YouTube is currently conducting a trial that restricts video viewing for individuals using ad blockers. Discovered by a Redditor named Reddit_n_Me, this test involves a pop-up notification that appears for users employing ad blockers, indicating that their video player will be “blocked after three videos.”
The pop-up message explicitly notifies users that their video playback will be disrupted unless they whitelist YouTube or disable their ad blocker. It presents an option to consider YouTube’s paid subscription service, YouTube Premium. There’s also an avenue to report an issue in case users believe they are not using an ad blocker. However, details about the specific ad blocker used by Reddit_n_Me weren’t disclosed.
YouTube confirmed the existence of this trial, asserting that it’s a small-scale global experiment encouraging users with ad blockers to allow ads on the platform or explore YouTube Premium.
The company clarified its stance on disabling video playback, stating that it will only apply this restriction to users who persistently disregard requests to allow ads on YouTube.
While YouTube insists that ads support a diverse creator ecosystem and grant global access to billions of users for free, ads on the platform have become increasingly bothersome over the years. They’ve become more frequent and longer, with an experiment from the previous year subjecting some users to as many as 10 unskippable ads at once.
On the other hand, YouTube Premium, priced at $11.99 per month, stands as one of the more expensive content subscription plans available. This higher cost might be prompting some users to resort to ad blockers. YouTube affirms that using ad blockers breaches its Terms of Service, hinting at a more stringent enforcement of these rules in the near future based on this recent experiment.
