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YouTube Begins Blocking Users Who Use Adblock

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Re: YouTube Begins Blocking Users Who Use Adblock

#15

I don't understand how adblock on a service like youtube work, without cooperation of youtube itself. I get it that you could easily blank the output when there is an add, and/or auto-close an add after the countdown, but how do you convince the service to continue streaming before the minimal advertisement time has past ?

Historically, if the ad failed to load, the player just continues with the actual video. All the adblocker has to do is block requests to DoubleClick.

Third-party clients can read and display the requested video parts though.

Re: YouTube Begins Blocking Users Who Use Adblock

#16
post #10

I feel like I'm in the minority that has zero problem paying for an ad-free experience. I get tremendous value out of YouTube in both professional and personal ways. I have a daughter who watches it often. Suppressing ads while supporting the service my family enjoys regularly seems like a no-brainer to me. And I never have to worry about them circumventing my ad blocker.

I'm probably also in the minority, but I think Youtube having a near monopoly in this space is bad for consumers and would prefer to see some alternatives. If by merely executing control over my own hardware to see only what I want is enough to actively harm them then so be it.

I also have been subscribed to NebulaTV and Curiosity Stream for years.

Re: YouTube Begins Blocking Users Who Use Adblock

#17
This marks the moment Google officially decided it didn’t know how to innovate any longer, and that it’s time to grab all they can to increase the bottom line.

Most technology companies follow this same cycle. When they’re in the innovation/disruption phase, there are less rules, they just focus on giving people the best experience. When they start stagnating, suddenly every cent matters.

The irony is that the profile type most likely to have an AdBlocker is the Silicon Valley engineer. They spend so much time online, that it would be really annoying to have ads.

I already found a fix: I use another YouTube client that displays the stream directly without showing the ads. My guess is more people will do that - unless the adblockers get better. If YouTube goes as far as protecting the streaming servers themselves with greater authentication, people will likely go elsewhere… TikTok… Insta… or the many other video platforms that have been popping up as a result of censorship.

But I am skeptical everyday people are willing to wait for ads - or pay for social media.

Re: YouTube Begins Blocking Users Who Use Adblock

#18
post #10

I feel like I'm in the minority that has zero problem paying for an ad-free experience. I get tremendous value out of YouTube in both professional and personal ways. I have a daughter who watches it often. Suppressing ads while supporting the service my family enjoys regularly seems like a no-brainer to me. And I never have to worry about them circumventing my ad blocker.

Yeah but I have a problem with being bullied into paying them. It will just make me want to make their engineers life a pain by working on work-arounds.
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