over this. It's a very small effect. They've stopped automatically downloading back catalogues when people unpause automatic downloads. That's all.
I'm so shocked that Tangents isn't doing the numbers you thought it was. I saw it as the natural next step of what to watch once I ran out of SciShow Quiz Show episodes to watch. It's delightful!
"No one really did anything wrong here"... well, not the podcasters, or Apple. But I'd say the advertisers (or advertiser publishers, or whoever exactly is on the other side of the contract) exploiting the technicalities of the contract are doing immoral exploitation even if it's within the bounds of the law. It's like companies who wait until the absolute last day to pay their invoices so they can maximize the amount of time they hang on to the money for interest-making purposes or whatever.
There is no exploitation here and it isn't a technicality. It's a fundamental feature of the contract. It says the advertiser pays per download. So that is what happens. Downloads have become more valuable since there are fewer unlistened to downloads, but you don't go back and change the price that has been agreed just because the value has changed. The agreed price is the agreed price. That's business.
@@thomasdalton1508the agreed price was based on calculated "impressions" one way, which are still the same as they were before. I'm a bit confused why Apple couldn't just release both values this year to avoid this problem though. Advertisers would be forced to honor the existing contract at the calculation they used then, and new contracts can use the new model.
@@thomasdalton1508Seems like a potential exists to call the change in the platforms default behaviour a force majeure/frustrated contract that is grounds to renegotiate the contract or render it void and revert the two parties to their previous states. There's also a question in this case of who was the drafter of the contract as to who gets the benefit of the doubt when it comes to interpretation of any potentially ambiguous terms. The side that drafts it gets the less charitable interpretation. I am not a lawyer, but it seems like there's grounds here for a good lawyer to intervene.
They might even know if you changed your volume? Good god. Next thing you'll tell me advertisers are going to hack into the camera and the ad will only play if you actually look at the screen.
I don't know which volume Hank meant, but if he was talking about the volume in the youtube player then the advertisers know that because youtube knows whenever you interact with something on youtube. If he means your computer's system volume, then that is a little different.
How can they even know I'm watching a UA-cam ad and not actually in another room at the time? Just the idea of "having been played fully means listened" is on such tenuous ground
Depends whether you're wearing an Apple Watch when you fall asleep. Apple could add a feature where podcasts automatically pause when it detects you're asleep, causing you to save money on your electricity bill and not reach your data cap as fast. And saving advertisers money. But as far as I'm aware, Apple hasn't added this feature yet.
I love that advertisers that can know when I lower the volume on their ads. That is totally information I love they can access without my knowledge or consent.
This sounds absolutely insane to me. It’s like if I promise to sell you a litre of Baja Blast and then they change the SI unit of a litre to be 100 gallons. While we’re at it, if people are skipping your ads, make more compelling ads.
It feels like the old contracts should have to be renegotiated or canceled because the basis they were made on is no longer valid. The fact that this is apparently NOT the case suggests some serious BS in the law that should absolutely be fixed.
Ads are stupid things that play over what you are watching, so no matter how "compelling" they are, they will still just be annoying interruptions that I don't want to see.
Two biggest takeaways: 1) Hank's post-cancer camera angle amplifies his unhinged energy and I love it. 2) Podcasters plan more than 5 minutes ahead?! Mind. Blown. And I love it.
My biggest takeaway is that I hate that podcast apps are now including "was this ad skipped" data. Everything else is, while not ideal, just kind of how it was going to shake out (and maybe Apple should have mentioned this in advance to account for advertising deals). But I hate having that time of precision data about what I'm doing be available. Now just how long until advertisers will only buy ads if the podcast is exclusively (or at least a high percentage) available on podcast players that share that data.
Something I've noticed from myself: I'll sit through an ad if it's recorded uniquely each podcast/video and is made entertaining. The most annoying ones, though the easiest for content creators, is when it's always the same (more like a radio commercial). Im also more likely to listen through an ad if it is NOT for the same 3-5 products that sponsor just about every podcast and YT video. 😅 Repetition is boring & sadly some brands are over saturating the market.
I would also imagine it would be a good idea, when writing and signing those new contracts, to add some language to allow for situations like this that may arise in the future. Some sort of Force Majeure sort of thing. Like, the lawyers version of "If the way impressions are calculated by Apple change in a way that is outside the creators control we reserve the right to recalculate impression value accordingly". Or something, I don't know, I'm not a lawyer :) But if they can do it once, they can do it again and it's probably best to be protected if possible.
@@hankschannelhow about UA-cam Music (where Google is migrating their podcasts to)? Right now it's weird because you can add RSS feeds to YM, but some podcasts run natively (like Scishow Tangents), which is basically just the audio of the UA-cam video.
You say nobody did anything wrong here, but those companies are willfully taking advantage of you because they can. The method of measuring impressions wasn't fully detailed in the contract, so that change is something they have decided to ignore, but they're not ignorant, they're greedy.
Of course it was fully detailed. The contract says they pay per download. That's very clear. There are just very slightly fewer downloads happening. That's all.
It strikes me that even independent of ads, for podcast makers who are interested in learning more about their audience and what their audience’s habits are, having that more robust more accurate data could be really informative.
@@PlankDotI’ll bite the bullet on this one. Anonymized surveillance is still surveillance. I’m not telling Bed Bath & Beyond how often I (don’t) clean my bedsheets because that’s kind of private and none of their beeswax. If that ongoing data collection and analytics was baked into the product delivery like it is in so many digital services I would be very uncomfortable. We are just desensitized to how invasive and immoral digital analytics is.
@@PlankDot The problem is that privacy as we know it currently sucks. Our standards should be higher, we shouldn't use the lack of privacy we have now as an excuse to allow more intrusion.
@@JosephDavies FOSS all the way baby, Apple never knew how many ads I skip because my podcast app uses RSS feeds. I'm not tinfoil hat-y about it but if I can keep a thing private at no cost, why wouldn't I?
I was just thinking about this listening on Tangents on Spotify.. I clean my room while listening to multiple pods then at the end I only remember the ads the most than any of the facts.. I'll go youtube now!
Hank, I'm more than a little disappointed you didn't pull off an s-tier trolling by doing a mid-roll ad-break WHILE discussing mid-roll ad-breaks. Just... BOOM! Mid-roll ad-break / meta joke gold.
@@avelkm Dunno about in the past but patreon and other content creator platforms exist. UniverseToday has a one time donation of support that removes all ads on their website permanently forever. I run ad blockers and ignore all ads and do my best to avoid them as much as possible. I'd rather watch a college lecturer with an actual phD on a particular topic talk about their field of expertise for an hour than listen to some generic science podcast that only touches the surface of the actual topic they're discussing yet I have to endure a shitty Betterhelp or HelloFresh ad or some crypto scam or even Andrew Tate ads or con-trepeneur gurus or
I pay a monthly fee per decree of government for having a public broadcasting service, I pay a monthly fee to get UA-cam premium without ads. I pay monthly for internet. I can't afford anything else. And since I pay for watching ad-free content - I feel cheated by content creators putting ads inside their videos. I let Brilliant run after the Scishow videos. But it's not okay for UA-cam to say you can watch without ads for a monthly fee that pays the creators a little bit for every video I watch - but add sponsor ads and product placement through the backdoor.
SciShow Tangents is so great. I watch a couple episodes a day and some day I’m going to be sad because I will run out of episodes. Go watch and enjoy the silliness while you learn something new.
Thank you for this explanation! The last couple episodes of Tangents, Sam would cut in with an ad partway through Hank's introduction, and I kept thinking my podcast app had skipped to the middle. Now that I know what's going on, I'll stop trying to rewind it when that happens
I feel like the problem here is that "impressions" was not properly defined in the contracts, and no provisions were made for changes in the way podcast platforms count them.
yeah I disagree that it was the right thing to do, at least the way they did it. they could maybe add like a "legacy impressions" number for a year or so that is adjusted up based on the average amount of impressions lost by the change, so new contracts can use the new number but the legacy one is valid for old contracts.
I just recently set my podcast app to auto-download new eps because my connection always buffers for like 20 seconds when i start. There are dozens of us!!
Are you serious? I'm Premium user for years, but built in sponsor ads that creators put in the video are insane. There's a Sponsorblock though... and it hurts creators. But the video is talking about audio podcasts with built in ads, UA-cam premium has nothing to do about that.
The idea that downloads don't matter in 2024 is not true. You may not have data at the point when you want to listen. And, even if you do, it can be mobile data which may be limited. I'm fine with it not being the default anymore, but I would never use a podcast app that didn't allow automatic downloads.
“That’s not how contracts work” is wild because the outcome seems the least like what arbitration would actually decide the agreement in the contract entailed. I’m not a lawyer and I haven’t read the contracts but it boggles my mind that there wasn’t more than one metric negotiated in the process.
If the contract says "one million downloads" then that means one million downloads. I can't see an arbitration concluding that it means something else just because it is being used as a proxy for something else. As a general rule, contracts mean what they say.
@@Michael_Raymond That's only if the contract is ambiguous. If it is clearly written then it means what it says. A download is a download. There is no ambiguity.
This reminds me of how when I started working in publishing I learned ads were counted as long as they loaded. It didn’t matter if a user scrolled down to seem them which then became the norm. Blew my mind the industry had been built on that “lie” for so long.
“That’s slight ridiculous in 2024” Urgh. No! It’s ridiculous if you live in the middle of a Global North City!!! Plenty of us don’t, and for us this Silicon-Valley-centric idea that slow internet isn’t a problem anywhere anymore is slowly and surely making many apps unusable.
Hank Green is not checking his privilege. More to the point, he is committed to saying that every change made by every big company is the Right Thing To Do, because he wants their advertising money.
Yep, if I know a podcast is out on a specific day, I'll make sure it is downloaded before leaving work for the day. Trying to stream it during a commute simply would not work. Statements about it being "current year" so "given problem isn't an issue anymore" are almost always wrong
Thanks Hank! I had no idea this is going on. That is really interesting. Im sorry I cant help on Tangents, I am already a proud subscriber and hope soon to be able to become a Patron on Patrion. Thank so much for all you and your crew do to make this world a better place!😊
I love everything about Scishow Tangents...except for...the SUPER loud scene cuts when it moves into a new segment. I'm having a nice chill evening, we've got some scishow going on in the background and then suddenly our peace is shattered by a maximum volume "FACT OFF!" With a musical sting, it's so off-putting! xD
I really wish people would stop using Spotify to listen to podcasts. They're not shy about their end goals regarding the format, and it's exactly that.
@@puupipo I disagree with this sentiment. Assuming you've already lost is the best way to make sure that you do. We're not there yet. It's harder now than it was even a few years ago, but there's still hope.
Wow Hank I literally just started to listen to Scishow tangents again this week while studying for midterms!! So its crazy that you made a video about it and I will say the Honey add is working I'm debating on getting some once I finish the one I have
Huh, I wonder how the impressions from the podcast addict app I use are counted. I would have assumed that the app didn't know or care how many times I click the skip 15s button but now you've got me curious.
The other reason to download the episode in advance is that dynamic ad insertion has broken streaming by making the ad length unpredictable. This means that if streaming stops and starts, it may start in the wrong part of the podcast, and rewinding may not help. This can be seen with Tangents and many other podcasts on Pocket Casts. Downloading in advance means only downloading once, so the ads can't change.
Scishow tangents is a great podcast! My only (wholly unsolicited) feedback on it is that I prefer episodes without the “which of these detailed facts is real” segments - it’s a fun game but I can NEVER remember afterward which ones were fake. Maybe I’ll skip those segments and listen to the ads next time 😅
One of my favorites has indeed been dropping new ads *directly into the middle of sentences*! I assumed it was gross incompetence, but this explains it better.
I now watch only the youtube because I can’t stand podcasts apps anymore. Apple and spotify both do oldesr to newest Only. I can’t mixed them, I can’t do newest to oldesr, nothing! Bless youtube for keeping something that should be the standard. Screw apple for deleting that feature.
My Apple Podcasts app (iPhone) does Newest to Oldest. 🤷🏻♂️ UPDATE: It might help to know which list you are referring to, because I can think of 3 different types of lists in the Podcasts app. And they all can behave very differently depending on how you have things arranged.
You can use podcast apps that aren't Spotify or Apple or Google. It might be a good idea to try one if you want more listener-centric features and avoid things that only benefit the platforms.
Unless this changed super recently (like, in the past couple of days), in Spotify you *can* arrange podcast episodes both Newest to Oldest, and Oldest to Newest, so Idk what you're talking about. Unless you mean something else?
@@JosephDavies if you like free and open source stuff, AntennaPod has been serving me very well for the past 6 months, fully private, very customisable, no platform based ads, I'm very choosy but have practically much no complaints
It seems like Apple should collect data both ways and then content creators can send the advertisers the number based on the old version. Then in future contracts it defaults to the new version and everyone is happy.
Speaking of the butt facts (which are excellent btw and you should definitely listen at least for the butt facts if you don't already), I couldn't understand the words in the "butt fact" stinger, I only heard the word "fact" and it took me a truly staggering amount of time to realize the segment was specifically butt facts. I thought they were just extra facts that got cut from the ep for time ...... that just happened to be about butts.
There are some places, a lot of which are in the US where the Internet is still slow. My dad for example lives just outside of Columbia, SC, in a valley where he has no cell service at home, in a neighborhood with no broadband Internet service.
Look. I respect you and I respect what you do and I will most likely subscribe to sides show tangents. But you went through an entire spiel, talking about the ins and outs of the content producers, and the platform owners without seriously, addressing the end consumer, who often times pays a premium not to have extra commercials in their feed. Nearly giving a throwaway request for grace at the end of your spiel Fell a little flat to me. That’s not something I would normally raise but I respect you and I have a vested interest in your organization and your viability and I don’t want you to lose any credibility by not giving a full throated account of how the entire system works
As someone who doesn’t have a house and is only at their legal address two months out of the year, most of the adds are pointless. But if I ever get life insurance it will be because of John. Hearing him smile every time he says “and that’s why there’s life insurance” brings me a ridiculous amount of joy 😄
I have so much respect for anyone who can acknowledge a problem without just pointing fingers and blaming someone. Hank is always a breath of fresh air in that way.
Ads are a moment to reflect on whether or not the thing I am watching is worth my time. I most often unsubscribe from a channel during an ad or sponsor spot.
to counter a point about downloads not being important and internet being faster- mobile data still often limits how much you can download! It still makes a ton of sense to have your app download the podcast automatically when you're connected to wifi rather than stream the episode, especially if you listen to as many podcasts as I do
I think he’s implying that there’s a shift among all listening platforms at the moment. Especially where he said that some platforms now tell advertisers if an ad is being skipped or if the volume is turned down
I usually let ads play through on UA-cam cause I have the impression the creator gets credit. I do skip when it's something I am against like sports gambling ads.
How the heck is Hank getting younger while the rest of us get older? I legitimately thought this was footage from several years ago talking about how things worked then, and was waiting for it to cut to present-day Hank talking about things now.
Hahah, it's even more complicated than this I would say. Podcasts have the same ads for many weeks, often. So I usually don't skip them the first time or the second, because the ad is novel and sometimes interesting and usually not annoying. When it's the 5th, 6th, 7th time+, then I'll be skipping because as soon as I hear the first two words, I know EXACTLY what will be said about that product. Now. I would argue that this is skipped ad, is actually a STRONGER impression, because I'm reminded of the product, I know all the content and it all comes to mind again and I have a big enough emotional reaction that I'm going to pick up my device and skip the ad. So... make of that what you will. But it seems like more 'free' impressions if those skipped ads aren't counting, even when they definitely impact the listener.
I found Tangents a year ago it's light hearted and funny. Beware you will learn things. It's truly wonderful!
Same, found it about a year ago. This video led me to realize I hadn’t ever hit the follow button on Spotify, but now we’re good and I hope that helps. Hank, Ceri, and Sam - please do an episode on the physics of stringed instruments!
Most valuable ad…retired educator here… You know, education theory and advertising theory have connections - for sure…”the teachable moment… planning to deliver new content early - like 5 minutes into a lesson… chunking learning…spiral learning….number of impressions….
Brilliant video- this would wake up a whole lot of education majors - Ed 201! IF I were a university professor - we’d watch this during our first class!
Thank you!!❤❤❤
p
It's my favorite podcast.
It's the go-to podcast I listen to with the kids. It's the best.
Vertical video sensation Hank Green is revolutionizing the slightly askew video market and is going to crush it.
Genuinely it fits so well with Tangents 😂😂
I actually like it. I would not mind more videos with a slight dutch angle.
Hank is single-handedly bringing back the dutch angle
Early UA-cam was filled with slightly askew angle videos
It feels like the cameras ina box somehow
As someone based outside the US the number of meal boxes and mattresses and linnen bundles I have been advertised to that I cannot physically buy is mind wrecking. I wonder how long till the geography of the impression is relevant.
Not only that, but they are SO often >completely< irrelevant to me. There needs to be ads of like, anime, or twitch streamers, or video games. I will absolutely not ever buy a subscription clothes service forever in the future of ever. So many of the ads out there are so irrelevant to me that it un-brands it to me, that I will begin to actively detest such a service. There is such low diversity of ads between podcasts, too.
@@StrangeChickandPuppo Agreed. I can't think of the last time I heard an ad on a podcast that was remotely relevant to me (or likely to become relevant in the future). Whatever they value these impressions at, it's probably inflated (Sorry, Hank).
Could be worse, could be the ads Behind The Bastards gets, like Raytheon (proud producers of knife missiles!), the Washington State Highway Patrol, and gold scams!
@@StrangeChickandPuppo yep, and it can get so bad that they are just showing you the same few ads over and over and over again. There is nothing that makes me want a product less than hearing an ad for it seven times in two hours.
lol that's why perversely I love them. the advertising is irrelevant to me, yay, more money saved! I feel like a captain observing the alien species that is us population
Hank has so much hair now!
So curly too
It looks good too
Looks like a young David Letterman
Geez, you jokers have short memories, eh?
I'm really thankful that he's not anywhere as crook as he was, and looks to making a great come back to health!! Good on ya', mate!!
@@blueberryadept6519 "Chemo curls" are a thing. 😅Can change texture AND color.
it's so funny that advertisers expect people to actually sit through their ads when we have the option not to LOL
For the most part it doesn't matter. They know not everyone will listen, but billing by impression is much simpler than billing by result. After 1 advertisement they know an average ratio of impressions to conversions and can gauge the quality of a podcasters audience for their brand.
You might skip most ads, or even all ads. But if one is for a product or service that genuinely solves a problem you have or makes your life easier you'll listen. Even if you never do, many other people will.
I'd watch more ads if
They had redeeming value, like education or art (not a tangled mess of manipulation trying to pavlov me with the right set of shocks and whistles)
The products were worthwhile and of use (unlike the 2000th ad trying to convince me to take out boat insurance for my nonexistant yaucht)
They talked about the product in a meaningful way, not coating it in impressions and sugar and ignoring downsides (show me undoctored clips of it performing, what it's good for, how it works, tell me about the company's history of responsiblity and service)
And they'll never do that because they want to upsell you on crap you don't need with built in planned obsolescence. If ads were honest a lot of their products would look like crap. I'm tired of being hawked crap all the time by marketers that don't know or care about the product.😂 Some media ads are decent, media people know how to show off media - marketers seem trained to pavlov the hell out of products.
I actually do sit through ads for my favorite creators. It's literally how they get paid for doing something I enjoy. Plus, I've never ONCE bought something from the ads, so sitting through the ad is the least I can do.
Without ads, 90% of creators would be done for. Do you not understand how the content creation business model works??
@@singhmastr Maybe the business model should change. Maybe, to not be a business model at all.
@@hayuseen6683 It's amazing how all these radio hosts and podcasters all got poached from public radio with VC money, and now it's our fault for not making number go up
What's wild is that I pay Spotify to bring me an ad free experience, and they have their own in house service to run ads during the podcasts I listen to. You'd think a reasonable company would cut the ads and pay the pod but that's not where we live.
wait, ad-free spotify doesn't include spotify podcasts? i... what? spotify music and spotify podcasts are different? i thought if they were separate at all that they'd function like UA-cam for ads, where paying for UA-cam Premium gives you UA-cam Music Premium as well. Truthfully, never using it, I figured they weren't even particularly separated. A different tab of the same site/app. I'd imagine that means the ads are baked into the pods, particularly when they're posted cross-platform, so the ads don't actually belong to spotify, so it can't offer to remove them, I guess? so weird
not possible to pay to get rid of spotify podcast ads at all to my knowledge
@@blaireshoe8738yup, they’re baked into the podcasts
@@blaireshoe8738Spotify ads don't play during podcasts with premium (no idea if they play on free but I don't see why they wouldn't at least play between episodes). The podcaster's ads on the other hand....
Ya but you can just skip every one by dragging the video to the end but don’t do that if you care about the podcast
I'm surprised that the contract doesn't define impressions independently of how Apple defines them, or at least uses the definition as of the date of the contract. A non-party to a contract being able to redefine the terms of that contract is wild to me.
Yeah, and this could certainly be challenged in court. It's a difficult problem for a court to solve, though, since there's now a lack of the original metric. Might actually void the whole contract potentially.
It's wildy obviously illegal.
@@d_dave7200 yeah, like why are the podcasters being held to something that isn't their contract? That's why contracts exist.
Apple didn't redefine the terms of the contract, and they are still using the terms from the date of the contract. The contract effectively says something like "1 download = 1 impression" and requires N impressions, and now Apple is not auto-downloading, so they get fewer downloads = fewer impressions.
@@SeanTBarrett It is a little more than that, apple now also tracks if someone skips the ad, so ad impressions are way down. there is sadly no easy fix for the podcasters except get fucked in the short term because advertisers are greedy bastards who will knowingly screw someone over just because it saves them a little money. Let's face it, if they had enough to buy an ad a year in the future, they have enough money to eat the "loss" that does not even exist for them.
Love Scishow Tangents! It's the perfect before-bed or "i have a migraine" show because it's funny and wholesome and distracting enough but also it's not about current events or heavy topics
Agreed. They have great chemistry together. Also, Sam is just awesome. 😁
Plus an extended back catalogue!
As someone who gets near daily migraines (it's a whole story) I totally understand exactly what type of content you're talking about.
@@walterroux291 same, my head hurts everyday, I might as well find something distracting.
When I have migraines they are particularly severe, so I simply can't understand the concept of wanting ANY form of sensory stimulation during a migraine. Any form of sensory input is knives.
UA-cam doesn't know that I went and did something else for 150 seconds while the ad was playing 😁
Exactly, youtube doesn't know I'm on my phone and my computer lol.
@@PlantZoneUSA Not if it's a book. They haven't (yet) figured out how to hack paper thankfully. 😅 And truly, the level of stalker required to see if I was reading something I already had open on my phone during an ad playing on my computer would be so insane that we'd have bigger fish to fry than ad revenue.
oh god, delete this before they make eye contact detection mandatory
@@a-goblin That's the day I go full Ron Swanson, chuck my tech in the garbage, and go live in the woods.
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I'd listen to way more podcast ads if the audio was mixed correctly and they weren't so jarring.
So many ads that have VOLUME that is so out of sync with the media they are playing on!
Until like last year, all the ads I heard in podcasts were host-read. This new growth of dynamic ad insertion is honestly ruining the podcast advertising ecosystem and I absolutely hate it.
Dunno about ads, but you can tell podcasters who never DL and check their own stuff because the music volume knocks your hat off, episode after episode.
i probably wouldn't, tbh. ive kind of stopped listening to the sporkful because there are so many ads. two minutes at the start, five full minutes in the middle, not counting promotions for the hosts other projects, and then another ad at the end. the episodes are usually only 35 minutes total! theyre 20% advertising! its really intrusive
Yeah I didn’t know I cared about audio quality until podcasts😂 I’ve definitely dumped podcasts for bad sound quality🙈
I absolutely refuse to use listen to podcasts on a vertically integrated platform like Spotify rather than an app that just downloads an mp3. I'm not yielding this one last refuge where the only data they get is "did they download it or not?"
This is one of the most sneaky, but effective, ads for a podcast I've ever seen. I kind of just want to applaud the creativity.
Since the definition of what an impression is changed, you'd think the contract would just be nullified. Like if I had a contract to deliver a truck on a specific date, then suddenly a "truck" was redefined to be a vehicle with treads and a cannon on top, you shouldn't be liable to suddenly have to deliver a tank. But rather what a truck was defined as during the creation of the contract.
Isn't this why most legal documents have massive sections that include definitions for everything?
I have seen several people pointing this out. But the issue is not that apple just changed the definition, they changed their system so those extra downloads are not occuring. So things are not being counted anymore and, since the platform is the one providing the metrics, those are the only ones you got.
As someone who doesn't pay for a data plan who listens to podcasts on the go, this is actually an annoying change for me, I couldn't actually figure out why my podcasts weren't downloading anymore, now I know.
Agree it’s annoying- if you’re interested in suggestions Overcast is a pretty straightforward iOS podcast app that still does auto downloads and you can customize them
Other podcast apps still have this (pretty basic) functionality!
u can still turn it back on, its just not the default anymore
Providing new analytics on who is skipping ads shouldn't make any difference. "Impression" is defined in the contract. It doesn't take on a new meaning just because more information has become available. If it is defined as podcasts downloaded then it means podcasts downloaded. It doesn't suddenly start meaning podcasts listened to without skipping the ads just because that information has become available.
Using downloads as a proxy for listens and then the ratio of downloads to listens changing is a risk you take when you use a proxy for information you don't have. You could stick to adds with a direct call to action and then link the payment to people taking that action - ie. how many people use the discount code. That way, you have all the information required. It shifts the risk of an ad having a poor conversion rate from the advertiser to the podcast, though, which is probably why they don't do it. Instead, they take on the risk that their proxy for impressions shifts relative to actual impressions. Risk is part of business, I'm afraid.
To be honest, the REAL solution was for Apple to have a grace period notifying the changes 6-12 months before actually making the switch, so that people could transition easier.
Its the sudden change that caused the issue. A grace period would have fixed it.
@@eragon78 Perhaps. I don't understand why it is such a big deal, though. I've looked up what the change is and it only affects old episodes (more than 7 days old) when downloads are unpaused. When you are either low on storage space or haven't listened to a podcast for a while, Apple pauses downloads. It used to automatically download all the episodes you missed when you unpaused it. Now it only downloads new episodes - any episode more than 7 days old is not downloaded unless you do it manually. I can't imagine that represents a particularly large proportion of downloads - how often do people unpause downloads? And I would assume the contracts only count downloads within a particular time period after release, so automatic downloads of very old episodes wouldn't have counted anyway.
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@@thomasdalton1508Makes me glad I use an actual decent podcast player that lets me decide and automate which episodes to download. How is this better than if it was a setting?
@@dvdbzn I don't use Apple either, so I'm not sure how it works. I assumed this was just the default behaviour and you could change it if you wanted to. Most people keep the default settings, though, so changing the defaults affects a lot of people.
Apple Podcasts not auto downloading new episodes made me immediately switch to another podcast app.
The point regarding impressions is: if they were specified as being synonymous with views in the contract, then the conditions of the contract are fulfilled in viewership terms. You can't change the goalposts in the middle of a contract. You can obviously respecify goals in new contracts, but those are, like, new contracts. Just pay out to the old goalposts regarding old contracts and factor in new timestamp viewing verification tracking technology for new contracts.
Sounds like the podcast bubble is gonna burst
"the internet used to be slow… now thats ridiculous in 2024" Hank says…… as the video is buffering & so low-def that the only reason I can distinguish where his eyes should be in the big off white blob is his glasses
I don't think counting skips was the right thing to do at all, because it creates pressure for me to not skip ads in my favorite podcasts, at the cost of further rotting my brain. As a consumer, I really don't support providing that information to advertisers. Actually quite upset about this. I guess it's useful information for the industry, but as a consumer I have no desire for advertisers to have more useful information. Maybe that useful information increases the value of ads and supports creators, so maybe indirectly it's good for creators, but I'd rather they find other business models like Patreon if at all possible. I don't want to be manipulated into listening to more ads.
100% agree. The end of the video made me guilty for skipping ads, but I didn't sign any contracts saying I was going to watch an ad. I'm a little pissed off about having that guilt now. It's not my responsibility to consume an ad so that the podcast creator can uphold their end of the contract. Don't blame a consumer when you sell their information/attention but don't actually get the view that you wanted from them.
You might be able to use a different podcast app that does not report on your skipping ads. I think this change is only for the Apple Podcasts app.
Overcast is a really cool podcast app! I switched once because I had a technical issue with the native podcasting app on my iPhone and I never looked back. Highly recommend it!
If you donate to a podcaster's Patreon, you shouldn't feel guilty about skipping their ads.
A lot of the ads I get are repetitive, so I know from the first second that they're not relevant. One of the worst offenders right now is gambling ads. My dudes, I am not going to your casino. I loathe casinos. DraftKings, I am not setting up an account with you; I loathe both gambling and watching sports. I was never gonna be a customer. Just let me get on with my day.
Also, I wish they'd stop feeding me ads in languages the podcast isn't in. My Spanish is okay, but I swear one of the ads was in Mandarin. I was listening to an episode about LGBTQ themes in Old Norse literature at the time, too ... are there a lot of Mandarin speakers who are into gay Viking poetry?
Seeing just the thumbnail I thought this was an old video! Hank you look so YOUTHFUL with that hair dawg
He seems to be making a fantastic recovery, thank Science!! ...
(not God)
Agree 100%! Hank has become a very curly boy. He also seems to be developing the John poof. 😁
So weird to look at his older videos before the curlies. Thats just straight up a different guy
Man’s youthful AF
The lighting is also blown out which helps
Anytime I am watching an older video, the "Most replayed" marker is exactly where the first ad ends. Kind of crazy all these UA-camrs put the most interesting part of their video right after the ad break!
Maybe people mute during the ad, then miss a bit and have to back up.
@@Br3ttMyeah that’s what i’ve always assumed
I think the cause and effect is flipped. The specific spot after the ad is the most replayed, because people were trying to skip the ad and found themselves there.
More like people skipped ahead past the ad, and then had to back up a bit because they went too far.
@@cmmarttior, for me, after the ad (whether or not I skipped it), I want to refresh my memory of what happened immediately before the ad
Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. The advertisers knew that counted impressions and actual impressions were never the same number. Now they're demanding that many actual impressions, which isn't what they actually paid for or what they ever got before. Some podcaster needs to sack up and get a court to force their advertiser to accept the new count understanding it's exactly the same number of real impressions.
If the contract says "one million downloads" then that means one million downloads. I can't see a court concluding that it means something else just because it is being used as a proxy for something else. As a general rule, contracts mean what they say.
@@thomasdalton1508 It never meant that though. And the advertiser knew it. And they know they're trying to get something for nothing now. If the podcaster leaves out the extra ads, there's no compensation for the advertiser to get by suing, because they got what they were always going to get, whether the numbers line up or don't. If the podcast has to sue to get paid, well, they delivered what the advertiser expected and are due the payment for it. And it's pretty sus that the contract never had a force majeure clause, if it didn't. I don't think a court is going to side with an advertiser that wants free ads because the metering got better.
@@blairhoughton7918 Both parties knew it was a proxy and that's what they agreed to. It is inevitable when you agree to use a proxy that it will be a source of error. Courts won't modify the wording of the contract unless it is essential to make it work. These contracts work fine, they are just a bad deal for the podcasts. Courts don't protect businesses from bad deals they've done with other businesses (they might sometimes protect consumers from bad deals with businesses, but these are business to business contracts).
This isn't force majeure. It was entirely predictable that something might happen to shift the ratio of downloads to impressions. They could have included wording to allow for that, but it would be very difficult to come up with something sufficiently objective. They went with downloads because, despite being an imperfect proxy, they are simple to objectively measure. They now have to accept the consequences of that.
Yeah, this does need to happen. Just has to be someone with the money to make an issue of it.
@@thomasdalton1508 What is a download though? At what point does something become a download? When it starts? At 100%? When it's listened to in part? In full? If you delete the download and then re-download, is that two downloads? A word can mean multiple things, and if Apple suddenly renamed "impressions" to "fluff-a-bugs" then the advertisers can claim there are now zero impressions. The context in which the contract was negotiated and the understanding the parties had of that context matters, and this is 100% a valid legal argument.
I somewhat disagree with your conclusion. If Apple want to run half the smartphones in the US, that's fine, but they should be responsible and tread more carefully with changes like this, and announce them well ahead of time.
It's also a shame (but thoroughly unsurprising) that advertisers can't be chill about this and acknowledge that the contracts mean a different thing now.
I wonder if the FTC or another regulatory body could do something here? Maybe publish some guidance or something. Sucks that Apple are doing a tech company and advertisers just get to squeeze small podcasts because of it.
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At 5:20 you say "nobody did anything really wrong" but that's acting like the ad agencies are force of nature without moral culpability? Like, they know the numbers mean something new now, and holding people to the old meaning anyways extorting as you said "a lot of free advertising" from people. It's legal, but it's not right.
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Yep, but that's capitalism, I guess. And Hank is not immune to it's insidious corruption.
It's not extortion in this case. A contract is a two way street. The advertisers are providing the up front funding for the thing you're getting for free based on a metric that got more complicated. Most of these companies do well, but not most of them are mega corporations. They're buying a couple minutes of the listeners time and it's not free for them. They're not gatekeeping the existence of podcasts, they're providing the funds which increase and improve the quality of something good in your life.
It would actually be illegal for advertisers to hold people to the new meaning, since that would be breaking the contract they agreed to. There's some legal ambiguity due to the meaning of "impressions" changing, but trying to navigate that in court would likely result in the contract being nullified until they could be re-negotiated, which would mean podcasts would go through a period of not having any ads and not getting any ad revenue. Letting advertisers get free advertising until existing contracts expire is the least bad option.
If your ad is getting skipped or muted, there's a reason. make your ad less annoying.
This. Thank you.
Hire Tomska, that funny fella knows how to put an entertaining ad together (may get you in trouble with the advertising standards agency but that's another matter)
💯 absolutely this is the simple truth advertisers keep refusing to learn.
In fiction podcasts, mid-roll ads can kill the mood so fast even if they're good.
@@ineedahandle ++
I don't know if I'd use the term "right" here. I am sure Apple must have been aware how long in advance people arrange contracts. Did they give podcasters a heads up a year in advance, or did they not care?
Look, I am glad Hank has done well for himself, but this could leave people suddenly finding themselves in a situation where they can't pay their rent. Out of nowhere.
Our society doesn't have to be like this.
Im sure it was developed over several months if not longer, and obviously tricking systems like this already exist. So yeah complete shame on Apple for screwing creators. Id say sue apple but it's unfortunately a David v Goliath situation.
It's a very privileged definition of the word "right", unfortunately, and one that (for obvious reasons) is focused on the outcome for creators and not the listeners.
@@JosephDavies as he mentions though, this is short term bad for the viewers and the creators. It is only short term good for the advertisers. I don't think the creators are loving losing money, retention, or viewership because they really got stuck in a damned if you do damned if you don't.
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Nobody is going to be left unable to pay rent over this. It's a very small effect. They've stopped automatically downloading back catalogues when people unpause automatic downloads. That's all.
I'm so shocked that Tangents isn't doing the numbers you thought it was. I saw it as the natural next step of what to watch once I ran out of SciShow Quiz Show episodes to watch. It's delightful!
"No one really did anything wrong here"... well, not the podcasters, or Apple. But I'd say the advertisers (or advertiser publishers, or whoever exactly is on the other side of the contract) exploiting the technicalities of the contract are doing immoral exploitation even if it's within the bounds of the law. It's like companies who wait until the absolute last day to pay their invoices so they can maximize the amount of time they hang on to the money for interest-making purposes or whatever.
I would also question the skill of the attorneys that were advising the podcasters, if indeed they had an attorney look at the contracts.
@@Theo_CaroA lot of small podcasters probably don't have the money for that
There is no exploitation here and it isn't a technicality. It's a fundamental feature of the contract. It says the advertiser pays per download. So that is what happens. Downloads have become more valuable since there are fewer unlistened to downloads, but you don't go back and change the price that has been agreed just because the value has changed. The agreed price is the agreed price. That's business.
@@thomasdalton1508the agreed price was based on calculated "impressions" one way, which are still the same as they were before.
I'm a bit confused why Apple couldn't just release both values this year to avoid this problem though. Advertisers would be forced to honor the existing contract at the calculation they used then, and new contracts can use the new model.
@@thomasdalton1508Seems like a potential exists to call the change in the platforms default behaviour a force majeure/frustrated contract that is grounds to renegotiate the contract or render it void and revert the two parties to their previous states.
There's also a question in this case of who was the drafter of the contract as to who gets the benefit of the doubt when it comes to interpretation of any potentially ambiguous terms. The side that drafts it gets the less charitable interpretation.
I am not a lawyer, but it seems like there's grounds here for a good lawyer to intervene.
They might even know if you changed your volume? Good god.
Next thing you'll tell me advertisers are going to hack into the camera and the ad will only play if you actually look at the screen.
That's literally a Black Mirror episode
Don't give them any ideas
This is already a thing that's being talked about. I read about it a few years ago.
They are about to train the people willing to let them do that to them. And they will exist.
I don't know which volume Hank meant, but if he was talking about the volume in the youtube player then the advertisers know that because youtube knows whenever you interact with something on youtube.
If he means your computer's system volume, then that is a little different.
Do they know if I sleep through the ad? What about if I sleep through the podcast? 😂
How can they even know I'm watching a UA-cam ad and not actually in another room at the time? Just the idea of "having been played fully means listened" is on such tenuous ground
That's a funny observation, my partner and I have given The Magnus Archives so many free impressions by falling asleep to it for 2+ years...
@@StrangeChickandPuppo they don't, they just assume a small percentage aren't really watching.
Of course not!
Depends whether you're wearing an Apple Watch when you fall asleep.
Apple could add a feature where podcasts automatically pause when it detects you're asleep, causing you to save money on your electricity bill and not reach your data cap as fast. And saving advertisers money.
But as far as I'm aware, Apple hasn't added this feature yet.
I love that advertisers that can know when I lower the volume on their ads. That is totally information I love they can access without my knowledge or consent.
This sounds absolutely insane to me. It’s like if I promise to sell you a litre of Baja Blast and then they change the SI unit of a litre to be 100 gallons.
While we’re at it, if people are skipping your ads, make more compelling ads.
This. Trailers are giant advertisements for movies and so many times i enjoy the trailer a well made one more than the movie
I skip every ad and sponsor in every video lol
It feels like the old contracts should have to be renegotiated or canceled because the basis they were made on is no longer valid.
The fact that this is apparently NOT the case suggests some serious BS in the law that should absolutely be fixed.
Ads are stupid things that play over what you are watching, so no matter how "compelling" they are, they will still just be annoying interruptions that I don't want to see.
Alternatively, don't spend on marketing and make a good product
Two biggest takeaways:
1) Hank's post-cancer camera angle amplifies his unhinged energy and I love it.
2) Podcasters plan more than 5 minutes ahead?! Mind. Blown. And I love it.
As someone who has bought products based on SciShow Tangents ads, I think they should give y’all more money
My biggest takeaway is that I hate that podcast apps are now including "was this ad skipped" data. Everything else is, while not ideal, just kind of how it was going to shake out (and maybe Apple should have mentioned this in advance to account for advertising deals). But I hate having that time of precision data about what I'm doing be available.
Now just how long until advertisers will only buy ads if the podcast is exclusively (or at least a high percentage) available on podcast players that share that data.
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Something I've noticed from myself: I'll sit through an ad if it's recorded uniquely each podcast/video and is made entertaining. The most annoying ones, though the easiest for content creators, is when it's always the same (more like a radio commercial).
Im also more likely to listen through an ad if it is NOT for the same 3-5 products that sponsor just about every podcast and YT video. 😅 Repetition is boring & sadly some brands are over saturating the market.
I would also imagine it would be a good idea, when writing and signing those new contracts, to add some language to allow for situations like this that may arise in the future. Some sort of Force Majeure sort of thing. Like, the lawyers version of "If the way impressions are calculated by Apple change in a way that is outside the creators control we reserve the right to recalculate impression value accordingly". Or something, I don't know, I'm not a lawyer :) But if they can do it once, they can do it again and it's probably best to be protected if possible.
My rural neighbors and I would like to know what this high-speed internet thing is. We'd also like to keep downloading our podcasts in advance.
Does watching Tangents on UA-cam count differently than if we listen on some sort of podcast app?
Those ads are booked separately as well!
I have the pocket casts app but for sci show tangents I listen slash watch on UA-cam
Shall we listen rather than watch for a while?
@@hankschannelhow about UA-cam Music (where Google is migrating their podcasts to)? Right now it's weird because you can add RSS feeds to YM, but some podcasts run natively (like Scishow Tangents), which is basically just the audio of the UA-cam video.
You say nobody did anything wrong here, but those companies are willfully taking advantage of you because they can. The method of measuring impressions wasn't fully detailed in the contract, so that change is something they have decided to ignore, but they're not ignorant, they're greedy.
Yeah this was a bad take and goes to show that even people who are very intelligent can be objectively wrong about big-picture issues
Of course it was fully detailed. The contract says they pay per download. That's very clear. There are just very slightly fewer downloads happening. That's all.
It strikes me that even independent of ads, for podcast makers who are interested in learning more about their audience and what their audience’s habits are, having that more robust more accurate data could be really informative.
What you call "more robust more accurate data" I call spyware.
@@JosephDaviesOh no! Advertisers are gonna know that you skip past the ads in a podcast! This is the END of privacy was we know it.
@@PlankDotI’ll bite the bullet on this one. Anonymized surveillance is still surveillance.
I’m not telling Bed Bath & Beyond how often I (don’t) clean my bedsheets because that’s kind of private and none of their beeswax. If that ongoing data collection and analytics was baked into the product delivery like it is in so many digital services I would be very uncomfortable. We are just desensitized to how invasive and immoral digital analytics is.
@@PlankDot The problem is that privacy as we know it currently sucks. Our standards should be higher, we shouldn't use the lack of privacy we have now as an excuse to allow more intrusion.
@@JosephDavies FOSS all the way baby, Apple never knew how many ads I skip because my podcast app uses RSS feeds. I'm not tinfoil hat-y about it but if I can keep a thing private at no cost, why wouldn't I?
I was wondering about the strangely placed ads on Sci Show Tangents. This is so good to know!
I was just thinking about this listening on Tangents on Spotify.. I clean my room while listening to multiple pods then at the end I only remember the ads the most than any of the facts.. I'll go youtube now!
Hank, I'm more than a little disappointed you didn't pull off an s-tier trolling by doing a mid-roll ad-break WHILE discussing mid-roll ad-breaks. Just... BOOM! Mid-roll ad-break / meta joke gold.
Bonus points if it’s mid-syllable.
I miss the period from about 2007-2010 when I first listened to podcasts and none of them ever had ads in them.
And how their creators were compensated precisely?
@@avelkm Dunno about in the past but patreon and other content creator platforms exist. UniverseToday has a one time donation of support that removes all ads on their website permanently forever. I run ad blockers and ignore all ads and do my best to avoid them as much as possible. I'd rather watch a college lecturer with an actual phD on a particular topic talk about their field of expertise for an hour than listen to some generic science podcast that only touches the surface of the actual topic they're discussing yet I have to endure a shitty Betterhelp or HelloFresh ad or some crypto scam or even Andrew Tate ads or con-trepeneur gurus or
I pay a monthly fee per decree of government for having a public broadcasting service, I pay a monthly fee to get UA-cam premium without ads. I pay monthly for internet. I can't afford anything else. And since I pay for watching ad-free content - I feel cheated by content creators putting ads inside their videos.
I let Brilliant run after the Scishow videos. But it's not okay for UA-cam to say you can watch without ads for a monthly fee that pays the creators a little bit for every video I watch - but add sponsor ads and product placement through the backdoor.
SciShow Tangents is so great. I watch a couple episodes a day and some day I’m going to be sad because I will run out of episodes. Go watch and enjoy the silliness while you learn something new.
I could hear you talk about business stuff all day omg
Hank this morning: this is not a make a video kind of day
Hank this evening: *posts a video to Hankschannel*
Thank you for this explanation! The last couple episodes of Tangents, Sam would cut in with an ad partway through Hank's introduction, and I kept thinking my podcast app had skipped to the middle. Now that I know what's going on, I'll stop trying to rewind it when that happens
I feel like the problem here is that "impressions" was not properly defined in the contracts, and no provisions were made for changes in the way podcast platforms count them.
This has nothing to do with the topic, but Hank's hair is looking absolutely fantastic lately! Whatever you're doing. Don't stop
You'd think Apple would know this and give a heads up.
It's my general impression that Apple has yet to ever respect a content creator it didn't absolutely need to
yeah I disagree that it was the right thing to do, at least the way they did it. they could maybe add like a "legacy impressions" number for a year or so that is adjusted up based on the average amount of impressions lost by the change, so new contracts can use the new number but the legacy one is valid for old contracts.
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I just recently set my podcast app to auto-download new eps because my connection always buffers for like 20 seconds when i start. There are dozens of us!!
I'm using a 10 year old version of itunes since I need it to recognize my ipod classic. New changes like this don't affect me xD
@@Siseja i was just telling someone I wished they were still making those. I'm currently using a smashed old 6S for my music lmao 🤝
You know, I was wondering why there were so many ads on this week's episode of Tangents. Thanks for answering my question lol
Done! Thanks Hank! I didn't even know about Tangents. I followed SciShow too! ❤
Option 3: make entertaining ads
Me on UA-cam premium who hasnt seen an ad in years: "what are you guys talking about?"
Are you serious? I'm Premium user for years, but built in sponsor ads that creators put in the video are insane. There's a Sponsorblock though... and it hurts creators. But the video is talking about audio podcasts with built in ads, UA-cam premium has nothing to do about that.
@@avelkm I rarely listen to podcasts on UA-cam though
The idea that downloads don't matter in 2024 is not true. You may not have data at the point when you want to listen. And, even if you do, it can be mobile data which may be limited.
I'm fine with it not being the default anymore, but I would never use a podcast app that didn't allow automatic downloads.
Any type of automatic download is terrible if you have a data cap tho...
every episode ends with a butt fact. that guy who kept asking why we have butt hair is living their best life.
“That’s not how contracts work” is wild because the outcome seems the least like what arbitration would actually decide the agreement in the contract entailed. I’m not a lawyer and I haven’t read the contracts but it boggles my mind that there wasn’t more than one metric negotiated in the process.
If the contract says "one million downloads" then that means one million downloads. I can't see an arbitration concluding that it means something else just because it is being used as a proxy for something else. As a general rule, contracts mean what they say.
@@thomasdalton1508 contracts mean what they said at the time. External factors changing the context of contracts is most of arbitration
@@Michael_Raymond That's only if the contract is ambiguous. If it is clearly written then it means what it says. A download is a download. There is no ambiguity.
Scishow tangents have my favorite ads. I never skip because yall make it entertaining even if the product doesnt apply to me❤
I appreciate this dutch angle.
This reminds me of how when I started working in publishing I learned ads were counted as long as they loaded. It didn’t matter if a user scrolled down to seem them which then became the norm. Blew my mind the industry had been built on that “lie” for so long.
This has early 2000 vibes and I'm here for it
Reminds me that I aspire to revise which podcast app I use with the goal of avoiding metrics going to advertisers - and app inserted ads.
“That’s slight ridiculous in 2024”
Urgh. No! It’s ridiculous if you live in the middle of a Global North City!!! Plenty of us don’t, and for us this Silicon-Valley-centric idea that slow internet isn’t a problem anywhere anymore is slowly and surely making many apps unusable.
Hank Green is not checking his privilege. More to the point, he is committed to saying that every change made by every big company is the Right Thing To Do, because he wants their advertising money.
Yep, if I know a podcast is out on a specific day, I'll make sure it is downloaded before leaving work for the day. Trying to stream it during a commute simply would not work. Statements about it being "current year" so "given problem isn't an issue anymore" are almost always wrong
Well said. I live in Australia and we have notoriously poor internet!!
@@omp199yeah precisely
Thanks Hank! I had no idea this is going on. That is really interesting. Im sorry I cant help on Tangents, I am already a proud subscriber and hope soon to be able to become a Patron on Patrion. Thank so much for all you and your crew do to make this world a better place!😊
I love everything about Scishow Tangents...except for...the SUPER loud scene cuts when it moves into a new segment. I'm having a nice chill evening, we've got some scishow going on in the background and then suddenly our peace is shattered by a maximum volume "FACT OFF!" With a musical sting, it's so off-putting! xD
I mean, yeah, we're paying attention now, but I'm not entirely happy about it xD
Yet another example of the enshittification of the internet.
I really wish people would stop using Spotify to listen to podcasts. They're not shy about their end goals regarding the format, and it's exactly that.
@@JosephDaviesAgreed, but this battle was lost many years ago already.
@@puupipo I disagree with this sentiment. Assuming you've already lost is the best way to make sure that you do. We're not there yet.
It's harder now than it was even a few years ago, but there's still hope.
Wow Hank I literally just started to listen to Scishow tangents again this week while studying for midterms!! So its crazy that you made a video about it and I will say the Honey add is working I'm debating on getting some once I finish the one I have
That there wasn’t even a mention of privacy concerns with ads shows me once again that there’s a fundamental schism between me and this community
Huh, I wonder how the impressions from the podcast addict app I use are counted. I would have assumed that the app didn't know or care how many times I click the skip 15s button but now you've got me curious.
The other reason to download the episode in advance is that dynamic ad insertion has broken streaming by making the ad length unpredictable. This means that if streaming stops and starts, it may start in the wrong part of the podcast, and rewinding may not help. This can be seen with Tangents and many other podcasts on Pocket Casts. Downloading in advance means only downloading once, so the ads can't change.
For what it’s worth, I love Scishow Tangents. One of my favorite podcasts to listen to. Sam is my spirit animal ❤
Scishow tangents is a great podcast! My only (wholly unsolicited) feedback on it is that I prefer episodes without the “which of these detailed facts is real” segments - it’s a fun game but I can NEVER remember afterward which ones were fake. Maybe I’ll skip those segments and listen to the ads next time 😅
Does it help to go back and relisten to older episodes (like from the past few months)? Does it help if we download older episodes?
Just download them seems to be enough?
that's what I was also thinking. if I use a non-spying app and just download episodes en-masse, does that help?
One of my favorites has indeed been dropping new ads *directly into the middle of sentences*! I assumed it was gross incompetence, but this explains it better.
I now watch only the youtube because I can’t stand podcasts apps anymore. Apple and spotify both do oldesr to newest Only. I can’t mixed them, I can’t do newest to oldesr, nothing! Bless youtube for keeping something that should be the standard. Screw apple for deleting that feature.
That's strange spotify does newest to oldest for me
My Apple Podcasts app (iPhone) does Newest to Oldest. 🤷🏻♂️
UPDATE: It might help to know which list you are referring to, because I can think of 3 different types of lists in the Podcasts app. And they all can behave very differently depending on how you have things arranged.
You can use podcast apps that aren't Spotify or Apple or Google. It might be a good idea to try one if you want more listener-centric features and avoid things that only benefit the platforms.
Unless this changed super recently (like, in the past couple of days), in Spotify you *can* arrange podcast episodes both Newest to Oldest, and Oldest to Newest, so Idk what you're talking about. Unless you mean something else?
@@JosephDavies if you like free and open source stuff, AntennaPod has been serving me very well for the past 6 months, fully private, very customisable, no platform based ads, I'm very choosy but have practically much no complaints
thank you for explaining all this, I /had/ noticed extra midrolls and didn't know why!
It seems like Apple should collect data both ways and then content creators can send the advertisers the number based on the old version. Then in future contracts it defaults to the new version and everyone is happy.
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Not knowing if you skipped the ad is good and I'm glad its the standard and I hope it doesn't change. Privacy is important
Speaking of the butt facts (which are excellent btw and you should definitely listen at least for the butt facts if you don't already), I couldn't understand the words in the "butt fact" stinger, I only heard the word "fact" and it took me a truly staggering amount of time to realize the segment was specifically butt facts. I thought they were just extra facts that got cut from the ep for time ...... that just happened to be about butts.
There are some places, a lot of which are in the US where the Internet is still slow.
My dad for example lives just outside of Columbia, SC, in a valley where he has no cell service at home, in a neighborhood with no broadband Internet service.
Your curly hair is sooooo pretty! I'm jelly.
P sure YT doesn't know I played the video all the way through but fell asleep or wandered away.
Look. I respect you and I respect what you do and I will most likely subscribe to sides show tangents.
But you went through an entire spiel, talking about the ins and outs of the content producers, and the platform owners without seriously, addressing the end consumer, who often times pays a premium not to have extra commercials in their feed. Nearly giving a throwaway request for grace at the end of your spiel Fell a little flat to me.
That’s not something I would normally raise but I respect you and I have a vested interest in your organization and your viability and I don’t want you to lose any credibility by not giving a full throated account of how the entire system works
I agree.
As someone who doesn’t have a house and is only at their legal address two months out of the year, most of the adds are pointless. But if I ever get life insurance it will be because of John. Hearing him smile every time he says “and that’s why there’s life insurance” brings me a ridiculous amount of joy 😄
My takeaway: capitalism is bad.
The root of all problems
I have so much respect for anyone who can acknowledge a problem without just pointing fingers and blaming someone. Hank is always a breath of fresh air in that way.
Thanks for explaining, I was really annoyed about sudden increase in ads in SciShow Tangents.
Hank: Im tired of symmetrical, neatly arranged backgrounds.
Look at your beautiful beautiful hair!!! It’s growing back curly and gorgeous!!! ❤
Ads are a moment to reflect on whether or not the thing I am watching is worth my time. I most often unsubscribe from a channel during an ad or sponsor spot.
to counter a point about downloads not being important and internet being faster- mobile data still often limits how much you can download! It still makes a ton of sense to have your app download the podcast automatically when you're connected to wifi rather than stream the episode, especially if you listen to as many podcasts as I do
Love this 90s music video camera angle
Are the impressions/contracts platform specific? i e., would it help if we listened on Spotify, even though the issue is on apple?
I think he’s implying that there’s a shift among all listening platforms at the moment. Especially where he said that some platforms now tell advertisers if an ad is being skipped or if the volume is turned down
I feel like this video was like approaching the speed of light. It seemed to take longer and longer, the longer I watch. LOL, still a fan.
I usually let ads play through on UA-cam cause I have the impression the creator gets credit. I do skip when it's something I am against like sports gambling ads.
How the heck is Hank getting younger while the rest of us get older?
I legitimately thought this was footage from several years ago talking about how things worked then, and was waiting for it to cut to present-day Hank talking about things now.
Hahah, it's even more complicated than this I would say. Podcasts have the same ads for many weeks, often. So I usually don't skip them the first time or the second, because the ad is novel and sometimes interesting and usually not annoying. When it's the 5th, 6th, 7th time+, then I'll be skipping because as soon as I hear the first two words, I know EXACTLY what will be said about that product. Now. I would argue that this is skipped ad, is actually a STRONGER impression, because I'm reminded of the product, I know all the content and it all comes to mind again and I have a big enough emotional reaction that I'm going to pick up my device and skip the ad. So... make of that what you will. But it seems like more 'free' impressions if those skipped ads aren't counting, even when they definitely impact the listener.