Since launching in February 2005, YouTube has mostly been a free platform. The video streaming website has been the top choice for many content creators for many years now. On the other hand, viewers have turned to YouTube for most video contents. The platform provides several videos from different categories. Whether it’s sports, technology, education, news and many more.
As a free platform, YouTube makes most of its income from advertising. Hence, it is either you deal with the ads or subscribe to premium version in order to enjoy the platform without ads. However, some users of the platform engage in certain practices that seem to have negative impact on YouTube’s business. The use of ad blockers on the platform has been a problem to the Google owned platform for some time now.
Finally, YouTube has been able to come up with a solution to tackle the use of ad blockers. The company is aware of the impact of ad blockers which has forced it to seek for a solution to that.
YouTube is About to Crack Down on Ad Blockers 
YouTube is currently testing a new three-strike rule for ad blockers. This will help address the impact they have on the profitability of the website. This comes as a lot of internet users either use ad blockers or opt for the ad-free experience offered by the Premium tier. The goal is to limit the use of ad blockers and ensure the sustainability of the platform.
What Happens When a User Refuses to Disable Ad Blockers?
According to a company official, YouTube is conducting a global experiment. The company aims to encourage users to disable ad blockers when watching videos on the platform. As part of this experiment, users may receive prompts urging them to disable their ad blockers. In certain cases where users consistently ignore these prompts, temporary bans on video playback may be implemented as a measure. However, it’s important to note that disabling video playback will be applied if users consistently ignore the prompt. This is being done as a means to address the impact of ad blockers on the website’s profitability.
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How YouTube Three-Strike Works for Viewers
When a viewer is viewing a YouTube video using an ad blocker, YouTube issues a warning in the form of a pop up. The pop-up notification advises the user to disable the ad block or gets limited number of views. YouTube limits the number of videos a person can view to just three videos if they refuse to disable the ad blocker. The notification states:
“Video player will be blocked after 3 videos – It looks like you may be using an ad blocker. Video playback will be blocked unless YouTube is allowed, or the ad blocker is disabled.”
Effect of the YouTube Three-Strike on Content Creators
As I stated earlier, YouTube is mostly free because the company makes its income from advertisements. The company shares this income with the content creators on whose content the ads are displayed. This means that the more viewers view and interact with ads, the more content creators and YouTube make money. Therefore, ad blockers go the long way to reduce YouTube’s income as well as that of content creators. With the YouTube three-strike in place, content creators can now get the income that comes with the number of views they get.
YouTube emphasizes that the detection of ad blockers is not new. The platform has always had policies against the use of ad blockers. However, the use of ad blockers is increasing each day, which affects the profitability of the company. This has forced the video sharing platform to enforce the rule in order to keep their income stable. It is possible that some users may be falsely flagged for using an ad blocker during this enforcement. In such cases, YouTube provides a link in the message to gather user feedback and address potential errors or misunderstandings. This feedback mechanism allows users to report and resolve any rare cases of false detection.
