YouTube tries to kill ad blockers in push for ad dollars, Premium subs

YouTube has launched a global front against ad-blocking extensions, taking a small experiment it began in June full-scale.

As noticed by Android Authority on Monday morning, some YouTube users are now seeing a disruptive prompt when they try to watch videos while using a browser with an ad blocker. The prompt notes that “ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service”and urges users to either allow ads on YouTube or subscribe to YouTube Premium.

While I was able to still watch YouTube with an ad blocker, there’s recently been a noticeable increase in the number of users who report seeing the prompt. The Verge reported that sometimes those who see the prompt can continue watching videos anyway, but “for one Verge staffer, YouTube now fully blocks them nearly every time.”

In a statement shared with The Verge and other publications, Google confirmed YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown, saying:

The use of ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service. We’ve launched a global effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience. Ads support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube.

The Google support page linked to in the above statement notes that “if you continue to use ad blockers, we may block your video playback.”

In June, Google confirmed to The Verge “a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium.” Now it seems the effort has been expanded.

Since announcing the smaller “experiment,”ad blockers such as Adblock Plus have been looking for ways to continue serving YouTube users, but that will become harder as Google hardens its ad-blocker-blocking efforts.

“The bottom line is we know how important it is for our users to access an ad-free YouTube experience for free,”an Adblock Plus blog post from October 13 reads.

Indeed, YouTube users have hit social media to show their outrage over YouTube’s heightened war against ad blocking, pointing to criticisms like a “ridiculous“amount of ads, including offensive and “intrusive“ones, a plain distaste for ads, and the fact that even YouTube Premium subscribers are still subject to videos with a section committed to the video creators’ sponsor.

但 YouTube 的主要收入來源是廣告，Google願意盡一切努力保持這些資金的流入，即使這會讓用戶感到不安。這就是為什麼您很快就會在電視上觀看 YouTube 時看到 30 秒長的不可跳過的廣告。該公司甚至嘗試讓「跳過廣告」按鈕變得難以找到。

谷歌希望廣告厭惡者能夠轉向 YouTube Premium，後者在 7 月剛剛漲價。圍繞推動用戶使用該服務的實驗包括要求訂閱觀看4K 影片以及增加不可跳過的廣告。

房源圖片由Rego Korosi拍攝