As I’ve mentioned before, I spend at least part of each year living in Moscow, Russia. While I’m here, I rely on the Internet for my English-language entertainment. I particularly like listening to music on YouTube: I’ll turn on a playlist and just kick back for hours, enjoying whatever genre I’m in the mood for.
Or at least, I used to be able to do that. Sometime this week, they started interrupting playlists every 5–10 minutes to broadcast some really, REALLY grating commercials (with, of course, the volume jacked up as high as it’ll go).
If I mute the computer, I’ll probably miss the beginning of the next track. If I’m out of the room, I’m forced to listen to the damned commercials anyway (they’re in both Russian and English).
I used to like falling asleep to music at night, and I can’t do that anymore without being jolted awake.
They’ve even started interrupting tracks after they start to stick a commercial in the middle of the music!
My question is: Is this something my Russian Internet provider is doing to jack up its income? Or is it happening in other countries too?
I mean, I used to get commercials on YouTube ONCE IN A WHILE. Now the damned things are on as often as they are on TV (one reason why I don’t watch TV as much as I used to).
