The world’s largest video media platform, YouTube, appears to be testing a new feature where non-premium users are asked to disable ad-blockers in order to watch videos on the platform.
This is one of the ways that Google is trying to boost their advertising business. The presence of ad-blockers is seen by Google as reducing their revenue because users are blocking ads from their YouTube videos.
The Latest YouTube Experiment Asks Non-Premium Users to Disable Ad Block
Information about this experiment came from the YouTube subreddit by user sazk100, who provided information about YouTube asking non-premium users to turn off their ad-blockers to continue watching videos, or alternatively, to subscribe to YouTube Premium.
This information has been confirmed as true and according to other sources, a YouTube spokesperson has made a statement that they are indeed testing ad-blocker blocking features on a small scale globally.
For now, it is still in the experimental stage and there is no clarity on whether it will be implemented live for all users. Considering that YouTube itself labels this as an experiment.
YouTube Ad Blocker Still the Main Solution for Most Users
This incident has caused various frustrations among users. As discussed on the YouTube subreddit, many users find ads on YouTube too annoying and intrusive. Many argue that the number of non-skippable ads is increasing.
This is what makes many users switch to using YouTube ad-blockers to avoid ads not only on YouTube but also on various websites. Indeed, Google’s ads are everywhere, and according to the Statista website, Google itself earned a revenue of $224.47 billion in 2022.
Whatever it is, Google’s efforts to fight against ad-blockers may not be as easy as this, and users will be looking for other alternatives in the near future once this ad-blocker blocking feature is implemented.
