There are few things on the internet that are as divisive as advertising. For content creators, it’s a necessary evil to generate the revenue needed to stay afloat and keep creating; but for users, it’s a huge annoyance preventing them from seeing the content they want, when they want.
YouTube against ad blockers
The solution that many users opt for is the installation of an ad blocker, to be able to view content for free and without advertising or hassle; Obviously, Google was never amused by this, given that it got where it is on ad revenue. On some occasions, Google has “tripped” the creators of these apps and extensions, for example by limiting their power in the Chrome browser.
But now we have what is arguably Google’s biggest crackdown on ad blockers. Some YouTube users have encountered a pop-up message informing them that “Ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube”and tells them they have two options: either turn it off or pay.
The message that appears for some YouTube users
The message appears if the user tries to access YouTube in a browser that has an ad blocker installed. The post reminds us that ads keep YouTube free for billions of users around the world. If the ads bother us so much, he offers us to remove them by subscribing to YouTube Premium, which allows creators to receive money for our views.
In the end, YouTube offers two options: either we allow YouTube ads (by disabling the blocker), or we can try YouTube Premium; After the one-month trial period, we will have to pay 11.99 dollars per month. In addition to removing ads, the subscription allows us to access exclusive functions such as downloading videos or playing in the background on the mobile.
YouTube employees have confirmed the existence of this “blocker blocker”; however, they clarified that this is an experiment and not a general change. Therefore, it is very likely that you will not see it, at least for now. But if Google decides it can’t keep losing money this way, we expect a more aggressive crackdown on the practice.
Follow the topics that interest you
