YouTube is taking steps to get viewers to disable their ad blockers, according to a Reddit user who was asked to do so as part of what appears to be an experimental message that some users are seeing while trying to watch monetized videos. The pop-up warns that “ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube” and asks the viewer to disable them or sign up for a paid YouTube Premium subscription if they want to go ad-free.
It’s no secret that ad blockers are bad news for content creators who rely on ad revenue to produce and promote their videos. YouTube in particular has been known for intrusive ad formats like unskippable pre-roll ads, and has even been accused of forcing some users to watch 10 of them in a row—a move that resulted in a lot of complaints. The YouTube ad-blocker warning might be a way to get users to disable their ad blockers and switch to Premium, but it’s not a complete solution as users can still find workarounds for this.
Regardless, this isn’t the first time that Google-owned YouTube has taken aggressive action against ad blockers—in fact, it has done so in the past, including removing purpose-built ad-blocking apps from the Play Store and modifying its Chrome browser to prevent ad blocking extensions from working on the site. It’s also been known to tweak its terms of service, as it did in 2022 by adding a clause that could be read as a total ban on any tools that modify or remove parts of its app.
For now, this new ad-blocking experiment seems to be limited in scope, but it might signal a shift in strategy as YouTube faces declining ad revenues and competition from rival TikTok. The company recently said that its ad revenue has declined for the third straight quarter, largely due to declining economic uncertainty and volatile digital ad market conditions.
The YouTube ad-blocking experiment was first spotted by Reddit user Sazk100, who shared a screenshot of the pop-up that they received. YouTube has since confirmed that this is a test, though it isn’t clear if the company will expand it to more users.
YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of the American e-commerce website PayPal. It is available worldwide and provides users with a platform to share videos and earn money.
YouTube allows users to rate videos, subscribe to channels, and comment on them, although the number of “likes” a video receives isn’t publicly visible. The website also offers its creators the option of creating a channel where they can promote their videos and interact with fans. In addition to videos, YouTube also hosts other types of content, such as music and games. It is available on a variety of platforms, including smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, and the Apple TV.
