Youtube's War on Adblock Got Worse

Summary

The video script discusses YouTube's aggressive ad strategies, including the introduction of ads on pause and the ongoing battle against ad blockers. The speaker shares personal experiences with YouTube's measures to enforce ad viewing, such as blocking video playback after one video if an ad blocker is detected. They argue that while ads are crucial for revenue, YouTube's intrusive approach negatively impacts user experience and suggest that skippable ads would be more effective and user-friendly.

Takeaways

• 📺 YouTube is aggressively implementing more ads, including during paused videos, which they call the 'pause experience'.
• 🛡️ YouTube is escalating its war on ad blockers, which has resulted in new measures to restrict video access if an ad blocker is detected.
• 🚫 Users are being given a warning that video playback will be blocked after one video if an ad blocker is enabled, pressuring them to either whitelist YouTube or disable the blocker.
• 🆓 YouTube offers three free video samples with ad blockers enabled, after which they enforce the ad viewing or premium subscription.
• 🔄 The speaker recalls a past incident where YouTube had a soft launch of these restrictions, which were bypassed by uBlock Origin.
• 🔄 The script suggests that YouTube's ad strategies are constantly evolving to counter ad blockers.
• 🌐 The necessity of ad blockers is emphasized, stating that the internet is unusable without them due to the overwhelming number of ads.
• 📉 The speaker argues that intrusive ads can be counterproductive, causing users to leave and not return, which is detrimental to creators.
• 💸 There's a mention of the cost of YouTube Premium, suggesting that it's an additional financial burden in a subscription-based world.
• 🎥 Creators are generally supportive of ad blockers, understanding that a positive user experience is more valuable than a few extra ad views.
• 📈 The speaker suggests that skippable ads are more effective and user-friendly than unskippable ads, which can lead to viewer frustration and disengagement.

Q & A

What is the main issue discussed in the video script?

The main issue discussed is YouTube's aggressive approach to serving ads and its ongoing battle against ad blockers.

What is the 'pause experience' mentioned in the script?

The 'pause experience' refers to YouTube's new feature where ads are displayed when a viewer pauses a video.

What is YouTube's stance on ad blockers according to the script?

YouTube views the use of ad blockers as a violation of their terms of service and actively works to counteract them.

What is the consequence for users who use ad blockers on YouTube as described in the script?

Users who use ad blockers may have their video playback blocked after watching one video unless they disable the ad blocker or switch to YouTube Premium.

How does the speaker feel about YouTube's approach to ads?

The speaker is critical of YouTube's approach, finding it intrusive and detrimental to the user experience.

What alternative does YouTube offer to avoid ads?

YouTube offers YouTube Premium, a subscription service that allows ad-free viewing.

What is the speaker's opinion on the necessity of ad blockers in the current internet landscape?

The speaker believes ad blockers are essential for a usable internet experience, as ads have become overwhelming and intrusive.

What is the speaker's view on the effectiveness of unskippable ads?

The speaker argues that unskippable ads are not effective and can lead to a negative user experience, potentially causing viewers to leave the platform.

How does the speaker suggest YouTube could improve its ad strategy?

The speaker suggests focusing on user-friendly ads, such as skippable ads, to enhance the user experience and potentially increase ad effectiveness.

What is the speaker's perspective on the relationship between ad blockers and content creators?

The speaker believes that most content creators understand the importance of a positive user experience and may prefer that users have ad blockers enabled rather than endure a poor viewing experience.

What is the speaker's stance on the idea that ad blockers take money away from creators?

The speaker implies that the idea is overemphasized and that a good user experience is more valuable to creators in the long run than the potential revenue from a few extra ads.

Outlines

00:00

📺 YouTube's Aggressive Ad Strategy

The speaker discusses YouTube's focus on advertising, highlighting the platform's recent implementation of ads during video pauses, referred to sarcastically as the 'pause experience.' They touch on YouTube's ongoing battle against ad blockers, noting that these tools are essential for a usable internet experience. The speaker shares their personal experience with YouTube's increased efforts to block ad blockers, which results in a message warning that video playback will be blocked after one video unless the ad blocker is disabled or YouTube is whitelisted. They mention that while YouTube offers three free video views with ad blockers enabled, further viewing requires either disabling the ad blocker or subscribing to YouTube Premium. The speaker also reflects on YouTube's history with ad blockers and speculates on the platform's continuous attempts to innovate ad delivery methods.

05:02

🚫 The Necessity of Ad Blockers

The speaker argues for the necessity of ad blockers, emphasizing the overwhelming and intrusive nature of ads on the internet without them. They recount a previous video they made about the internet's reliance on ad blockers and stress that the experience of using the internet without them is akin to brainwashing. The speaker criticizes YouTube's approach to forcing ads on viewers, suggesting that it degrades the viewing experience and may deter users from returning. They also discuss the common narrative that using ad blockers hurts content creators, but they suggest that most creators understand the importance of a positive user experience over ad revenue. The speaker advocates for more user-friendly ads, like skippable ads, which they believe are more effective and less intrusive.

10:04

🛡️ The Impact of YouTube's Ad Tactics

In the final paragraph, the speaker concludes their thoughts on YouTube's ad strategy, reiterating the importance of ad blockers and criticizing YouTube's efforts to combat them. They view these efforts as detrimental to the user experience and argue that ads should be placed in a way that is less intrusive and more beneficial to both advertisers and users. The speaker suggests that unskippable ads and ads on pause screens do not effectively engage users and can lead to a negative perception of the advertised product.

Keywords

💡ads

Ads, or advertisements, are promotional messages paid for by sponsors. In the context of the video, ads are the primary source of revenue for YouTube and its creators. The script discusses YouTube's focus on serving ads to viewers, even when the video is paused, which is referred to as the 'pause experience'. The video argues that excessive ads can detract from the user experience.

💡ad blockers

Ad blockers are software extensions or applications that prevent ads from being displayed on websites. The video discusses YouTube's efforts to counter ad blockers, as they interfere with the platform's revenue model. The script mentions that YouTube serves a warning to users with ad blockers, blocking video playback after one video unless the blocker is disabled or YouTube is whitelisted.

💡YouTube premium

YouTube Premium is a subscription service offered by YouTube that allows users to watch videos without ads and access other premium features. The video touches on YouTube Premium as an alternative to using ad blockers, suggesting that users can go ad-free by paying a monthly fee. However, it also points out the cost and the subscription-based nature of many services today.

💡user experience

User experience (UX) refers to how enjoyable and efficient a user finds the interaction with a system, such as a website or application. The video argues that YouTube's aggressive ad strategy negatively impacts the user experience by making it frustrating to watch videos without interruptions from ads.

💡unskippable ads

Unskippable ads are advertisements that a viewer cannot skip past and must watch in their entirety. The script criticizes unskippable ads as particularly intrusive, noting that they play even when a video is paused, which the video creator finds excessive and detrimental to the viewing experience.

💡ublock origin

Ublock Origin is a popular ad-blocking browser extension. The video mentions that Ublock Origin can bypass YouTube's measures against ad blockers, but it questions how long this will last as YouTube continues to innovate in ad delivery methods.

💡terms of service

Terms of service are the rules and guidelines that users must agree to in order to use a service. The video discusses how using ad blockers violates YouTube's terms of service, as stated in the warning message YouTube displays to users with ad blockers enabled.

💡skippable ads

Skippable ads are advertisements that viewers can choose to skip after a few seconds. The video suggests that skippable ads are more user-friendly and potentially more effective for advertisers, as they allow viewers to opt-out if they are not interested.

💡subscriptions

Subscriptions refer to the recurring payment model for accessing content or services. The video mentions the prevalence of subscription-based services and how YouTube Premium fits into this model. It also implies that the cost of additional subscriptions can be burdensome for consumers.

💡content creators

Content creators are individuals or entities that produce content for platforms like YouTube. The video discusses the impact of ad blockers on creators' revenue and suggests that while some creators might prefer viewers to disable ad blockers, many creators understand the importance of a positive viewing experience over ad revenue.

💡marketing push

A marketing push refers to an aggressive or concentrated effort to promote a product or service. The video implies that YouTube's marketing push through intrusive ads may be counterproductive, as it annoys viewers and could lead them to leave the platform instead of engaging with the ads.

Highlights

YouTube's decision to serve ads during video pauses is called the 'pause experience'.

YouTube's war on ad blockers has intensified, with new measures to block video playback if an ad blocker is detected.

Users are given three free samples of ad-free videos before YouTube enforces the ad blocker restrictions.

The use of ad blockers is against YouTube's terms of service, as emphasized by the platform.

Ublock Origin is currently able to bypass YouTube's ad blocker restrictions.

YouTube is constantly innovating to serve more ads and break ad blockers.

The internet is deemed unusable without an ad blocker due to the overwhelming number of ads.

YouTube's ad experience without an ad blocker is compared to brainwashing due to the intrusive nature of the ads.

The cost of YouTube Premium is highlighted as a monthly subscription fee on top of other potential subscriptions.

Creators are generally supportive of ad blockers, prioritizing user experience over ad revenue.

The importance of ads for YouTube's existence and creators' revenue is acknowledged.

Skippable ads are considered more user-friendly and effective than unskippable ads.

Non-skippable ads can lead to viewers leaving the stream or video, negating the ad's effectiveness.

The argument that ad blockers take money away from creators is questioned, as user experience is deemed more critical.

The necessity of ad blockers in the modern internet age is emphasized.

YouTube's efforts to shut down ad blockers are criticized as detrimental to user experience.

Transcripts

YouTube loves ads more than P didy loves

baby oil they have made so many

decisions that all revolve around

feeding people as many ads as possible

and in many ways as possible I'm sure

all of you saw a few days ago they

announced that they're officially fully

rolling out the ads experience while a

video is paused so now when you pardon

my flim I had to go take care of

business there uh so now when you pause

a video you can be served and they call

it the pause experience I love that

nomenclature that is so [ __ ] silly uh

this is the uh pause experience which is

why we're serving you a Dunkin Donuts ad

but I'm not here just to focus on

YouTube's abundance of ads I'm here to

talk about its war on ad blockers this

is something that's been going on for a

while now there's been tons of mangled

corpses left out in the street from this

battle and now there's been a new

casualty me so I've have noticed over

the last few days and I know I'm not

alone that YouTube has done a lot more

to beef up its protocol against ad

blockers so when I've been trying to

watch videos on my account that is not a

premium subscriber I've been getting

this notice video player will be blocked

after one video it looks like you may be

using an ad blocker video playback will

be blocked unless YouTube is allow

listed or ad blocker is disabled ads

allow YouTube to be used by billions

worldwide you can go ad free with

premium and creators can still get paid

from your subscription YouTube lets you

get three free samples in there with

your ad blocks still enabled but they

hate ad block they hate that more than p

didy hatte security cameras so they give

you these three but once you finish your

rations they shut you down they put the

kabash on that they give you this ad

blockers violate YouTube's terms of

service and then it's the same bullet

point list there and then you can't

watch any videos going forward unless

you disable it or pay for YouTube

premium

now this isn't new I remember this

rolled out like a year ago as kind of a

soft launch where some users experienced

this but not all users and ublock origin

was able to get around this no problem

now I wasn't using ublock origin I had

this happen briefly a year ago or maybe

it wasn't a year ago time moves so

differently when you hit 30 it's like

entering into a [ __ ] black hole

everything's all cadd Wampus when it

comes to the perception of time but

whatever it was months ago I had this

happen a occasionally for like a day or

so just using normal ad block and then

it went away I'm guessing that it was

just an experiment and they decided just

to put it back in the [ __ ] chew box

or whatever but now we're back at the

rodeo and this has been going on for 4

days for me so I decided let's see if U

block origin works so I grabbed ublock

origin and sure enough it gets around

this no problem but I can't help but

wonder how long will it last because

YouTube is constantly trying new ways of

feeding you ads and breaking ad blockers

like they clearly villainize it it's

very obvious they're not pulling any

punches they're not trying to hide or

anything they are saying if you use an

ad blocker it's against our terms of

service it violates it so the fact that

U block works is probably something

they're not overly thrilled about and I

remember a few months ago mudahar made a

video about how YouTube is experimenting

with serers side ad injections so like

they are constantly trying to innovate

in ways to blast your ass with ads and

right now ublock is able to put like a

shield on your butt cheeks to stop this

from happening but will it always work

with getting around YouTube's ads I have

no clue I'm way too [ __ ] stupid to

have the answer to that question why are

you even asking me I struggle to

remember how to do long division

sometimes clearly I wouldn't have the

answer to this one but I do think

YouTube is probably having like an

entire dedicated fish tank

all focused on

brainstorming how to break ublock origin

and every other ad block to force people

into either paying for YouTube premium

or allowing ads on the site what I do

know for sure is that the internet

itself is unusable without an ad blocker

period full stop I'm not being

exaggeratory it is literally not

possible to use the internet without an

ad block go to any mainstream journalist

website try and read an article without

an ad blocker you will find maybe two

sentences that are broken up by five ads

an autop playing ad a banner ad audio

ads that play in the background you

can't get any of the content on the

internet anymore without an ad block it

doesn't exist the ads are the content

like that is the internet now it's

[ __ ] tragic and YouTube is bad

without an ad block because unskippable

ads out the wazu ads that play even when

you pause a video now like it's

excessive I know I already made a video

on this topic like 6 months ago about

how the internet doesn't function

without an ad block anymore but it needs

to be driven home just how bad of an

experience that is it's not even an

experience at that point the only

experience you're getting is like

brainwashing it's like the ads are used

as a form of hypnotism against those

that Traverse the cyberspace without

protection like if you don't have the ad

block condom on you're [ __ ] like

you're walking away with the worst

diseases imaginable it's awful it it

cannot be overstated how awful using the

internet without an ad block is so when

it comes to YouTube in particular it's

not as easy as just like a oh okay I

guess I'll go ahead and turn off my ad

block it's not that big of a deal it is

a big deal because then if you're trying

to watch like a 10-minute video that'll

turn into like a 20-minute experience

because it'll be 10 minutes of trying to

watch that video with 10 minutes of ads

like slapped on top of it that's

exaggeratory I know it's not to that

extreme but it is a much much worse

experience and it's not like getting

YouTube premium is free or anything

that's 14 clams a month that's an

expensive subscription especially when

everything in the world is subscription

based now [ __ ] subscription based

oxygen access at this point like

everything is subscription based so it's

$14 on top of whatever other things

you're subscribed to it's not a low

amount of money by any means at all and

YouTube without an ad block is just kind

of dog [ __ ] it really is nobody wants to

be fed a ton of ads that they can't skip

they have no control over and you can't

escape from you can't even pause a video

and be safe from the ads they'll come

through and [ __ ] jump scare you even

on the pause screen now so it's not like

a super simple thing to just be like

I'll go ahead and allow it one tactic

I've seen used a lot when it comes to

this the spin that gets put on it

occasionally is if you use an ad block

you're taking money away from the

creators by turning your ad block off

you're supporting them you're able to

help them get more money from the

content they create and the thing is I

think the majority of creators on the

platform really don't give a [ __ ] about

that I've seen most of them say like hey

you need to have an ad block like I

think most creators are very well aware

that a user having a positive experience

while watching their content is more

important than that user giving giving

them a couple extra D Bloons because

they got fed 12 ads if someone's trying

to watch your video and it becomes like

a headache they're probably not going to

come back and that's much worse for the

Creator so I don't think that it's

necessarily the most Creator positive

thing in the world to turn your ad block

to watch every ad and everything like

that and I don't think there's many

creators that push for that either now

I'm stupid but I'm not too stupid to

understand the importance of ads it's

what puts money in the pockets of

YouTube it what it's what allows it to

exist and it is what creators make the

bulk of their revenue from like I get

how important ads are

but what I would do instead of focusing

on finding new ways of making intrusive

ads to ruin the user experience I would

instead focus on just having everything

be as userfriendly as possible I don't

think there's a single person in the

world that has a problem with skippable

ads you just get a few seconds of an ad

and if it's a good ad you might stick

around and finish it and see what it's

actually advertising but a lot of people

aren't interested so they'll skip it and

having it be unskippable doesn't

necessarily help the product if someone

already is tuned out doesn't care about

it and now they're annoyed cuz they

can't skip it they're not going to be

getting that [ __ ] product at least I

don't think so and a lot of them are

just going to click out of the video

anyway because now it's become a chore

to even get to the video twitch is the

biggest culprit of that phenomenon where

if you're watching a stream and you get

fed like five 30 second ads in the

middle of the broadcast most people

leave the stream or get up and go do

something while the ads are playing

they're not even watching the ad so your

marketing push has failed like I don't

think it's effective to do that I think

the most effective ads are the skippable

ones if you could hook someone man I'm

having voice cracks and like [ __ ]

congestion here I'm finally feeling

better from Co a little bit but man I

still sound like I'm hitting a new

puberty but skippable ads you can get

someone's attention in a short period of

time if you have like a banger ad or if

your product's a banger like you can get

someone to actually sit through an ad if

it's entertaining and advertising

something that they might be interested

in but you could always just give them

the option to skip it for those that

aren't interested I don't think there's

any benefit to someone that's not

interested sitting through your whole ad

anyway I don't think so and skippable

ads are just the best for users like

it's not close pausing a video and

getting served an ad I don't think

anyone will ever positively engage with

an ad that served that way I can't

imagine a world where someone pauses a

video gets served a Dunkin Donuts ad and

they're like you know what they're right

I need to order some Duncan right now

like I imagine a lot of I

God I imagine a lot of people will get

served an ad like that and be like man

[ __ ] Dunkin Donuts like it's just I

don't think these are effective ad

placements in the first place like I

don't think it helps advertisers and

it's an overall detriment to the user

experience of the platform so yeah I

think ad blocks are crucial to the

internet in the Modern Age and YouTube

Waging War against them and doing their

best to shut that [ __ ] down I think is

horrible anyway though that's about it

see y