YouTube is taking a tougher stance against ad blockers, forcing users to watch ads or subscribe to YouTube Premium. The company has launched a “global campaign” to display alerts to users that ad blockers violate its terms of service and, in some cases, stop users from watching more videos unless they turn off ad blocks.
Despite targeting ad blockers, YouTube continues to display ads about ad blockers on its service.
The company has been trying to increase its number of paying users, which currently stands at 80 million across Music and Premium levels. In the past, it has experimented with asking users to pay to view videos in 4K quality or showing multiple non-skippable ads for a seamless experience.
In May, YouTube added 30-second non-skippable ads to TVs, and in September, it began testing longer but fewer ads for long-form content.
Have you noticed any changes in how YouTube is handling ad blockers recently? What do you think of this new approach?
