Way OT: How to STOP Autoplay Videos Online (and stop being cheesed off at them)

Submitted by boliver46 on

In MGoUser Stephenrjking's post yesterday (Link) - a great debate was had about the consumption of media online.

A great debate raged, but a focal point that kept resurfacing were autoplay videos - and the HATE people had for them.

I, myself, abhor my content delivered by video - but even more so detest autoplay videos that catch you unawares...especially at work.

I have found a (mostly) successful solution to this problem using an extension of the Chrome browser called DisableHTML5 Autoplay.

I have worked in organizations where watching video is a BIG "no-no", so this is a great way to prevent any misperceptions about your online activity.

Hopefully this helps some others who also dislike being bombarded with autoplay videos when expecting to go to an article.

Install and Enjoy.

DisableHTML5 Autoplay Link

Image result for fuck autoplay videos

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

June 27th, 2017 at 9:05 AM ^

It's not a perfect solution, but it's OK.  I've found it stops things like embedded Twitter videos.  In some cases I want to actually watch something and have to disable the plugin.  I'd call it a 75% solution.

PopeLando

June 27th, 2017 at 9:06 AM ^

From what I've been told, videos have the highest click through rates for ads. Therefore, naturally, videos will be shoved down our throats until we hate them.

They're like locusts, spreading from media to media. Once they've consumed every person who likes them they move on. And we're next.

ijohnb

June 27th, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^

is so true.  The one thing that I have noticed that is a blatant attack on consumers is the thing where a link to something will come up with a "Try this" or "Skip this" option, and then about 1 second after the screen comes up, the tabs will be repositioned (or reposition themselves?) so as to make the formerly "Skip this" tab the new "Try this" tab and you click on something that you were definitively trying to avoid.  What the hell man?  That is messed up.  Last month I upgraded by Pandora service to a pay subscription when all I was trying to do was exit out of the screen.

M-Dog

June 27th, 2017 at 9:43 AM ^

That's funny, I just posted the exact same thing below.

It's blatant fraud to generate fake click numbers and con users and advertisers.

It would be like if AC Neilson just changed the channel for you back in the day.

 

I Like Burgers

June 27th, 2017 at 9:47 AM ^

For advertisers, its not a whole lot different than TV though.  How many people willingly and consciously choose to pay attention to commercials on TV?  They just play whether you like it or not.  Autoplay videos with a preroll ad are no different.  You sell them based on placement and distribution -- same as TV.  Sell an ad for The Walking Dead because it has a projected audience of 14M people watching it, and you hope that a good chunk of those people aren't fast forwarding past your ad and got the message.  On the web, sell an ad on a major website, guarantee good placement and based of traffic models, tell an advertiser you'll guarantee 5M impressions over 2 months.  And the advertiser hopes again that a chunk of those people were paying attention and got the message.

From their perspective, they don't care what kind of shenanigans are involved in getting the video to start, just as long as their ad plays first.

I Like Burgers

June 27th, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^

Here's the thing about written content vs. video content.  There's no subsitute for great writting in the same way there's no substitute for a great video.  However, there is an AWFUL lot of filler writing out there, and people would much rather take a gamble on a 2min video than spending 5min reading an article.  You personally may not prefer to do that, but the population at large does.

So what you're seeing now, is that sites like ESPN and Fox are dumping a lot of their "filler" writers and keeping the core ones.  And whatever internet real estate or production time that was going to be spent on written content is now going to be devoted to video because it simply delivers a better return.

Now granted, the majority of video view numbers are boosted because of autoplay functionality and once someone figures out how to stop that, or advertisers figure out that its not an effective way of getting their message out there, things will change again.  But in which direction I have no idea, because they are abandoning writing for the foreseeable future, so its not like you can easily go back down that road again.

bluesalt

June 27th, 2017 at 11:49 AM ^

Because I'm trying in vain to close the ad. Sometimes that x in the corner appears and I stop it, but other times I click the ad.

That said, I was at an Econ presentation last fall that tried to examine if click-through a correlated more with a consumer action, and the conclusion was a weak "maybe a little." So stop with the autoplays forcing click-throughs, MGoAdvertisers. They don't work, and they're more expensive!

ijohnb

June 27th, 2017 at 9:32 AM ^

promise you, whatever solution to the problem you come up with, the videos are one step ahead of you and have found workarounds to your solution already.

In reply to by ijohnb

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

June 27th, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^

True.  But also continuing to solidify the point that most of the time, people won't actually watch videos if they're told "this is a video."  You have to entice with a headline, hide the fact that it's a video, and then autoplay an ad.

M-Dog

June 27th, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^

Is it just me, or does this happen to everyone . . . you are clicking on one of those lists of top beaches / sports plays / supermodels / whatever, and the screen jerks in between clicks, forcing you to accidently click on an ad or another topic as you try to go to the next slide?

What a scam.  You know they are counting these as legitimate clicks, but they are just junk clicks that are immediately backed out of.

 

LSAClassOf2000

June 27th, 2017 at 9:43 AM ^

It is not just you. In fact, it happens to me sometimes on this site, particularly during heavy use periods during the season. 

Twitter is bad about it too sometimes, as are a lot of sports multimedia sites. I've had it happen on ESPN's site as well as Fox Sports and a few others. 

ish

June 27th, 2017 at 9:49 AM ^

auto-play is a big no-no at my workplace as well.  but we have no control over browsers or extensions, so no real ability to prevent it.  which, as you might imagine, makes auto-play that much worse.

youn2948

June 27th, 2017 at 10:17 AM ^

To think I've just been boycotting any site that comes up with an autoplay video.  Perhaps they still have a few redeeming qualities if I just block the videos.  Too many don't even have anything text wise but a crappy video.  Most local news sites come to mind in this regard.

copacetic

June 27th, 2017 at 10:41 AM ^

Disabling Flash also really helps, which is becoming more and more standard on browsers such as Chrome and Firefox. With Flash disabled, you can usually hold down control + click to enable it just for a specific video. You can also add exceptions for sites you trust, usually done in the url bar. 

Between that and the above mentioned html5 disable autoplay extension, you should have most of your bases covered. 

Seth

June 27th, 2017 at 10:42 AM ^

I've been using that extension too for a long time. It's almost required if you're going to be going to any scouting sites. Before it we were close to just dropping some recruiting sites from the recruiting roundups because going there was destroying peoples' sanity.

UMFanInFlorida

June 27th, 2017 at 11:24 AM ^

Apple said something to the effects that coming versions of Safari will either block, or give the option to block autoplay videos at WWDC last month. There were great cheers all across the room.

lhglrkwg

June 27th, 2017 at 11:43 AM ^

DisableHTML5AutoPlay + request to use plug-ins (in Chrome settings) takes care of most issues for me. Somehow some sites still sneak thru from time to time, but that combo has made the internet much more enjoyable

boliver46

June 27th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^

itself added a "feature" (in their minds) to disable playing videos in feed.

 

Why that would need to be set to ON by Default is a mystery to me...

 

And even if you set it to ON - if you update the FB app, it switches it back.

 

#MarkFuckerBerg