Comments under the article show this feature is not going down at all well with users. https://9to5google.com/2023/05/05/gmail-ads-increase-2023/
I love how people become irate because the FREE service they are receiving changes their terms of service. Don't like it - move or pay up.
Well that's a little easier said than done, esp for a long-time gmail user but I guess it's a reality. The article did say for the time being, the main inbox won't show any ads but who knows how long that'll hold up. I wonder if you'll be able to whack 'em with uBO's Element Zapper/Picker. That would make it more palatable.
I think it's perfectly reasonable for people to get mad. Google already makes billions of dollars in profit with the ads they currently serve. They know most people despise ads; they know ads make the user experience objectively worse, but they choose to serve more anyway, and when their only justification for doing so is to increase that profit, it's understandable why people find it objectionable when they see Google already making such an obscene amount.
T Ads revenue decreased due to economic downturn Alphabet value decreased by 13% compared to last year
Which looks bad on paper, but what that percentage actually translates to is: Alphabet made a few million less than they did last year. Hardly a statement that'll elicit an empathetic response from most people. Nor should it, in my opinion. Google's free to push more ads to make up for the lower revenue, but users have every right to complain about that; they have no stake in how the company's doing financially and thus don't care. All they want is a pleasant experience while using Gmail and ads are the antithesis of that. So Google annoys a contingent of people enough that they start using ad blockers, and that's an unknown number of users who won't see or interact with Google's ads again. Not enough to affect Alphabet's bottom line, obviously, but it's a vicious cycle.
I was reminded that Google cut 12,000 jobs in January of this year plus is "struggling" to compete with Microsoft and its AI thing there. Times are very tuff right now for Google. Its CEO was paid only a quarter of a billion US dollars last year. Tragic...tragic...
I have no problem with that attitude. Users may not care whether Google/Alphabet is doing well financially or not. Just complain a little bit then, if decisions are not reversed, pay or move on.
