YouTube has revealed in the last week that it is now targeting ad blockers on a global scale. As a result, people on the platform who have ad blockers installed will see a notice saying that to play video, they must remove their blockers. According to a report, this led to a record number of people uninstalling ad blocks, but some are also claimed to have turned to better effective ones.
According to a Wired story, this crackdown prompted a record number of people to uninstall ad blockers, indicating that YouTube’s plan is working. According to the claims, “available data” suggested “a record number of ad blockers uninstalled.”
Interesting …
"The available data suggests that last month saw a record number of ad blockers uninstalled—and also a record for new ad blocker installs as people sought alternatives that wouldn’t trigger YouTube’s dreaded pop-up."https://t.co/6E86cHquXC pic.twitter.com/L7IxX2QO6j
— Singular (@TweetSingular) November 6, 2023
People finding suitable alternatives
Users of the well-known Chrome ad-blocker Ghostery have installed and uninstalled it three to five times more frequently in the last month. Over 90% of people who removed Ghostery said that it wasn’t compatible with YouTube. However, when users sought for better options, Ghostery’s installations on Microsoft Edge went up by 30 %.
Every day, over 6,000 people delete AdGuard, another ad-blocker, from Chrome. However, the number jumped to 11,000 daily between October 9 and the end of the month, reaching a peak of 52,000 on October 18. It’s interesting to note that AdGuard‘s paid version is still functional on YouTube, where it garnered more interest and had up to 60,000 installations between October 18 and 27.
While YouTube is aiming for ad-blockers, people are actively searching for better alternatives. A website called Newpipe, which displays videos without advertisements, has become popular among them. Experts like Ghostery’s Krzysztof Modras warn that YouTube’s moves could result in more sophisticated ad-blocking tactics or even unintended security issues.
Users of YouTube are seeing warning messages that read, “You appear to be using an ad blocker. The Video player will be blocked after three videos.” Unless YouTube is permitted or the ad blocker is turned off, video playback will be prohibited.”
Users who are looking for alternatives can still utilize Firefox addons like uBlock Origin. Additionally, Adblock Plus offered tips on how to get around YouTube’s anti-adblock policies. For an ad-free experience, users could also think about purchasing a YouTube Premium subscription. To take charge of their viewing experience and circumvent YouTube’s restrictions, more users are investigating better ad-blocking tools as a result of the platform’s fight against ad-blockers.
