YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blocker usage globally, by showing warnings about breaking the platform’s terms of service. In some cases, the company is preventing users from viewing more videos unless they disable ad blocks.
The video streaming platform started experimenting in June, when it showed a message to users saying that the video player would be blocked after three videos if the ad blocker wasn’t disabled.
Now, the company confirmed to The Verge that YouTube has started a “global effort” asking users to either purchase a YouTube Premium subscription or allow ads. Prior to that, Android Authority noted that several users complained on the r/YouTube subreddit about seeing warnings in different formats about using ad blockers.
A screen grab of YouTube warning a user about using ad blockers. Image Credits: u/Helpfullman69 (opens in a new window)
Redditors didn’t fail to notice that while YouTube is cracking down on ad blockers, there are several ads about ad blockers on the service.
YouTube didn’t specify what kind of limitations it is putting on users with ad blockers with this experiment. In a statement, it said that “The use of ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service.”
YouTube has 80 million paid users across Music and Premium tiers, the company said last year. However, Google is experimenting with different ways to bump up this number. For instance, the company ran tests asking users to pay to watch videos in 4K resolution or be showed multiple unskippable ads for an uninterrupted experience.
The video streaming platform also brought 30-second unskippable ads to TVs in May and started testing longer but fewer ads for long-form content in September. In July, YouTube raised the prices of its premium plan for individuals by $2 per month.