Recently, YouTube has begun showing pop-ups to users who use adblocks. As we know, YouTube mainly relies on its ad network to keep its platform free, although YouTube Premium does exist. Ads and sponsorships are the reason most of the content on the Internet is free. With adblocking, you cut a respectable income, especially from the smaller sites. So, if you want to keep the flame alive, be moderate where you use adblocking.
It is the best practice to utilize it in suspicious Sites that are known to host malvertising or irritating ads, but not everywhere. We learned to have everything free, but we don’t respect what we should. And not every adblocker out there is innocent. Some are known for shady practices. The problem with YouTube, though, is its irritating overlaying ads to some users. So, for those who can’t stand YouTube ad campaigns and still want to use the platform, this article is for them. Although I am not in favor of banning all ads for reasons I mentioned already, knowledge is knowledge. So please consider it twice before you do it.
How to
There are several ways to achieve it. Revanced is an example. Other options include cheap YT Premium plans. But the most cost-effective and straightforward way is an Adblock. The two most popular and effective are UBlock and Adguard. Although you can use them interchangeably, we will check the Adguard way with some browser-tweaking. Chrome and Firefox are popular browsers, and this trick still works well.
In Chrome, we deactivate the third-party cookies, and we allow the Adguard extension in Private mode, installing it through the Chrome store. It is always best to have the non-track mode of the browser on, strict protection, and keep it tidy and clean. We also have Chrome telemetry off by choosing not to contribute to Chrome studies and improvements. The same goes for Firefox. Private mode on, strict mode, no third-party cookies, studies, etc. When we install the Adguard extension, we choose the following filters and update them regularly:
- Adblocking section: Adguard Basic and Mobile Ads filter
- Privacy: Adguard filter
- Widgets: Adguard filter
- Annoyances: Adguard filter, Adblock Warning Removal List, I don’t care about cookies, AdGuard Pop-ups
- Others: Adguard DNS filter
Optionally, we can activate Protection filters, but it is unnecessary for what we care about in this article. For the same reasons, we can install the PopUp Blocker Strict extension for annoying popups-popunders, which are not a thing for YouTube. That’s it! You can now enjoy YouTube (and not only) without ads. Also, you might notice that some Sites are loading faster. Note, tho, that if you are in an old/ low-spec device, you should better inactive some filters for performance reasons. We mention Chrome and Firefox, but the same rules apply to other browsers, as well. Keep in mind that if you visit sensitive and important Sites such as your e-banking, it is better to do it in Private Mode and without any active extensions. But these are optional pieces of advice, independent of YouTube. Knowledge is knowledge, tho.
Some thoughts
As I already mentioned, the Internet heavily depends on ads for offering free content. So, if you visit suspicious Sites, an Adblock and pop-up extension is vigilant. But if you visit legit Sites, it is best to deactivate your adblock. Moreover, YouTube ads are an income for your favorite content creators. Keep in mind that Google might prohibit adblock extensions, although that doesn’t seem possible because of the competitive browsers. It might be more feasible to be whitelisted by the adblockers. What YouTube should consider better is its ad-campaign model. Overlaying ads or long-duration ads are annoying.
The same goes for frequent ads in a video. No, 6-minute ads as a whole or long-duration ads are not an option. You can’t watch a 10-minute video with a 6-minute ad duration. It is reasonable. So, YouTube should reconsider some things. But, if I want to be completely honest with you, I don’t think ad loss is the real deal here. I honestly believe that YouTube intends to grow its YT Premium subscription database. Just my two cents, tho. Nevertheless, I hope this article is helpful to you. As always, stay safe, and stay in the know!
