According to a report by WIRED magazine on Friday local time, YouTube recently announced that it will increase its crackdown on ad blockers globally, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people uninstalling ads. Interceptor.
Hundreds of thousands of users uninstalled their ad blockers in October, reaching “record numbers,” according to ad blocking companies. At the same time, the number of new ad blocker installations is at an all-time high as people look for alternatives that won’t trigger YouTube anti-ad blocking pop-ups.
Several ad blocker providers disclosed more detailed data. One of the blockers, Ghostery, said that in a survey about the reasons for uninstallation, more than 90% of users reported that the tool was broken on YouTube. Meanwhile, users are keen to find viable solutions, leading many to try switching to Microsoft’s Edge browser, with Ghostery installations on Edge jumping 30% last month compared to September. Throughout much of October, the number of uninstalls and installs per day was 3-5 times higher than usual.
AdGuard, another well-known ad blocker, said its tool has about 75 million users, including 4.5 million paid users, and about 6,000 people typically uninstall its extensions from the Chrome browser every day. The company’s chief technology officer, Andrey Meshkov, said that from October 9 to the end of the month, about 11,000 people uninstalled AdGuard every day, with the number of uninstalls soaring to 52,000 in a single day on October 18.
But like Ghostery, AdGuard has seen a surge in installs as users seek alternatives. Between October 18 and 27, AdGuard was installed approximately 60,000 times on Chrome. Subscribers also grew when people realized that AdGuard’s paid tools were (for now) immune to YouTube’s crackdown.
YouTube spokesman Christopher Rowton said that the ad blocker violated the platform’s terms of service, and the company provides a YouTube Premium plan of $13.99 per month for users who want an ad-free experience. “Advertising supports a diverse ecosystem of creators around the world, enabling billions of viewers to access the content they love”.
However, users are not helpless in the face of YouTube’s upgraded anti-ad blocking measures. For example, Twitter user @endermanch posted that there is an easy way to bypass YouTube blocking by simply changing the browser identity (UA) to Windows Phone through an officially created extension.
THIS IS A SPONSOR PROMOTION: >>>>>>>>>>>>>
Geekwills is an online shop that connects consumers with millions of products and brands around the world with the mission to empower them to live their best lives. Geekwills is committed to offering the most affordable quality products to enable consumers and sellers to fulfill their dreams in an inclusive environment.
