Advertising on websites generates revenue, of that there is no doubt and without that advertising, many websites simply could not survive because said revenue pays for hosting and many other related costs. But there is a fine balance that has to be considered by website owners who have to juggle how to place ads – Google Adsense provides numerous options for ad placement for site administrators. However, most people agree that YouTube ads go way beyond the irritation factor when not blocked. Some videos will have a 5-10 second ad at the beginning, one at the end, and several more sprinkled throughout the entire video, depending on its length. This kind of advertising wrecks immersion and is incredibly irritating, especially if the ads are pushing a product or service that you have zero interest in.
YouTube Might Block The Ad Blockers
It has emerged that YouTube is testing what the company calls an experiment targeting an unknown group of users who use adblockers, with a notification appearing:
It looks like you may be using an ad blocker
In a nutshell, YouTube is pushing users to subscribe to YouTube Premium, an ad-free service that costs $11.99 per month. The service already has around 80 million subscribers and counting, but with budgets now tighter than ever, that’s quite a price to pay for an ad-free experience. Halve it and I, along with many others, may consider it.
I don’t mind admitting that I block YouTube ads for the very reasons already mentioned – they are intensely irritating and it’s impossible to balance the ad load as a viewer, so the only alternative is to block them.
The 5-second ad above, for example, is completely irrelevant to me. I’m not a bodybuilder (they call me Mr. Puniverse!) and even if I were, I probably couldn’t find Low Carb Lite Protein Powder where I live.
YouTube Video Player May Be Blocked After Three Videos
Evidence has emerged that, in extreme cases, YouTube may even block users after the third ad-blocked video. Frankly, that kind of draconian action is laughable because any blocked user who knows his way around the Internet will simply create multiple disposable email accounts and hence numerous YouTube accounts with ad blocks enabled.
I’m not advocating ad-blockers per se because DCT and millions of other sites depend on advertising, but there’s in-your-face advertising such as we see on YouTube, and the more subtle approach that’s used on so many other sites.
Here’s an interesting fact:
In 2022, YouTube’s advertising revenue accounted for approximately 11.35 percent of Google’s total revenue. That year, the video platform’s annual ad revenues amounted to 29.24 billion U.S. dollars, up from the 28.84 billion U.S. dollars in the previous year.
Source: Statista
It’s a prickly one and with news coming out that Spotify may soon introduce music videos, presumably ad-free for paid subscribers, clearly, Google doesn’t want to see a dent in its humongous balance sheet.
Do you ad-block YouTube?
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I do watch a fair amount of youtube these days. Some nights more than others.
I don’t watch gamers or the like, just mostly cooking and travelling.
The ads are terrible. Sometimes I will shut it off to save me punching the screen!
But I have not worried about an adblocker because youtube is SUPPOSED to be free. Apparently?
I get a bit anal at times I think. I feel if the ads are bothering me, then it is time to stop viewing for a few hours.
Or maybe even go to bed and sleep! Now there is a novel idea!! lol
I never shop the ads anyway so it is pointless pointing them at me.
Youtube is just wasting its own time and providing funds for the video maker.
I understand that the people who make the videos are relying on the measly bit they get from YT to aid their travel or lifestyle.
So I do something else while the ads play.
Then eventually I turn it off and come back another time.
If they want to put 30 seconds worth of ads just at the front end of a video fair enough – I can just ignore them and wait but if they are going to keep stopping and starting videos interspersing ads then ad blocking is fair game s far as I am concerned.
There will always be a company with a work around…
(with apologies to Marc for jumping in here)
Charlie and Reg,
I watch a fair bit on YouTube myself, mostly performances on talent shows. I too can handle the ads at the beginning but Google insists on bunging in ads during the actual performances. That, I cannot abide. It’s ridiculous and Google should be ashamed of themselves… yeah, like that’s ever going to happen. 🙂
The product and/or service being advertised can always be given a bad review in the comments section if the viewer is prohibited from blocking the ad: “Several people have told me not to do business with XXXX company because….” This might put a fairly quick end to YouTube’s “experiment” to get that $11.99 a month, which I’m sure will be increased in the near future. But the comment would probably be deleted faster than a positive comment about Donald Trump.
There are many modded versions of YouTube for Android that block adds and allow you to hear stuff with your phone still locked. Hopefully they will still work.
I can’t see blocking accounts really working. I mean do YouTube really want to stop people accessing their services? If anything it would damage their revenue as no one is going to want to pay for ads or pay what they are currently paying if there are less members