Stephen Headrick / Android Authority
I hate ads. But I love Google. What a conundrum. We live in an online world that largely runs on ads, and I think it’s important to have this option so that products can continue to be used for free by the majority of the world. In fact, the free website you’re currently visiting to read these words right now is largely powered by ads. Again, this is a vital part of the internet being what it is today. I think it’s safe to say, however, that we are long overdue for an ad-free option from Google.
Would you pay for an ad-free Google experience? 25 votes Yes, take my money, Google! 24 % Yes, but only at the right price 36 % No, I sometimes like ads and click on them 4 % Absolutely not 36 %
Google already wrote the playbook
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Look no further than Google’s own YouTube for the perfect playbook. I haven’t seen an ad on YouTube in years, and I really hope I never have to go back. To me, YouTube Premium is the most value-packed subscription I pay for, especially because I also use YouTube Music, which is included in the price, but primarily because I don’t see a single ad when perusing through videos.
YouTube has skippable ads, which usually require you to watch the ad for around five seconds before you can skip it. Occasionally, you get a 30-second non-skippable ad. Often, a video will have multiple ads in the same video. These relatively short moments add up over time, and I’m extremely grateful to have YouTube Premium so I don’t have to spend my precious downtime being advertised to. Considering that YouTube is the primary streaming platform I use on a daily basis, this subscription is more than worth the cost to me. But there’s always the regular ad-supported version of YouTube, which is likely what the majority of people use, free of charge.
I haven't seen an ad on YouTube in years. The same in Gmail and Search would be the ultimate Google One experience.
With YouTube in mind, Google already knows how to make an ad-free experience work. Now I want to see it take what it’s learned and apply it to all its services. I’ll gladly upgrade my YouTube Premium subscription to a higher price if that means I can bundle all of my Google services into one ad-free, subscription-supported experience. Better yet, Google already offers a subscription called Google One, which includes Google Drive storage and Gemini features. I would like to see a new tier of Google One, which would include this ad-free experience across not only YouTube, but also Search, Gmail, and anywhere else you might see an ad from Google. That sounds like the ultimate “Google One” experience, if you ask me.
What would an ad-free Google look like? Have you ever smashed that delete button in your Gmail inbox as you quickly glance at subject lines in case there’s an important email, only to click on a sponsored email? The delete button on a normal email is in a different location compared to the delete button on a sponsored email, almost as if some Google product manager intentionally designed this to make you click on the sponsored email. I just want to get through these emails, Google! This is such a frustrating experience, and it’s happened to me more times than I’d like to remember.
... continue reading