YouTube crackdown on Ad Blockers: Sluggish videos? This might be the reason

YouTube may be throttling playback for ad blocker users, while also preparing to roll out longer, unskippable ad formats

Google-owned YouTube is reportedly upping its game against consumers using ad-blockers. According to a report by 9To5Google, YouTube has begun slowing down videos for ad blocker users. Additionally, the report claims that the video streaming giant is also preparing for longer ad formats.

 

YouTube has been conducting a crackdown on ad blockers for a long time now. Earlier this year, users running ad blockers on YouTube began experiencing sluggish video loading, unresponsive pages, and other performance issues. At that time, YouTube pointed to a bug in a widely used ad blocker as the cause, as reported by 9To5Google. Now, a similar problem appears to be resurfacing.

 

YouTube users who use ad blockers have recently encountered buffering issues, a bit more than usual. Business Standard was able to verify this independently as well. As per the 9To5Google report, a pop-up has also been spotted, which links to a YouTube support page where the platform warns against the use of ad blockers.

The message reportedly read: “Check whether your browser extensions that block ads are affecting video playback. As another option, try opening YouTube in an incognito window with all extensions disabled and check if the issue continues.”

 

This combination is now being interpreted as YouTube now taking stricter action against ad blockers by intentionally slowing down videos.

YouTube gearing up for longer ad format

According to SearchEngineLand, YouTube is currently beta testing an expansion of 30-second unskippable ads to standard ad campaigns, which could make the longer format more widely accessible to advertisers. Previously, regular campaigns were capped at 15-second unskippable spots. One advertiser who encountered the test expressed concern, suggesting that 30 seconds might be overly disruptive for viewers, as reported by SearchEngineLand.

 

YouTube is also experimenting with running 15-second unskippable ads in combination with short bumper ads. While 30-second unskippable ads have been available on YouTube's TV interface since 2023, this new move could lead to them appearing more frequently across the platform, SearchEngineLand reported.