Youtube, the popular social media and video streaming platform, is attempting to get rid of ad-blockers once and for all. Recently, users have been seeing messages saying, “Video playback is blocked unless YouTube is allowlisted or the ad blocker is disabled.” They are then asked to allow ads or try out Youtube Premium, which doesn’t include ads and has other benefits as well. Sometimes, a user will get a message talking about Youtube’s view on ad blockers and still be able to continue on with the video, but that’s not what usually happens. This crackdown on these ad blockers has expanded over the last few weeks. Not only has Youtube fought back to ad blockers, but it has also added 30 second unskippable ads and is experimenting with longer, but less frequent ads. Youtube is probably hoping this will encourage more people to buy Youtube Premium. This is unlikely though, since its price just went up 2 dollars a month and its cheaper Premium Lite version that only blocked ads but didn’t have any other benefits got discontinued.
End of Article Quiz:
If you get all of the questions correct, or close to correct, it means you understood the article. (Answer key below)
- What is Youtube attempting to get rid of?
- What is one thing Youtube is attempting to get customers to do after showing the no ad blockers allowed message?
- What other features has Youtube added or are experimenting with. Why?
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/31/23940583/youtube-ad-blocker-crackdown-broadening
Answer Key:
- The use of ad blockers
- Either buy Youtube Premium, or allow ads
- They added 30 second unskippable ads, and they are experimenting with longer but less frequent ad breaks. This is to try and get more people to buy Youtube Premium.
