Google’s main source of revenue is still ads, and it likely will continue to be, for many years to come. Advertising revenue accounts for something like 95% of Google’s total revenue. So it makes sense that they want to crack down on ad-blockers, especially on YouTube. Why? Because video ads pay more than static, text ads.
YouTube has already been cracking down on adblock users in the past, but now it’s testing out a new policy, that will give you three strikes before blocking the video player.
Some users are seeing the screen below. Which says that the “Video Player will be blocked after 3 videos”. It also gives you buttons for allowing ads on YouTube and for trying out YouTube Premium – Google’s own ad-free subscription for YouTube.
It’s an aggressive approach, but one that needs to happen
Let’s face it, hosting the many, many videos that YouTube hosts, as well as all the other features it has, is not free. And while we can opt to pay for YouTube Premium, it is still available as a free service. And that’s because of ads. So it’s a necessary evil to keep YouTube “free”.
Though it is a bit strange that YouTube is now going after adblockers, since this is not a new thing. Adblockers have been around for many, many years. And many used it to get around the many YouTube ads you’ll see on each video, without paying for YouTube Premium. So why now? Well, it’s likely because we’re in a recession and ad-spending is down. As mentioned already, ad revenue is a huge majority of Google’s overall revenue. So you mess with that, and Google isn’t happy.
YouTube Premium isn’t expensive, and is actually really worth the price. It’s $12 per month or $120 for the entire year, in the US. And that gets you YouTube Premium (with ad-free playback, unlimited downloads, background playback, and more), as well as YouTube Music Premium.
2023-06-30 15:12:07