For many users who have adblockers enabled, YouTube videos are now abruptly skipping to the end. This development is part of YouTube’s efforts to enforce its policy against adblockers which began last year. Users with adblockers are experiencing videos that skip to the end immediately upon loading.
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YouTube initially started by displaying warnings to users with adblockers, asking them to disable these tools. If users ignored these prompts, videos would be blocked from playing entirely.
This led to a huge number of users uninstalling their adblockers. Others found creative workarounds to bypass these restrictions.
Users have reported that videos are now skipping straight to the end. Even if the video is replayed, it skips to the end almost immediately.
This issue persists even if users attempt to skip to different parts of the video often resulting in endless loading screens.
There is a strong belief among users that this could be an intentional move by YouTube to discourage adblocker usage.
It is also possible that this issue stems from problems within the adblockers themselves. Earlier this year, a bug in AdBlock caused similar issues leading many to suspect YouTube’s involvement.
The bug caused videos to load slowly and put undue stress on the machines running YouTube, but was later identified as an issue with AdBlock itself.
Many users have taken to platforms like Reddit to share their experiences. Comments show that videos are randomly skipping to the end as soon as they load.
Users attempting to replay videos encounter the same issue with the videos skipping to the end again or loading indefinitely.
Some users like The-Kabster-Cow on Reddit, speculate that YouTube has designed this behavior to appear as a bug caused by adblockers.
The majority of reports indicate that this issue affects users of AdBlock specifically with fewer reports from users of other adblockers.
Ads are a huge revenue source for Google. In the first quarter of 2024, ad revenue reached $8.09 billion, contributing approximately 10% of Alphabet’s total revenue for the period.
Beyond corporate profits ad revenue also supports content creators providing them with financial incentives to continue producing content.
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YouTube has been actively promoting its Premium subscription which offers an ad-free viewing experience.
The Premium subscription is available for $13.99 per month for an individual plan, $22.99 for a family plan, and $7.99 for students (with verification required).
One workaround mentioned involves using a VPN to set the country to Albania, as advertising platform does not support the Albanian language. This method can result in slower data speeds.
YouTube has intensified its efforts to deter ad blocker usage implementing measures that disrupt the viewing experience.
Users report various issues including videos skipping to the end and audio malfunctions. Numerous users have taken to Reddit and other forums to express their frustration.
Reports include videos ending abruptly, sound disappearing after a few seconds and videos getting stuck during loading.
Disabling the ad blocker seems to resolve these issues indicating that system is detecting ad blockers and intentionally causing these disruptions.
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In 2022, YouTube successfully shut down YouTube Vanced, a popular third-party app that allowed ad-free viewing.
This move was part of strategy to channel users towards its paid Premium service. By 2023, the platform began blocking videos after detecting ad blockers, giving users three warnings before preventing playback entirely.
At the start of 2024, YouTube tested slowing down video load times for users with ad blockers, a move to frustrating users enough to consider subscribing to YouTube Premium.
The tactic reported by users involves videos skipping directly to the end when an ad blocker is active. This issue affects playback even if the video is restarted or a specific segment is selected.
Users have also reported audio problems such as the sound cutting out shortly after adjusting the volume.
This problem ceases when the ad blocker is turned off. Some users face endless loading loops when trying to skip to different parts of the video.
Users are finding ways to bypass restrictions. Extensions like uBlock Origin reportedly still function correctly, unlike Adblock Plus, which seems more affected by these issues.
Some users resort to plugins that accelerate ads, reducing their duration and impact. Setting a VPN location to Albania, where Google’s ad platform is less effective is another method users have found to watch videos ad-free.
To counteract ad blocker usage, YouTube promotes its Premium service which offers ad-free viewing, offline caching and access to YouTube Music. At $14 per month, some users find it an additional burden on top of other streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.
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