If the first thing you see when you tap to play a YouTube video on your phone or tablet is the end of the video, there's no need to rush to see a neurologist. Just because you skipped the entire video doesn't mean you were drunk or high and don't remember watching it. It just means you likely have an ad blocker running on your device. You may remember that last Halloween, YouTube stepped up its attacks on ad blockers and expected users to sign up for a premium version of the app that didn't show ads.
Last October, YouTube pointed out that the use of ad blockers not only violated its terms of service, but also prevented creators from being compensated for their efforts. Google They took a different tactic and made YouTube videos load much slower unless the ad blocker was removed. As we approach June, Google's next step, as mentioned above, is to skip to the end of the user's selected video if an ad blocker is detected. Once the ad blocker is removed, YouTube will show the full video.
The video shows how YouTube content can be fully viewed for users who use ad blockers.
Redditor SDHD4K shared the video (
Very short Here's a screenshot from a video where the YouTube clip he wanted to watch was played to completion because of an ad blocker he had installed on his phone. Not all YouTube viewers who use ad-blocking software are prevented from watching videos. Some Reddit subscribers say that the video they wanted to watch would play on YouTube, but there would be no sound until they removed their ad blocker. When they adjusted the volume slider, the video's sound would play for a second, but then it would be muted again.
Weird behavior of new YouTube ad blocker – videos automatically skip to end
byu/SDHD4K on YouTube
Google isn't playing around, and it's understandable why the company is taking such a tough stance, considering ads served on YouTube brought in $8.09 billion in revenue for Google parent company Alphabet in the first quarter. Not only did YouTube's ad revenue grow 21% year over year in the first three months of this year, but it also accounted for roughly 10% of Alphabet's total revenue for the first three months of 2024.
Google wants you to sign up for ad-free YouTube Premium
But as mentioned above, this isn't just about Google getting paid for serving all these videos to viewers. This is also about rewarding content creators who can monetize their hard work and have an incentive to entertain their audience. Google is also trying to get you to pay for an ad-free YouTube Premium subscription. After a one-month free trial, you'll pay $13.99 for a one-month individual subscription, $22.99 per month for a family subscription that lets you add up to five family members, and $7.99 per month for a student subscription that requires you to verify your student status.
There's a workaround mentioned by Android Police that seems to work on both the mobile and desktop versions of YouTube. If you use a VPN and set your country to Albania, you won't see any ads as YouTube's ad platform doesn't yet support the Albanian language. Note that running a VPN will slow down your data speeds.
You might find YouTube ads annoying, but there are 86,400 seconds in a day, so even if you have to use up a few of them to watch a YouTube video, it's not a big deal overall.
