Unskippable 30-second video ads at viddler.com

[rmunn]

viddler.com has started running unskippable 30-second TV-style ads before playing their content. Needless to say, this is highly annoying, especially for Let's Play videos, which are usually split into 10-minute segments for length reasons. Currently, an example can be seen at http://www.viddler.com/explore/twodaylife/videos/28/, where you have to sit through a 30-second ad for a Comedy Central show before you can get to the actual Let's Play content.

I have not yet managed to find the precise URL to block; any ideas on how I can find it?

[MonztA]

Try this filter:

Code: Select all

.fwmrm.net/ad/l/1?*=

[rmunn]

That filter does score 4 hits when I load the http://www.viddler.com/explore/twodaylife/videos/28/ link in my original post, but the 30-second video ad still plays.

However, I did find a filter that works. I noticed that while the ad was playing, the video box displayed "Ads by Google" at the top. Armed with that knowledge, I searched the blockable items list (View --> Adblock Plus: Blockable Items) and discovered several URL's starting with "http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com", including "http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pa ... ibrary.swf" and "http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js".

So I created a filter for:

Code: Select all

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/*

This worked, and I no longer see the ads; instead, the proper video loads right away. (In fact, it actually loads quite a bit faster than before; apparently the ad server was the cause of the 10-15 second delay I was getting before anything would play).

Any thoughts on whether this filter (or perhaps *.googlesyndication.com) should be added to EasyList?

[eighty5cacao]

EasyList already contains a filter for: h t t p : / /pagead2.$~other,~object-subrequest
(spaces added to prevent linkification - it seems I can't trick this forum by putting in useless BBCode)

The type parameters are what prevent the filter from applying in this case. Does a more experienced user know why they were added? Perhaps some use of $domain might be helpful?

[MonztA]

Does a more experienced user know why they were added?

They were added because of this. If we would block it with "http://pagead2.", the player on matisse.net would be broken.

The video on Viddler.com works if you block /pagead/googlevideoadslibrary.swf (initial object subrequest fot the ad) but this COULD break other sites.

Does the ad before the video sill appear if you add this filter (this one would be safer than the first)?

Code: Select all

/pagead/ads?video_url_to_fetch=

Please deactivate or delete you own created filter ("http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/*") before you test it.

[rmunn]

It seems viddler.com has stopped running those 30-second ads now -- turning off my user-created pagead2.googlesyndication.com/* filter still did not show the ad, so I cannot test the "/pagead/ads?video_url_to_fetch=" you suggested. Just to double-check, I loaded the same page with IE7 (shudder). IE7 also went straight to the video, without the 30-second ad, so I believe the video ad is simply no longer being run. (IE7 did show me the other ads on the page, so as usual when I have to check a page in IE7 I come away grateful for Adblock Plus and EasyList, yet again. )

Checking... yes, I still see instances of "pagead2.googlesyndication.com" in my Adblock blockable items list. "http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" was blocked by the filter that eighty5cacao mentioned, but the other pagead2.* URLs (crossdomain.xml, pagead/ads?video_url_to_fetch=*, pagead/crossdomain.xml, pagead/googlevideoadslibrary.xml, pagead/scache/googlevideoads.swf, and pagead/yt_blacklist_domains.txt) were requested as "object subrequest" and thus were allowed through by the existing filter. So I know the HTML of the page hasn't changed significantly -- the change must be on the server side. Maybe the advertisement finished its paid-for runtime and was pulled to make way for the next ad tomorrow or next week, or maybe Viddler decided that running 30-second ads at the start of every clip would lose them too many viewers; I can't tell.

Unfortunately, until/unless Viddler starts running video ads again, I won't be able to test filter suggestions. Sill, this does mean my problem is solved, at least for now. If I see any more ads on viddler.com, I'll revisit this thread and test MonztA's filter suggestion.

[rmunn]

... and Viddler has started running ads again; guess it was just a temporary fluke yesterday.

MonztA's suggestion of

Code: Select all

/pagead/ads?video_url_to_fetch=

does indeed work; I turned off all the other filters I'd added and saw the ads again. Turned on the "/pagead/ads?video_url_to_fetch=" filter and saw no ads; turned off the "/pagead/ads?video_url_to_fetch=" and saw the ads again.

[rick752]

Thanx MonztA ... should be ok now..
Added

[MonztA]

You're welcome.

[MonztA]

Suggestion:

Change "/pagead/ads?video_url_to_fetch=" to "/pagead/ads?$object-subrequest" due to http://forums.lanik.us/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=3376

[Ares2]

Did that.