Google’s conflict with ad blockers shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, it’s launched a new assault with reports of YouTube throttling video speeds, adding unskippable black-screens which last the length of an advert, and preventing playback altogether.
That’s according to users complaining across various Reddit threads and even the Brave forum (via PC World), with images shared of a pop-up telling the user to disable their adblocker or pay for YouTube Premium if they want to keep watching videos.
These threads are also packed with suggestions of how to circumvent YouTube’s efforts.
Users suggest you try restarting your browser to get around YouTube’s three-video limit, skipping forward into videos, or updating your filter list if you use uBlock Origin. Replies to these comments are a mixed bag, however, with some finding success while others aren’t any better off than they were before.
So is your only option to pay for YouTube Premium? Increasingly, that looks to be the case if you want an ad-free experience, though I’m not convinced you need to pay for YouTube; the free version is more than fine.
As a free YouTube user, I don't get the hate
This continual call and response of YouTube ramping up its ad blocker restrictions and ad blockers finding new ways to bypass these restrictions has been going on for months, with no signs of slowing down.
With these latest efforts, and the ever more complicated instructions on how ad blockers can avoid YouTube’s wrath, I’m left asking if ads are really so bad that it’s worth the hoops you’re forced to jump through.
And I say that as someone who ingests an ungodly amount of YouTube content every day, who doesn’t use an adblocker, and who doesn’t pay for YouTube Premium.
I understand there have been reports of frustratingly long, unskippable ads over the years – here’s a Reddit post complaining of minutes-long unskippables, with some replies from other users experiencing the same – but the worst I’ve experienced is having to wait maybe 30 seconds; 40 seconds, I suppose, if you count the 10 seconds you have to wait in the next ad for a skip button to appear.
In recent months, however, things seem to have gotten better. I not only see fewer ad breaks, but at max I’m maybe delayed from watching a video for 10 seconds before I can skip to it.
On top of this, I understand why Google doesn’t want you blocking ads.
Its video hosting platform is free to use but isn’t free to run, and YouTube ads also allow it to pay creatives, without us viewers having to pay anything.
With online content, the trade off has always been its free with ads, or paid without (or paid with fewer as is increasingly becoming the norm for the best streaming services, which sucks). So, using ad blockers has always felt like having your cake and eating it.
Though I know how frustrating ads can be, and while I personally don’t want to use an ad blocker, I 100% understand why people do.
It’s also not just the number or length of ads on YouTube; the content of the ads can be a problem too, and I will concede I’ve seen YouTube adverts for services that seem like they might not be 100% legit.
That said, if you’re caught in the YouTube vs ad block crossfire and hate how unusable the platform is becoming for you, my suggestion today is that the alternative doesn’t have to be paying for Premium.
As a completely non-paying YouTube user, it’s not so bad, and with how things are shaping up, it sounds like it’s a lot less frustrating than watching YouTube with an ad blocker.
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