YouTube Has Begun Punishing Ad Block Users by Slowing the Site Down, Users Say

[Tsing]

Redditors have sounded another alarm on YouTube, claiming that the Google-owned platform is now deliberately slowing its website down and stalling video playback for any user who is browsing with an ad blocker enabled.

See full article...

 

[Grimlakin]

I've heard they are also increasing compute load by a bit on all of these. Makes me wonder if Youtube is using add blocker punishment to run their own digi coin mining in code.

 

[MadMummy76]

Sure fire way to make people abandon youtube. I mean if the video keeps buffering and doesn't play properly what is your first thought? That this site sucks, or the servers can't keep up. Not that they must be punishing me deliberately. Not as if that would help.

 

[theblackangus]

Is this happening only on chrome? Does FF work w/o issue?

 

[Denpepe]

Just saw this and might explain a few things I noticed recently

 

[Brent_Justice]

Sure fire way to make people abandon youtube. I mean if the video keeps buffering and doesn't play properly what is your first thought? That this site sucks, or the servers can't keep up. Not that they must be punishing me deliberately. Not as if that would help.

That is a logical response, you would think it's the website, or maybe your computer. But then you'd see your computer is working fine on every other site and application, so you would then assume it's the site, and not visit it as much. That is logical.

 

[Brent_Justice]

Is this happening only on chrome? Does FF work w/o issue?

Have not tried it on FF, but I did try Brave, and it works just fine on Brave, super smooth.

 

[Denpepe]

My uncle has an adblocker and he can only watch 2 things on YT and then he's blocked unless he turns of his adblocker

 

[Grimlakin]

My uncle has an adblocker and he can only watch 2 things on YT and then he's blocked unless he turns of his adblocker

Your uncle needs a better blocker.

 

[MadMummy76]

Is this happening only on chrome? Does FF work w/o issue?

They are punishing FF users even without adblockers. There are literal timeouts built into the code that delay the loading of pages if you are on FF.

 

[David_Schroth]

They are punishing FF users even without adblockers. There are literal timeouts built into the code that delay the loading of pages if you are on FF.

I thought that was simply a feature of FF.. that's why I stopped using it a very very very long time ago...

 

[Dan_D]

The problem here is that Youtube's ads are entirely too intrusive. These ads appear during the content and there is nothing like watching a two minute video with a five minute ad right in the middle of it. Or more than one unskippable ad in a video that's 20 minutes. If I wanted to watch network TV and get interrupted 4 times in 30 minutes (to watch 22 minutes of an actual show) then I would actually tune into one of the networks.

 

[Brent_Justice]

Is that the fault of YouTube or the creator? As a creator, I know how ad placements work, the creator chooses where the ads fall in the video, how many, what time intervals, and what types of ads.

For example, you can set in your videos to add pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads. The creator can then either let YouTube automatically place mid-roll ads, or the creator can manually edit the ad placements and decide what times to show the ads, and how many mid-roll ads. In addition, the creator can decide if those ads are the kind you can skip, or not, and if they are bottom bar type ads, or full-screen ads, there are many different types, all configurable by the creator. The creator can also just disable mid-roll ads entirely, and just use pre-roll and post-roll ads, or even turn those off as well and have no ads.

Therefore, isn't the onus on the creator, and not YouTube?

 

[David_Schroth]

Is that the fault of YouTube or the creator? As a creator, I know how ad placements work, the creator chooses where the ads fall in the video, how many, what time intervals, and what types of ads.

For example, you can set in your videos to add pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads. The creator can then either let YouTube automatically place mid-roll ads, or the creator can manually edit the ad placements and decide what times to show the ads, and how many mid-roll ads. In addition, the creator can decide if those ads are the kind you can skip, or not, and if they are bottom bar type ads, or full-screen ads, there are many different types, all configurable by the creator. The creator can also just disable mid-roll ads entirely, and just use pre-roll and post-roll ads, or even turn those off as well and have no ads.

Therefore, isn't the onus on the creator, and not YouTube?

<shifty eyes>

YouTube is going to remove some ad controls for creators

YouTube has introduced a lot of recent updates to ads.

www.theverge.com

 

[DrezKill]

Is that the fault of YouTube or the creator? As a creator, I know how ad placements work, the creator chooses where the ads fall in the video, how many, what time intervals, and what types of ads.

For example, you can set in your videos to add pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads. The creator can then either let YouTube automatically place mid-roll ads, or the creator can manually edit the ad placements and decide what times to show the ads, and how many mid-roll ads. In addition, the creator can decide if those ads are the kind you can skip, or not, and if they are bottom bar type ads, or full-screen ads, there are many different types, all configurable by the creator. The creator can also just disable mid-roll ads entirely, and just use pre-roll and post-roll ads, or even turn those off as well and have no ads.

Therefore, isn't the onus on the creator, and not YouTube?

Oh wow, I didn't know any of that. I thought YT chose when and where to inject ads, and what types of ads. I had no idea that the creator gets to choose from so many options.

<shifty eyes>

YouTube is going to remove some ad controls for creators

YouTube has introduced a lot of recent updates to ads.

www.theverge.com

Oh well look at that.

 

[Brent_Justice]

<shifty eyes>

YouTube is going to remove some ad controls for creators

YouTube has introduced a lot of recent updates to ads.

www.theverge.com

That doesn't say anything about mid-roll ads though, I think most people will sit through a pre-roll ad, but don't like it if interrupted during a mid-roll ad in a weird place, or that is not skippable. That article says this is just for pre-roll and post-roll ads. Plus, the creator can still turn them off completely and does still have the option to select where mid-roll ads get placed, and how many. So far, my options have not changed for youtube ad placements and options.

 

[Grimlakin]

Youtube in many ways is worse than traditional FTA tv. They have greater ad density than any FTA tv I've ever consumed.

 

[Dan_D]

Is that the fault of YouTube or the creator? As a creator, I know how ad placements work, the creator chooses where the ads fall in the video, how many, what time intervals, and what types of ads.

For example, you can set in your videos to add pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads. The creator can then either let YouTube automatically place mid-roll ads, or the creator can manually edit the ad placements and decide what times to show the ads, and how many mid-roll ads. In addition, the creator can decide if those ads are the kind you can skip, or not, and if they are bottom bar type ads, or full-screen ads, there are many different types, all configurable by the creator. The creator can also just disable mid-roll ads entirely, and just use pre-roll and post-roll ads, or even turn those off as well and have no ads.

Therefore, isn't the onus on the creator, and not YouTube?

I have no idea. I've never messed with creating anything on or for Youtube.

Youtube in many ways is worse than traditional FTA tv. They have greater ad density than any FTA tv I've ever consumed.

That's how its always felt to me. The ads feel more constant and much more intrusive and annoying. If they ever find a way to disable ad blockers long term, I will stop using Youtube altogether.

 

[Brent_Justice]

Oh wow, I didn't know any of that. I thought YT chose when and where to inject ads, and what types of ads. I had no idea that the creator gets to choose from so many options.


Oh well look at that.

Yes, the Creator does have total control of ads, they can turn them off completely if they wish, or place them where they want, and how many. It's totally on the creator to decide, a lot of people think it is all YT, and it just isn't. It's a misunderstanding. In addition, YT will not show an ad to you if you have seen one in the last 5-8 minutes. For example, if you as a creator place an ad every 1 minute in a video, you won't see the ads every 1 minute, YT will not show you an ad if you've already seen one in the last 5-8 minutes or so, it's very individual based, on how many ads you've seen in the past few minutes, it won't force you to watch an ad every minute even if the creator set it up as such.

Here is an example of one of mine, this is the control over mid-roll ads we have, where to place them, and how many we want, and the options I can use.

I see there is a lot of confusion of how ads work on YT videos.

I've been making YT videos since 2011, and I can tell you it's 100% on the creator to decide ads, I've seen all the iterations of changes over time with options and controls for ads on YT.

Just know, there are 2 things happening:

Either A) The Creator has let YT decide mid-roll ad placements, which is an option you select as a creator. This tries to use an algorithm to determine the best break points for ads in a video. This is an option you as a creator have to set, and you can set it as the default operation.

Or B) The Creator has manually placed the ad there AND decided what types of ads are shown (skippable, non-skippable, etc...)

 

[MadMummy76]

That doesn't say anything about mid-roll ads though, I think most people will sit through a pre-roll ad, but don't like it if interrupted during a mid-roll ad in a weird place, or that is not skippable. That article says this is just for pre-roll and post-roll ads. Plus, the creator can still turn them off completely and does still have the option to select where mid-roll ads get placed, and how many. So far, my options have not changed for youtube ad placements and options.

Nah, I find pre-roll ads much more annoying than mid roll ads. If I click on a video and immediately get an unskippable ad, I'm outta there instantly. At least let me watch some of why I'm there before shoving an ad in my face.

As for mid roll ads, most of what I get is skippable within 5-7 seconds, or not skippable but only lasts 15-20 seconds in total. I rarely get ads that are longer and not skippable at the same time. These are still only 40-50 seconds, far better than 5-10 minute ad breaks on regular cable TV. At least this is how it is on my samsung smart "monitor", I use adblockers everywhere else.