Earlier this year, Google started blocking ad-blockers (pun intended) on YouTube in some markets. Some viewers started receiving pop-ups saying ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube, which was unsurprisingly met with much criticism.
YouTube’s decision to crack down on ad blockers is understandable. Google’s business model is heavily dependent on advertisements, and advertisements also help pay creators who make videos on the platform. But users are understandably upset, too, as ads on YouTube can range from being mildly irritating to making you quit watching a video altogether (and that doesn’t help creators either).
Unfortunately, Google isn’t backing down. In fact, the company has revealed that its efforts to ban ad blockers on YouTube has gone global. Users around the world will soon start getting warnings about using ad blockers, with YouTube allowing folks to watch three videos before they have to disable their ad blocker, add an exception to allow ads on YouTube, or pay for a premium subscription.
While people had hoped ad blockers would be updated with the ability to circumvent YouTube’s detection algorithm, it seems Google has done a solid job of making sure that isn’t possible, and ad blockers that claim they can slip by without being detected are failing to work as well.
However, there are a few ways you can still skip ads. One of them is to simply log out of your Google account when watching videos as Google doesn’t seem too interested in getting casual viewers to stop using ad blockers. You can also use ad blockers like UBlock Origin, which are considerably better at blocking ads than some of the popular ones that are available for Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers.
Of course, if you want to support your favorite channels and creators, you should consider allowing ads on YouTube or signing up for a premium subscription, as many creators depend on YouTube as their sole source of income and making videos is a time-consuming and laborious affair.
