YouTube is cracking down on ad blockers
YouTube seems to be serious: After only three videos that you watch with adblocker, you are now threatened with being thrown out. What's behind it.
YouTube is apparently tightening its crackdown on users of adblockers. The platform is currently testing the ability to ban ad blocker users after watching three videos. Those who bypass spots in this way receive a message suggesting a subscription to YouTube Premium, the paid but ad-free version of the video platform.
According to YouTube, this is a “small experiment” in which a limited number of people worldwide were selected to test the consequences of the hint. However, there is no guarantee that this method will eventually be used extensively.
What YouTube users see
“It looks like you’re using an ad blocker. Video playback will be blocked unless YouTube is on the exception list or the ad blocker is disabled” – this is currently the message affected users receive. You can then switch off your adblocker or subscribe to YouTube Premium. The price for the premium version is 12 euros per month for individuals.
As early as May, YouTube began showing ad blockers in the United States a warning. In that note, the platform explained that advertising was necessary to offer the service to billions of users for free. Reference was also made to the paid premium subscription.
The crucial difference: Users could simply click away this warning without having to fear any consequences. According to the US magazine “Bleeping Computer”, YouTube has already tested the possibility of blocking users of adblockers directly – not only after three videos.
Again and again, the platform tries to win users with special services for their premium subscription. For example, YouTube offered 4K videos exclusively for premium users as a test. The company also plans to offer paying customers a better bit rate for FullHD videos.
