Google is cracking down on third-party apps that block YouTube ads

[DragonSlayer101]

In context: Google began ramping up its crackdown on ad blockers last year when it started restricting YouTube video playback for people using ad-blocking software. The company is now expanding that crackdown to cover third-party apps that let users stream YouTube videos while skipping all advertising.

In a support document, Google said that users attempting to access YouTube videos through third-party apps with built-in ad-blocking could experience buffering issues or see an error that reads "The following content is not available on this app."

Google also stated that it only allows developers to use the official YouTube API as long as they follow its terms of service, which do not allow third-party apps to turn off ads. The company warned that it will take "appropriate action" against apps that violate these terms, but did not explicitly state what those actions might be.

Google also noted that some users might want a fully ad-free YouTube experience and advised them to subscribe to YouTube Premium. While the service starts at $13.99 per month for individuals when subscribing on the web or through the Android app, it costs $18.99 monthly for users who sign up using the YouTube app on their iPhone or iPad. For people who would rather not deal with the hassle of monthly payments, YouTube offers a discounted annual rate of $139.99.

YouTube began cracking down on ad-blockers last year, restricting users' ability to circumvent ads while watching videos. The crackdown was first noticed last May when Redditors and social media users started reporting that people using ad-blockers were seeing a pop-up prompting them to switch off their blocking software. People who chose to ignore the message found themselves restricted to watching no more than three videos.

A few months later, the company expanded its crackdown globally and started shutting off ad-blocker users from accessing YouTube entirely. As part of the plan, the company started showing a message that read "video playback is blocked unless YouTube is allowlisted or the ad blocker is disabled." While users could still circumvent the ad-block crackdown by using some third-party apps, even that workaround is now being eliminated, meaning the only way to enjoy an ad-free YouTube experience now will be to sign up for YouTube Premium.

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Google is cracking down on third-party apps that block YouTube ads

 

[okie11]

Only people this will hurt are the content creators, their viewership will start to decline. There are other options out there now, youtube isn't the only game in town. I for one will not be playing ads, nor will I pay them for an ad-free experience, I'll just continue using their competitors services with ad-blockers enabled.

 

[pencea]

youtube isn't the only game in town. I for one will not be playing ads, nor will I pay them for an ad-free experience, I'll just continue using their competitors services with ad-blockers enabled.

Can you please list those alternatives?

 

[okie11]

Well, there's Rumble, Odysee, Bitchute, Floatplane. They may not be as well used or well known as youtube currently is, but they are actual alternatives for some of us. I currently use both Rumble and youtube, but if I'm not able to use an adblocker then I'll be looking for others.

I only started using youtube maybe 5 years ago, so I'm not attached to it like many others. I never had a need to use it except to look up a few odd instructional videos for troubleshooting. Currently most of the people I follow are on both, sure not all of them but I think I'll be able to get by without them if I have to.

 

[toooooot]

"YouTube Premium may become the only way to escape ads on YouTube"
Will see, they might find exactly how much people hate ads.
I could not find a reliable way to skip ads on Twitch.
I open 5-6 videos at once and switch till I find one that does not have ads.
If YT succeeds to break every blocker, people might find out how annoying
YT ads are, and then the next action wont be a YT win.
okie11, That is another good idea, to find them on alternative platforms. Many of them already are, others would do it if there is a need.

 

[Dimitriid]

I think youtube is really miscalculating here, but not for the reasons most assume: the reason is that they're failing (or not caring) to recognize the user base they're going after here: Most youtube viewers just don't block ads. Most users are basically people on tablets, phones and Smart TVs and get served ads and don't do much to actually block said ads.

The users who do block ads are the power users: people that usually would either use a laptop or computer to view youtube are already several steps ahead in terms of being tech savvy (sadly) or even more sophisticated.

So in essence, their war on adblockers is nonsense: Google themselves cultivated a techy user base to begin with and a healthy chunk of Google's notoriety comes directly from said power users evangelizing years and even decades ago. Not only are they capable of easily circumventing even the most draconian of attemps they're just as readily able to drop out of the Google ecosystem completely by now placing their bets behind Firefox and other services.

The usual argument is 'Power Users don't matter all that much' is directly contrasted with 'Then why are you pestering such a small percentage of users for what's likely not enough of a reward in terms of increased ad revenue?'

The answer is more troubling than it seems: Much like other major companies Google has to justify not being able to keep growing exponentially since they market penetration is so big there literally is nowhere else to go. That's when the monster of late capitalism starts devouring it's own tail and crumble down instead of adapting to actually being a market leader with nowhere else to grow to.

 

[hahahanoobs]

YouTube is massive.
Ads are not going anywhere.
You can run, but you can't hide.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I cant wait for the third party apps to update their adblocker and block google's block. Google is a hydra, but a hydra with ADHD that cant keep things working for any length of time.

"YouTube Premium may become the only way to escape ads on YouTube"
Will see, they might find exactly how much people hate ads.
I could not find a reliable way to skip ads on Twitch.
I open 5-6 videos at once and switch till I find one that does not have ads.
If YT succeeds to break every blocker, people might find out how annoying
YT ads are, and then the next action wont be a YT win.
okie11, That is another good idea, to find them on alternative platforms. Many of them already are, others would do it if there is a need.

People LOVE ads. Normies dont know what an ad blocker is and will happily chew up ads every 5 minutes to watch their failarmy compilations.

 

[Dr Roboto]

The answer is more troubling than it seems: Much like other major companies Google has to justify not being able to keep growing exponentially since they market penetration is so big there literally is nowhere else to go. That's when the monster of late capitalism starts devouring it's own tail and crumble down instead of adapting to actually being a market leader with nowhere else to grow to.

This mostly aligns with my perspective, particularly akin to Netflix's crackdown on sharing. All was well until subscriber growth stalled. Once a company hits market saturation, it must find new ways to "keep growing" to satisfy shareholders. That's when cost-cutting measures and crackdowns begin to emerge. Streaming services are currently experiencing this phase. Initially, offerings are generous to attract customers, but eventually, they need to turn a profit, which is what we're seeing now.

 

[tragicallyhip]

A time will never come when its content is so compelling I would pay money to access it.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

The thing is that I've noticed, young kids will sit through ads to continue streaming whatever it is they are streaming on whatever service they are using. It doesn't seem to bother them.

Folks that grew up with moving to cable years ago when the promise of no ads was the lure, these people are aging out of the market. They're old - my parent's age, folks closing in on 65+. While this age group of people tend to have the most money, they are not the most tech savvy (some are, but most aren't) and I know for a fact that my mom and step-dad don't use adblockers. On the other hand, they also don't visit youtube unless my step-dad absolutely has something he's trying to fix that he can't figure out - Mr Fixit-Handyman sometimes needs help. This demographic really isn't in the market spotlight for youtube.

Folks closer around my age (30-65), we grew up on commercials. We have fond memories of some commercials and those Super Bowl ads years ago - it was the golden age of commercials and I was more excited to see these commercials over the football game. However, we also adapted with the early technology of streaming and those streaming services - looking at you Netflix. We grew to desire a taste for not having commercials with these streaming services and we've learned that adblockers are a game changer when browsing. Growing up with so many websites adding stupid pop-ups that made browsing unbearable. We are the demographic that youtube is trying to hinder with adblockers being bypassed. We don't want ads, they're intrusive, invasive and 99.9% of the time just downright so annoying (to me at least) that I will turn off whatever it is I'm trying to watch and just go do something else. They want this demographic to bow down to their every whim so they can make more money on top of billions that they already make.

Younger folks (29 and under) you get these people that'll sit through ads to watch their crap on social media sites or youtube because they don't care as much about it or perhaps just haven't learned about adblockers. This is the group that it won't really bother as much and the group that sites/companies like youtube is hoping to continue to bank off of.

The part that bothers me the most is that youtube isn't wanting to block ads to make more money, it's that they want to make more money off of people they already exploit and make money off them by selling their data they've mined. In 2023 Google's ad revenu was nearly a quarter of a trillion (just shy of $238 billion) dollars. These greedy corps are doing whatever they can to milk and squeeze every penny and they won't stop until they succeed (which will be never, they can never get enough money) or until they do something stupid and cease to exist (which probably will never happen with a corporation the size of Google).

 

[wiyosaya]

Not seeing any pushback, yet. However, if YT does, I'm not paying $13.99/mo to use it since I rarely use it.

Others have also thought they would be able to force people to watch ads and have failed. I doubt YT's experience will be any better.

 

[MakeMSGreatAgain]

I'm not giving YT/Google money until they stop their political agenda crap, shadow banning content they don't agree with, harass content developers whom post content they don't agree with. YT can go to hell until then. I will continue to block their ads for now and if they don't let me view videos then, then so be it. I don't need YT.

If they had just stayed the hell out of politics and left us alone I'd probably happy pay a little money for an ad-free experience. But NOPE. YT/Google and most of big tech is run by a bunch of power hungry greedy monsters who only care about their political views and money and if you interfere with either of those they will mark you as an enemy and attempt to destroy you.

 

[human7]

Ad block for YT is still working just fine for me, even on my Smart TV. Hopefully it stays that way. I certainly won't be paying YT any subscription dollars.

 

[Jme Kerul]

I think youtube is really miscalculating here, but not for the reasons most assume: the reason is that they're failing (or not caring) to recognize the user base they're going after here: Most youtube viewers just don't block ads. Most users are basically people on tablets, phones and Smart TVs and get served ads and don't do much to actually block said ads.

The users who do block ads are the power users: people that usually would either use a laptop or computer to view youtube are already several steps ahead in terms of being tech savvy (sadly) or even more sophisticated.

So in essence, their war on adblockers is nonsense: Google themselves cultivated a techy user base to begin with and a healthy chunk of Google's notoriety comes directly from said power users evangelizing years and even decades ago. Not only are they capable of easily circumventing even the most draconian of attemps they're just as readily able to drop out of the Google ecosystem completely by now placing their bets behind Firefox and other services.

The usual argument is 'Power Users don't matter all that much' is directly contrasted with 'Then why are you pestering such a small percentage of users for what's likely not enough of a reward in terms of increased ad revenue?'

The answer is more troubling than it seems: Much like other major companies Google has to justify not being able to keep growing exponentially since they market penetration is so big there literally is nowhere else to go. That's when the monster of late capitalism starts devouring it's own tail and crumble down instead of adapting to actually being a market leader with nowhere else to grow to.

Word, bro, word. Quote of the day QOTD!

 

[brucek]

Hmm, it's been months since I've seen one of those annoying warnings from YouTube. Did the ad blockers find a way to permanently win the arms race? Or maybe YouTube put me on a "don't bother, he's not subscribing" list?

 

[VaRmeNsI]

If you work in the anti adblock department you want to do just enough to keep your boss happy but no so much you defeat ablockers entirely.

Also if YouTube were smart they'd have done a tiered approach, 720/1080 no ad plans and free for a few $ per month.

 

[human7]

Hmm, it's been months since I've seen one of those annoying warnings from YouTube. Did the ad blockers find a way to permanently win the arms race? Or maybe YouTube put me on a "don't bother, he's not subscribing" list?

I think YT lost the arms race to ad block. Hopefully not just for now.

 

[daffy duck]

Ad block for YT is still working just fine for me, even on my Smart TV. Hopefully it stays that way. I certainly won't be paying YT any subscription dollars.

Sure most adblockers are working for now, but sometime this year life will get much more difficult for them.

I've stopped watching youtube on my smart TV and mobile devices. I don't mind ads, but when you can't even start the video without a 30s ad, then 2 minutes later it's another 20s ad, then a series of 5-11s ad every 3-5 minutes then you get a 47-57s ad. If we got a 30s ad every 10 minutes I'd probably be ok with that.

If YT ultimately wins this battle then my YT viewing will be extremely restricted.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Hmm, it's been months since I've seen one of those annoying warnings from YouTube. Did the ad blockers find a way to permanently win the arms race? Or maybe YouTube put me on a "don't bother, he's not subscribing" list?

Assuming you use uBlock origin, scripts were introduced within minutes of youtube's announcement that blocked their blocker. uBlock is quite good at that.

I think YT lost the arms race to ad block. Hopefully not just for now.

I think they only way they will ever truly "win" would be to integrate the ad as part of the video. but that requires a ton of effort from google themselves. so I doubt it will happen.

I'm not giving YT/Google money until they stop their political agenda crap, shadow banning content they don't agree with, harass content developers whom post content they don't agree with. YT can go to hell until then. I will continue to block their ads for now and if they don't let me view videos then, then so be it. I don't need YT.

If they had just stayed the hell out of politics and left us alone I'd probably happy pay a little money for an ad-free experience. But NOPE. YT/Google and most of big tech is run by a bunch of power hungry greedy monsters who only care about their political views and money and if you interfere with either of those they will mark you as an enemy and attempt to destroy you.

Same. All they have to do is produce a platform and let it ride. But the investors at Blackrock/Vanguard wont be happ with that.

 

[gingerbill]

My adblock is working fine and I am still on chrome , I will abandon chrome when I need too.

its a bit slower to load a video initially , and for a few weeks slightly annoying but other than that adblock is still going strong. I can easily put up with a 1-2 second or less delay , still vastly superior than watching adverts.

I used youube this week on a TV for the first time . Its awful with the adverts , really awful.

 

[human7]

I think they only way they will ever truly "win" would be to integrate the ad as part of the video. but that requires a ton of effort from google themselves. so I doubt it will happen.

Agreed. Even if they do integrate it into the video, one can employ SponsorBlock, which is basically crowdsourced tagging of sections of video, and skip that content. YT would have to dynamically adjust the intermix of video and advertisement to defeat that - a challenging prospect indeed which would certainly not please content creators.

 

[human7]

I used youube this week on a TV for the first time . Its awful with the adverts , really awful.

If you have an Android TV, you can use Smart Tube to get around it.

 

[Athlonite]

YouTube began cracking down on ad-blockers last year
And failed miserably to make any meaningful difference other than losing a whole bunch of users
If they continue down this track Google will quickly become the epitome of stupid is as stupid does

 

[ZedRM]

YouTube keeps saying this, but I'm not seeing it. Whatever.

Maybe if their ads were not so invasive, offensive and intrusive, people wouldn't care about blocking them.