YouTube viewers outraged after site \u2018tests\u2019 banning ad blockers Unsplash.com: NikYouTube viewers are raising alarm bells after being greeted with a message saying the site is now banning ad blockers. YouTube is one of the most popular video-sharing platforms on the internet, boasting an active user base of over 2.5 billion monthly users as of February 2023. A large number of content creators have made careers for themselves by uploading videos to the site, ringing in a new era of entertainment far ahead of the curve of other influencers on sites like Instagram and TikTok. Over the course of the site\u2019s existence, advertisements have played a major part in revenue for both the platform itself and its massive catalog of creators. However, many users have complained about the length and frequency of the ads they\u2019ve been seeing \u2014 some of which last 30 seconds and are completely unskippable. YouTube reportedly \u201cexperimenting\u201d with banning ad blockers Many viewers have found a way to get around ads on YouTube by using ad blockers. Unfortunately, it looks like this method might be going in the bin soon, according to some users who\u2019ve encountered a new feature that the platform is purportedly testing. In early May, users posted a message they\u2019d allegedly received while attempting to use YouTube with an ad blocker. The message reads: \u201cAd blockers are not allowed on YouTube.\u201d \u201cIt looks like you may be using an ad blocker,\u201d the message continues. \u201cAds allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide.\u201d The message then prompts users to switch to YouTube Premium, a service it officially launched in 2015 that allows users to bypass ads and even watch with their phones locked in exchange for a monthly fee. Users aren\u2019t happy with this purported change and took to social media to warn others about the possibility of being unable to watch YouTube with an ad blocker. \u201cOne ad before each video was fine, but they got greedy and started playing multiple unskippable 30-second ads,\u201d one user said on Reddit. \u201cThat\u2019s when I went for adblock. There is zero chance I am ever deactivating it or paying for premium now, that ship has sailed.\u201d \u201cIf there\u2019s SO MANY ads that your users are going out of their way to download and use ad blockers, maybe [it\u2019s] YOU\u2019RE the problem, not the people using them,\u201d another said on Twitter. If there\u2019s SO MANY ads that your users are going out of their way to download and use ad blockers, maybe YOUR the problem, not the people using them. \ud83d\ude43 \u2014 Kendall (@herleorr) May 10, 2023 According to a moderator on the YouTube subreddit, a YouTube employee allegedly confirmed that this is an \u201cexperiment\u201d the website is currently running, and has not been rolled out to all users at the time of writing. YouTube confirms it\u2019s running a \u201csmall experiment\u201d banning ad blockers In response to a request for comment from Dexerto, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed that this is part of a global experiment urging users with ad blockers either allow ads on the platform via their device, or purchase YouTube Premium. \u201cWe\u2019re running a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement to Dexerto. \u201cAd blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable ad blockers.\u201d For more entertainment news and coverage, check out our page here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
YouTube viewers outraged after site \u2018tests\u2019 banning ad blockers Unsplash.com: NikYouTube viewers are raising alarm bells after being greeted with a message saying the site is now banning ad blockers. YouTube is one of the most popular video-sharing platforms on the internet, boasting an active user base of over 2.5 billion monthly users as of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}