YouTube is intensifying its battle against ad blockers. Recently, SponsorBlock revealed that YouTube is experimenting with server-side ad injection among a select group of users. This method embeds ads directly into the video stream before it reaches your device, as opposed to client-side injection, where ads are sent separately, making it more challenging for ad blockers to detect and remove them.
SponsorBlock noted that this change disrupts their service by offsetting all timestamps due to the inserted ads. A Google spokesperson appeared to confirm the test, stating that YouTube is “improving its performance and reliability in serving both organic and ad video content,” acknowledging that this could result in “suboptimal viewing experiences” for users with ad blockers.
Google reaffirmed that ad blockers breach YouTube’s Terms of Service and recommended that users subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience. This move is part of YouTube’s ongoing strategy to counter ad blockers, including a previous rollout of a pop-up message that prevented video playback unless ad blockers were disabled.
Krzysztof Modras from Ghostery highlighted that YouTube, as a major publisher, frequently updates its methods to circumvent ad blocking. Meanwhile, AdGuard pointed out that server-side ad injection has already been used in YouTube’s mobile apps and expressed optimism that the ad-blocking community will develop new solutions to tackle this challenge.
