YouTube is escalating its war on ad blockers, locking users' videos and issuing warnings

YouTube is escalating its war on ad blockers. While it ran a localized and experimental campaign in June, the Google-owned company recently confirmed to the Verge that it has since "launched a global effort" to either discourage users from running ad blockers on its free-to-use platform or prompt them to buy into its ad-free YouTube Premium.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, generates revenue primarily from ads. YouTube ads accounted for just under $8 billion (roughly 13%) of Google's advertising revenue in the third quarter of 2023, according to an Oct. 24 earnings release. YouTube Premium and YouTube TV appear at best to be supplemental.

Keen to protect its advertising revenue stream, which dropped in the two previous quarters, the company is working to ensure that ads are being played even if they are not being watched.

Accordingly, users with ad blockers can soon expect the platform to lock videos and confront them with a warning saying that "video playback is blocked unless YouTube is allowlisted or the ad blocker is disabled."

The new warning screen also notes, "Ad blockers violate YouTube's Terms of Service" — an apparent reference to its prohibition on circumventing, disabling, "fraudulently engag[ing] with," and or interfering with any part of the service.

The company states on its support page, "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."

Gizmodo indicated that the clampdown has evolved aggressively since early October. Initially, users with ad blockers were reportedly met with a warning they could simply disregard and close. Weeks later, users began seeing warnings requiring them to confirm receipt before being granted a timed exit. Now, there's ostensibly no way out but capitulation.

Around the time of YouTube's June experiments, Google spokesman Oluwa Falodun stated, "Ad blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable ad blockers. ... We take disabling playback very seriously and will only disable playback if viewers ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube."

YouTube communications manager Christopher Lawton justified the global crackdown, telling the Verge that "ads support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube."

Dissidence has been growing on the YouTube subreddit, where individuals have been detailing effective ways to continue blocking ads such as uBlock Origin and NewPipe as well as threatening to swear off the platform. Tempers appear to have been exacerbated by the growing deluge of advertisements users are subjected to, with some redditors complaining of sitting through dozens of ads inside a half-hour.

In May, YouTube introduced 30-second unskippable ads in top-performing content on televisions, reported Variety. Ads are also now delivered when certain TV programs are paused. In 2020, mid-roll ads were automatically applied to videos exceeding a certain length.

AdBlocker Plus suggested last month that users confronted with YouTube's anti-ad-block wall should keep their filter lists up to date; use custom blocking rules; use their browser's private browsing mode; and, if all else fails, bite the bullet and consider adding YouTube to their allowlists.

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