Many users took to social media to share that the streaming platform was now terribly laggy and unbearable to watch, forcing them to opt out of the free adblock experience and instead watch choppy content online. Let us take a look at how this came to be.

New Delhi: The war between YouTube and ad blockers started way back in June 2023, when viewers started getting pop-up notifications from YouTube, warning them that they would no longer be allowed to watch videos until they turned off the adblocker tools. Since then, the Tom & Jerry game has picked up the pace, with both adblock developers and YouTube finding their way around each other. Many users took to social media to share that the streaming platform was now terribly laggy and unbearable to watch, forcing them to opt out of the free adblock experience and instead watch choppy content online. Let us take a look at how this came to be.

Why use AdBlockers?

Ad blocking tools are available for users for an ad-free experience.

The first ad blocker was Internet Fast Forward, a Netscape Navigator plugin that was introduced by PrivNet and released in 1996. The aim was simple: back in the time when the internet was costly and not as easily accessible, adblocking tools would reduce page load time and save bandwidth for their users. So for all those who wanted to save their pockets from paying for unwanted bandwidth, ad blockers came to the rescue.

As the years passed, adblocking tools and advertisements found creative ways to get around each other. Enter YouTube ads! The streaming giant released their first in-video ads in August 2007, with pre-roll ads soon after in the year 2008.

Why Does YouTube Show ads?

Google’s YouTube is the world’s largest streaming platform.

YouTube, like any other platform, earns major revenue from running ads on it, acting as the mediator between the advertiser and the target audience. Given that it is the largest streaming platform in the world, it covers almost all topics, niches, and genres, again catering to both the advertiser and all people who might be interested in availing of the products or services. A few types of YouTube ads include their ‘Skippable in-stream ads,’ ‘In-feed video ads,’ and their ‘Non-skippable in-stream ads’.

Additionally, YouTube uses its business models, such as ‘Premium’ to earn money by offering ad-free viewing experiences to its users, offering them to choose from any of its different subscription plans.

YouTube vs AdBlockers

In June 2023, YouTube started preventing users using ad blockers from watching videos on its platform and experimented with pop-up warnings. A pop-up notification warned the users that after three consecutive videos, they would no longer be allowed to watch videos until they turned off their ad blockers.

Fast forward to January, where users report being terrible, choppy, and painfully slow and are forced to switch off their adblock tools. Users took to social media to report their experience and would rather watch ads or pay for the Premium subscription than watch the laggy content online on YouTube.

So for all the adblocker users, the question arises: ad-free YouTube is available with adblockers, but at what cost?While adblock developer have managed to find a workaround in the past, it remains to be seen how or what developments take place in the future between adblockers and YouTube.