YouTube test threatens to block viewers if they continue using ad blockers

Engadget ^ | 6/30/2023 | Mariella Moon

[foundedonpurpose]

That sucks. But of course.

[sergeantdave]

“Then watch the ads.”

You want me to watch ads, then pay me to watch them.

[steve86]

With the video ads on YouTube, the “missing time” that would have been present had you watched the commercial is a huge giveaway. And other detection methods involving protocol acknowledgements and probably other industry-secret methods are used. One more elaborate strategy is to utilize a service that responds normally to the ads, but passes ad-free content on to you. Some VPNs and speciality sites offer this.

[Mr. Jeeves]

YouTube Premium isn’t that expensive and gets rid of all of the irritants. It’s like TSA PreCheck - it’s annoying to have to pay for what was free in 1999, but worth it. If the prices go up, then we’ll have to reconsider.

[Bikkuri]

I have been using Freetube (Windows App), which gives you access to all YouTube vids (minus the age check), has no adds, but you can still subscribe to any channel AND show the comments, if you wish to see them too.

Have been using it for a couple of years.
Also, which has been mentioned, Brave Browser blocks the adds.

[butlerweave]

First they Rob the people that create their content and now they want to Rob the people that watch the content created by other people

[moovova]

Oh well.

[moovova]

But, I don’t want to monetize Iguana, the Oyster Slurper.

[butlerweave]

Watching YouTube for ten (10) minutes ) and the ad blocker blocked 100 ads , ONE HUNDRED !

[telescope115]

The adds on YouTube are out of hand! It More than 90% of the videos I look at have ads. It’s ridiculous! A classical music video is broken up by ads, totally wrecking the piece. I watch a lot of amateur astronomy related videos-ADS!
I watched a video on how to replace a gearbox on my motorized telescope drive- ADS!
No matter what I try to watch-ADS! ADS! ADS!

I have the YouTube ap on my TV. It doesn’t matter…
It’s maddening.

[roving]

I got the warning using brave browser

[telescope115]

I for one will check it out.

[roving]

On some conservative but mainly Christian channels, YouTube puts in ads but the creater gets none of the money because their videos are “controversial”

[RFEngineer]

“I always move the article to Archive.ph and then read it for free.”

....yeah but that seems like a lot of trouble. Look! A squirrel!

[AlaskaErik]

I just got one of those popups the other day. My fix is to run YouTube on both Edge and Firefox. My adblocker only works on Edge, so what I did was sign out of YT on Edge and sign in on Firefox. I use the signed in YT to check for new videos on my subscribed list and to post and read comments. I move over to the unsigned in YT to watch videos. If you’re not signed in they can’t block your account. At least not yet. This way I get to watch commercial-free videos without the popup that demands I allow commercials and I still get to check my subscription list and post and read comments.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I never have had or will have a Youtube account. I do watch some things on Youtube using Brave. Because there is sadly no better resource when it comes to figuring out why the blower is not blowing.

I have seen the warning and ignored it. So far so good.

[ducttape45]

I agree that reading has been taken for granted these days, but as you mentioned, humans, especially men, are visual and can process things better when illustrated.

[ducttape45]

I have been able to just “X” the popup when it comes up and go on, but I’m waiting for YT to try and block me permanently. We’ll see what another browser will do.

[ducttape45]

So Freetube works just like Youtube? I’ll check it out. Any more nuggets of wisdom you can throw our way, the better. Thanks my friend!

[AlaskaErik]

Duckduckgo doesn’t have any of its own videos...it has a video search feature that finds videos from a variety of sources...primarily YouTube.

Do those YT videos also come with commercials?