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YouTube is considering a more aggressive approach to prevent viewers from using ad blockers while watching videos on its platform. As bleepingcomputer According to reports, people are posting screenshots on social networks like Reddit, showing a pop-up notice warning them that their player will be blocked after three videos.
The warning states that YouTube will block their ability to play videos on the platform unless they disable their ad blocker or add the website to their whitelist. The notice continues, “Ads allow YouTube to remain free for billions of users around the world.” To be ad-free, the company asks users to get a YouTube Premium subscription so that “creators can still get paid.” Prior to these warnings, YouTube only showed popups to ad blocker users, reminding them that it was against the website’s TOS. Eventually, it added a timer to the notices to ensure viewers took the time to read them.
website confirmed bleepingcomputer The new alerts are part of an experiment. A spokesperson told the publication that YouTube is “running a small experiment globally that urges viewers with an enabled ad blocker to either allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium.” He added that YouTube may temporarily disable playback “(i) in extreme cases, where viewers continue to use ad blockers.” The spokesperson added that they would only disable playback “if viewers ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube,” although it is unclear whether this means that YouTube will allow a viewer to watch three videos. The latter will not automatically block playback and give them more opportunities to comply.
At the moment, this new approach only affects a small number of users, and YouTube didn’t say how many people and regions are part of the test. The website, which makes most of its money from ads, has seen its advertising revenue decline over the past three quarters, so we wouldn’t be surprised if this test expands to more users around the world if it takes effect.
