Nobody enjoys having advertisements interrupt their viewing experience while they’re trying to enjoy their favorite shows or videos. This is why ad-blocking applications have gained widespread popularity among millions of users worldwide.
Naturally, companies such as YouTube and Google would rather you didn’t use ad-blocking software. Instead, they encourage users to subscribe to their YouTube Premium service for a monthly fee of twelve dollars, which offers an uninterrupted, ad-free experience.
There’s a strong possibility that a change is imminent at YouTube. This conclusion isn’t baseless, however; it’s coming from some unexpected pop-up notifications that users have recently received. These messages suggest that the platform you are using might soon begin to take a more assertive approach to dealing with ad blockers. The evidence points towards a future where the service might start blocking these ad-blocking tools such as AdBlock or uBlock Origin.
Is YouTube blocking AdBlockers?
Users have been sharing their experiences on Reddit, about a certain pop-up message they’ve encountered on the YouTube desktop site. This message was quite clear – it stated that they must switch off their ad blocker to continue viewing content.
What makes this situation different and more striking is that Google might go a step further. If this proves to be true, Google could start refusing access to those who don’t either disable their ad blockers or opt for YouTube Premium. This approach seems especially assertive, even forceful, compared to what we’ve seen in the past.
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Before you brush this off as just another internet rumor, it’s worth noting that a YouTube employee took the time to reach out to the team moderating the subreddit.
This person confirmed that the message was not a mistake but, in fact, part of an experiment. We already know that Google and YouTube do these kinds of experiments before rolling out a new feature. We’ve already noticed some features pushed by Google, especially related to Google Ads, and recently with the About this Image feature.
As of now, the extent to which YouTube might go to impose advertisements on users who prefer not to view them is still uncertain. What’s pretty clear is that Google already loses millions of dollars each month due to Adblockers, Patreon, or sponsorships. If you ask us, it’s pretty much the next logical step for the company.
