Boomer.

Theres basically a bunch of countries that forbid Twitch or YouTube from playing ads. Like at all.

And specifically this is for TTV.LOL revolving around Twitch.

I think the same applies to YouTube in the same countries Twitch can’t play ads in. But I haven’t seen anything about YouTube adblocking proxies like TTV.LOL.

Even then, the only fool proof way of getting around server side ads is using an adblocking proxy that pipes the video stream into a different country. And public proxies available are not foolproof because of excessive traffic or whatnot.

I’d have left Twitch if I didn’t find it more entertaining than current YouTube. No one should be surprised they’re at pre-covid profit levels again because they tried to shovel way too many ads down people’s throats.

Imagine tuning into a random stream and getting greeted by 3 ads before you can understand if you want to stay or check a different one. I’ve been frustrated enough that I just turn to something else altogether for entertainment.

There are some decent adblockers like TTV.LOL, which is a simple proxy to a country that doesn’t allow ads. But sometimes those solutions don’t work either. Ironically I just use Turbo while not paying for YouTube premium, but just as people don’t pay for YouTube Premium, I understand not wanting to support Twitch for a variety of reasons.

I’d say in a good bit of cases better than Google now. Each time I’ve resorted to Google because I think I’m getting lackluster results, it’s got the same results but also a bunch of SEO dogshit I have to sort through. Kagi’s personal site ranking and filters make it worth it too.

It’s a paid service that in return respects privacy, and has results as good as Google’s.

Google doesn’t say “Fuck you, Pay me” because you are the product.