@an0key at least on the TV app I’ve been added to what appears to be a test group for skipping over those bits exactly (presumably based on data from other people’s skipping) which is marked as a YouTube Premium feature.
@an0key I’m split on how I feel about that. From my perspective it’s great, I skip the ads with minimal effort, but I’m also aware those ad reads are in many cases the difference between making money on a video or not, and if the companies buying them see the audience they want to hit are skipping them the whole house of cards collapses.
@an0key in summary, automated ad skipping is good but a model that doesn’t depend on the whims of multinational corporation’s marketing departments would be even better.