Is YouTube starting to crack down on Adblock users?

[TheAncientLegend]

I have observed the following in the last month:

• Blank white screen before a video with a "skip ads" button at the bottom right

• The browser tab sometimes goes unresponsive at this stage and cannot be recovered

• Quality is sometimes limited to 144p after streaming several videos in a row. When it does this, 144p is the only available quality shown in the menu (however in a different browser, all the quality settings show)

 

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

I am typically using:

• NordVPN

• Google Chrome (might they have more control over making tabs crash with their own browser?)

• AdBlock

• uMatrix (inactive for YouTube)

• Enhancer For YouTube

 

These have all done fine for many years. Only recently did I start to experience these seemingly random, seemingly glitchy occurrences. 

[Drearo]

If you wait, it will start playing the video. I think they hard added the AD time... For me it shows up as an error in grey and then plays after the ad should've been skippable.

[lewdicrous]

ublock origin works fine on youtube through firefox. At least for now.

[gloop]

About time. Would never personally use a block for YT, that’s why I pay for premium. 

[pythonmegapixel]

1 minute ago, gloop said:

About time. Would never personally use a block for YT, that’s why I pay for premium. 

YT Premium is very expensive, even compared to other streaming services. Just because you can afford to pay for it, doesn't mean everyone can. In addition, the ads are periodically getting more and more obnoxious, and I think it's reasonable for people to want to avoid them.

[Kisai]

8 minutes ago, TheAncientLegend said:

I have observed the following in the last month:

• Blank white screen before a video with a "skip ads" button at the bottom right

• The browser tab sometimes goes unresponsive at this stage and cannot be recovered

• Quality is sometimes limited to 144p after streaming several videos in a row. When it does this, 144p is the only available quality shown in the menu (however in a different browser, all the quality settings show)

 

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

I am typically using:

• NordVPN

• Google Chrome (might they have more control over making tabs crash with their own browser?)

• AdBlock

• uMatrix (inactive for YouTube)

• Enhancer For YouTube

 

These have all done fine for many years. Only recently did I start to experience these seemingly random, seemingly glitchy occurrences. 

I reinstalled my PC earlier today onto a new drive, so no extensions, hosts lists, or other crap is installed. Youtube is if anything, faster than it was with various adblocking junk installed.

 

With that said, before I did, I had the google ads themselves blocked only, which meant the video ads played but the adsense banners were nearly always missing.

 

The reason for the 144p is likely just because your VPN is congested if it's only happening with a VPN. I'm not sure why anyone would bother with a VPN for youtube as it's just guaranteeing you the worst experience (no local CDN) unless you're using it on a per-video basis (eg blocked in your country.) 

 

[Mnky313]

13 minutes ago, TheAncientLegend said:

I have observed the following in the last month:

• Blank white screen before a video with a "skip ads" button at the bottom right

• The browser tab sometimes goes unresponsive at this stage and cannot be recovered

• Quality is sometimes limited to 144p after streaming several videos in a row. When it does this, 144p is the only available quality shown in the menu (however in a different browser, all the quality settings show)

 

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

I am typically using:

• NordVPN

• Google Chrome (might they have more control over making tabs crash with their own browser?)

• AdBlock

• uMatrix (inactive for YouTube)

• Enhancer For YouTube

 

These have all done fine for many years. Only recently did I start to experience these seemingly random, seemingly glitchy occurrences. 

I have ublock origin and Windscribe's built in Adblock (as well as the house has PiHole DNS set up). I've had white screens with skip ad and even ads show up sometimes after the browser (Vivaldi) starts for the first time but refreshing always makes them go away, idk. I rarely reboot and it only happens after reboot for me.

[5x5]

Firefox and waterfox have no issues. Enjoy your "superior" browser chrome users

[gloop]

20 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Just because you can afford to pay for it, doesn't mean everyone can. In addition, the ads are periodically getting more and more obnoxious, and I think it's reasonable for people to want to avoid them.

And then it’s reasonable for the people that create the content to not get paid?

[TheAncientLegend]

23 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Firefox and waterfox have no issues. Enjoy your "superior" browser chrome users

Well hold on now, that has its benefits. Once upon a time, I remembered a video I watched maybe 3-4 years previously, wanted to see it again, but couldn't find it. My Google Activity history was how I eventually tracked it down. It was porn.

 

EDIT: I read "supervisor" browser. Although, this does still make it superior IMO.

[pythonmegapixel]

Just now, gloop said:

And then it’s reasonable for the people that create the content to not get paid?

Well I think it's perfectly reasonable for them to lose AdSense revenue. The majority of creators who rely on YouTube for a living have other revenue streams which are enough to support them, including crowdfunding, merchandise, affiliate programs and  sponsorships. Those who don't really need to be taking a long hard look at whether their model has long-term sustainability.

 

And those starting-out creators who think they can quit their job and live off YouTube with no real audience in place are simply wrong. I say that as a starting-out YouTuber. It takes years to build a proper audience.

 

I will not be guit-tripped into pandering to Google, the middle man who runs the advertising network.

[gloop]

3 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Well I think it's perfectly reasonable for them to lose AdSense revenue. The majority of creators who rely on YouTube for a living have other revenue streams which are enough to support them, including crowdfunding, merchandise, affiliate programs and  sponsorships. Those who don't really need to be taking a long hard look at whether their model has long-term sustainability.

Ok, I see your point here. 

 

3 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

And those starting-out creators who think they can quit their job and live off YouTube with no real audience in place are simply wrong. I say that as a starting-out YouTuber. It takes years to build a proper audience.

This I completely agree with. Build your audience, and care about the money later. 

[Spotty]

I was getting the blank white screen with AdBlock Plus but I uninstalled that and installed uBlock Origin and it works fine. Try swapping adblockers and see if that fixes it for you.

[5x5]

38 minutes ago, TheAncientLegend said:

Well hold on now, that has its benefits. Once upon a time, I remembered a video I watched maybe 3-4 years previously, wanted to see it again, but couldn't find it. My Google Activity history was how I eventually tracked it down. It was porn.

 

EDIT: I read "supervisor" browser. Although, this does still make it superior IMO.

I mean I use G suite but I refuse to install even more malware and spyware than I have to. Firefox isn't perfect but it's a whole lot more functional and customizable than chrome. Not to mention it doesn't hide my URL from me. Seriously Google...

[TheAncientLegend]

12 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

I mean I use G suite but I refuse to install even more malware and spyware than I have to. Firefox isn't perfect but it's a whole lot more functional and customizable than chrome. Not to mention it doesn't hide my URL from me. Seriously Google...

Hide your URL?

On PC or mobile?

[Nayr438]

Everything is all fine over here with Chromium + Ublock + Youtube Enhancer.

[5x5]

10 minutes ago, TheAncientLegend said:

Hide your URL?

On PC or mobile?

PC. That's a new chrome feature, the URL will no longer be displayed, only the domain. It's retarded.

[pythonmegapixel]

12 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

PC. That's a new chrome feature, the URL will no longer be displayed, only the domain. It's retarded.

Does that mean you can no longer cut/copy the whole URL? I.e does the whole URL not still appear when you click in the address bar?

[5x5]

22 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Does that mean you can no longer cut/copy the whole URL? I.e does the whole URL not still appear when you click in the address bar?

Not without messing with the settings currently.

[Kilrah]

Firstly it will be a user definable option so disable it if you don't like it, and yes when you click the full address is of course displayed.

[Ezzy-525]

I maintain that YouTube Premium is good value for money.

 

I regularly watch on my TV through it's built in app, so, shy of setting up a PiHole there's no way around ad's.

 

I was getting ad's every couple of minutes which was getting annoying so YT Premium was a no-brainer personally. Plus you get YT Music with it.

 

Given that the service is free and ad based, I couldn't blame them for cutting down on adblockers tbh. It's crap for those who can't afford Premium but it is still a free service afterall.

 

Will be interesting to see what the outcome of the poll is and whether this is a widespread issue.

[Kilrah]

Also find that Premium is a great value. Was already using Google Play music before YT Premium became available in my region so upgrading was a no brainer, $5 per month extra to have both video and music for just $15.

 

Replaces a TV subscription for me too, which would cost more and has trash content in comparison to YT.

[Dravinian]

2 hours ago, gloop said:

And then it’s reasonable for the people that create the content to not get paid?

In exactly the same way as the people that upload videos with few views don't get paid?

 

You mean like that?

[gloop]

Just now, Dravinian said:

In exactly the same way as the people that upload videos with few views don't get paid?

 

You mean like that?

Why should YT just go around randomly handing out money to people with little to no views?

 

People that are monetized also have gone through that stage of no monetization, and have put in the time and effort to get monetized, and IMO deserve to get paid for that.

[Dravinian]

14 minutes ago, Ezzy-525 said:

I maintain that YouTube Premium is good value for money.

 

I regularly watch on my TV through it's built in app, so, shy of setting up a PiHole there's no way around ad's.

This is the main reason I set up Pi-Hole to be honest.

The TV was becoming quite irritating.

 

It isn't perfect and you have to keep the lists up to date, but when you do, and 60% or so of the traffic is blocked, it is a better experience.

 

Also works on more than just Youtube.