YouTubes and Ad-Blocker

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

That's the advantage to pihole. The ads can't load because their address won't resolve, so things are snappy. 

As near as I can tell, this is a partial block list on YouTube's main page. 23 items are blocked as soon as the page starts to resolve. The list gets much longer if you open a video. I can't tell if it's stopping the download as well as the display. Pages do load pretty quickly but I'm also running on a fairly fast connection. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Has something chaged with Pihole that allows it to block YT ads? I have a pihole server and it does nothing for Youtube. Obviously I run adblockers on my devices and don't use Youtube's native app (use SmartTube for the Shield/TV box, and NewPipe for Android), but I didn't think that PH worked for YT. 

All that said, I've occasionally received YT's finger-wagging about adblockers on my desktop when running either Firefox or Brave. 

In reply to brandonsmash :

It doesn't block YT ads in my experience. 

Since I'm running uBlock and Adblocker +, should I switch to just uBlock ? I'm an absolute luddite when I comes to behind the scenes dicking around when I comes to computers. I'm always afraid of manipulating things and then not being able to remember how to switch them back. Hell, I can't even find were to "purge cache" for the uBlock plug-in.

Currently using this addon plus uMatrix on Firefox and no warnings so far:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/adblock-for-youtube/

https://mybrowseraddon.com/adblocker-for-youtube.html

Also no warnings on another PC that only has that addon (to Firefox).

I'm convinced Google will soon only allow YouTube playback through official client apps and official Chrome builds with a DRM component though. And preventing adblockers from being used on YouTube is just the beginning. Google is an advertising company and doesn't like ad blocking anywhere.

Any time I access YouTube through a regular browser I'm amazed that anyone puts up with so many ads, it's as bad as cable TV.

Adblock Plus on Safari has been seamless for me.  However, I've noticed more and more YouTube channels are getting episodes sponsored by various companies, and are embedding ads in their videos or are doing product placement; some kind of green dietary drink, prepared meals delivered a box, and portable power stations seem to be popular sponsors recently.  

In reply to stuart in mn :

And I don't mind those.

My main purpose for an ad blocker is to prevent malware.  

I was using Chrome with Ublock origin (from who knows when) and got a "you can watch three videos and then the player won't work anymore" popup. Switched over to Firefox with Enhancer and it seems to have returned to normal. 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

My main purpose for an ad blocker is to prevent malware.  

Is malware through ads before youtube videos a risk?

Got my first one today:

Blocking XHR to YouTube seems to disable the warning, but also breaks YouTube search results...

stuart in mn said:

Adblock Plus on Safari has been seamless for me.  However, I've noticed more and more YouTube channels are getting episodes sponsored by various companies, and are embedding ads in their videos or are doing product placement; some kind of green dietary drink, prepared meals delivered a box, and portable power stations seem to be popular sponsors recently.  

I like to joke that antigravity products are so expensive because for every one you buy, they donate one to a super-rich influencer on camera

I've used firefox with uBlock Origin, and frequently with NoScript (though the latter isn't as needed in the last few years). I haven't seen an ad in years that isn't a baked-in sponsorship into a video. Also for those who know how to use F12:

GameboyRMH said:

stuart in mn said:

Adblock Plus on Safari has been seamless for me.  However, I've noticed more and more YouTube channels are getting episodes sponsored by various companies, and are embedding ads in their videos or are doing product placement; some kind of green dietary drink, prepared meals delivered a box, and portable power stations seem to be popular sponsors recently.  

I like to joke that antigravity products are so expensive because for every one you buy, they donate one to a super-rich influencer on camera

We get so many requests from "influencers".

"I'm starting a Miata build and am looking for sponsers. My YouTube channel has 12 subscribers so far but I swear it's gonna grow really fast. Can you give me $10k in parts?"

Just like how 15 years ago every magazine was building a Time Attack 1.6 Miata - except for GRM - and were begging for parts. And most of those magazines are gone now - except for GRM.

Got my first "Youtube will only let you play 3 more videos" warning today. Also noticed that more features now require Youtube's XHR and the warning popup does not.

Allowed XHR and blocked cookies on YouTube. Should get 3 more videos in perpetuity.

Me, too...

I mainly use Vivaldi for YouTube stuff and it looks like its built-in adblocker has now been detected as well. Used to be that it would just blank the screen during the pre-roll ad, but nope, got "the warning".

I guess the question is how paranoid I'm going to get. My Windows box has a couple of Linux VMs already in place, I might just go and watch YouTube in there using a dedicated browser. OTOH I don't want to jump through 300 hoops when interacting with my own YouTube channel.

In for whatever further discussion occurs on this. YT is our primary source of video entertainment, via an HTPC and TV, and I've been hopping from one browser with varying degrees of success. I almost wonder whether YT is going to Photobucket itself out of existence at some point.

Yeah, my setup is dead now too. There will be a fix at some point but not yet.

I've been able to view videos with YouTube cookies blocked. Recommendations and site preferences are totally broken though.

Anyone else thinking that it's about time to re-host videos elsewhere? I'm about ready to test out a PeerTube instance.

Ran across a relevant article:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/31/23940583/youtube-ad-blocker-crackdown-broadening

Oddly enough today I restarted my browser which cleared out my temporary rule blocking YouTube cookies, and I've seen no warnings at all yet.

A few days ago, I started getting the warning. It comes up for maybe 4-5 videos a day, and then it's gone. Adblock works great. 

I update Ad-Blocker Plus and clear cache almost daily. Pain in the ass, but it seems to work.

Seems like most of y'all want to continue to use YouTube with no/minimal ads like it was a decade ago. Unfortunately YouTube is a business that provides essentially a free data storage service for most of the world. They have to pay for that storage somehow, and right now that is through either ads or people ponying up for premium

That's also how the creators you like watching get paid. If I were to exaggerate a bit, running an adblocker on YouTube is pretty darn close to sneaking into a movie theater or pirating cable, because you're receiving the paid version of a service without ponying up the money (or attention on 30 seconds of ads)

I understand that not everyone has the $10-15 to spend a month on "free videos", but when you don't have cable and it's your main source of entertainment letting a few ads play is the least you can do to help support the company and creators that provide you that entertainment, as well as archive that huge knowledge base of car repair information we all love.

In reply to TheTallOne17 :

Ads or in video sponsorships. Not both. 

Now with more ads than cable, and equally unskippable and not relevant.

Creators also have patreon, only fans (no really it's not just for porn), twitch, beggar, straight up donation links, and in video sponsorships. And if you look at creator breakdowns, adsense doesn't pay E36 M3 compared to the sponsorships, despite being far more annoying than the sponsorships. 

So no, berkeleyem. 

And a giant berkeley you to whatever douchecanoe decided to make the setup 2 unskippable ads, video start, sponsorship bullE36 M3, 2 more unskippable ads, start of actual video content, then more ads every 90 seconds with more buried sponsorship speals in between.  Whoever did that can die in a chemical fire.