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Google-owned YouTube has taken a hard stance in its battle against users leveraging ad blockers to prevent YouTube ads.
The platform now forces videos to skip to the end for users with ad blockers enabled, barring them from viewing the content.
This recent action is part of YouTube’s ongoing campaign against ad blockers. YouTube maintains that ad blockers rob content creators of earnings and disrupt the platform’s ad-supported business model.
In the past, YouTube reportedly tried to slow down video loading times for users with ad blockers. However, the current measure of skipping videos entirely speaks volumes about YouTube’s seriousness in maintaining the platform ads strategy.
The move has triggered a significant backlash among users, many of whom have voiced their discontent on Reddit. Grievances include excessive ads and concerns about inappropriate and intrusive advertisements.
A message to all the people who keep supporting/defending Youtube and wanting people to buy premium/watch ads. Here is a list of reasons why people continue to use adblockers.
byu/Stol3n_4 inyoutube
Despite the uproar, Google stands by its ad-supported revenue model and has called on users with ad blockers to either permit ads on YouTube or subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.
“If you use ad blockers, we’ll ask you to allow ads on YouTube or sign up for YouTube Premium. If you continue to use ad blockers, we may block your video playback. To avoid the interruption, allow ads on YouTube or sign up for YouTube Premium,” Google wrote on its support page.
YouTube’s Crusade Against Ad Blockers
This is not the first time YouTube has clamped down on users using ad blockers on the platform.
I wonder if it’s this sort of thing that’s causing the invalid traffic issue. YouTube has been doing all kinds of things to combat ad blockers, which I support.
But according to users on Reddit, the way around some of those things is people refreshing the page over and over or…
— Nick Nimmin (@NickNimmin) May 28, 2024
In 2023, Google told The Verge it was conducting a global experiment that would encourage YouTube users to disable ad blockers and try YouTube Premium plans.
In the 2023 effort, users running ad blockers were cut off from watching other videos after watching three videos without ads unless they turned off the ad blocker.
However, this latest development could mean that the 2023 experiment didn’t yield much result. It could impact Google’s advertising revenues on YouTube.
According to Google’s parent, Alphabet’s 2023 earnings report, YouTube ads contributed about $32 billion (10.3%) to the $237.86 billion generated from ads alone. This might explain why Google is taking the fight to this new level.
As YouTube continues its fight against ad blockers, the effect on user experience is yet to be determined. What is evident, however, is that the platform is prepared to take extreme measures to protect its main source of revenue.
