Reports suggest that Google is testing a new option to increase eyes on ads and the playtime of ads on YouTube.
The latest test targets the skip button in the mobile app and on the YouTube website.
Good to know. Skip allows you to end several ad formats prematurely, usually after five seconds of playtime.
Obfuscation of the skip button is Google’s latest attempt to push ads. The company is also at war with content blockers and third-party interfaces, and the users who use them.
Apart from that, it continues to push new ad formats, including longer playing ads, pause ads, and unskippable ads, to more and more viewers.
Though shall not skip ads, says Google
The latest test obfuscates the skip button on YouTube while ads are playing. A screenshot published on Reddit shows the trick clearly.
Skip is still available, but it is barely visible. If you do not know what to look for, you may not notice that skip continues to be available.
Tip: at least on PC, you can use a content blocker to get rid of ads on YouTube.
I could not replicate this on several devices. It is possible that Google is running limited tests to evaluate the response of YouTube users. Another possibility is that the company is rolling out the feature to all users over time.
Google’s YouTube strategy
Google has two main revenue sources when it comes to YouTube:
- Ads
- Premium subscriptions.
While Google continues to test the boundaries regarding ads on the site, it is a the same time pushing Premium subscriptions. Users who are fed up with ads and not tech-savvy enough to use alternatives, may subscribe to Premium to get rid of ads.
Do you watch videos on YouTube? If so, what is your take on ads? Or are you a Premium subscriber? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
Just lately, every time I’ve tried to use Invidious to watch a yt video the message, “Sign in to confirm you’re not a bot” appears on a black background. This seems to be Google’s latest attempt to prevent users from circumventing the youtube site and watching videos some other way.
Of course I never sign in since that would mean surrendering to the wankers and I refuse to do that.
I often rely on YouTube for information and reviews on products I’m looking to buy and for six subscriptions about my lifestyle and hobby interests I’ve enjoyed for years.
I use my Roku TV, where I have no choice but to watch the ads, logged in to my account, of course, and on my Windows 10 PC, no login, where I have a Firefox ad blocker disabled for YouTube. In monitoring the PC outbound connections, I’m comfortable with the relatively low number of recognizable benign host domains. (YouTube is not the only web site where I’ve disabled ad blocking.)
Over the past year, the ads have increased and become relentless and overbearing. If I had to come up with a value for the same ads I’ve had to sit through *100’s* of times, I’d say about 90% of ’em. Ironically, there is no (zip, nada, zero) ad that has ever sparked a purchase interest or presented a product I would ever buy.
News is readily available with nearly illimitable perspective all over the web, so zero value in YouTube.
Considering 98% of YouTube is otherwise tasteless garbage, $14 a month borders on the surreal. I wish shorts and unboxing could be filtered out in searches. That said, I subscribe to ad-free Hulu, Diz, Max and Prime.
I’ve had YouTube TV for about five years and I think teh google should offer a highly discounted add-on subscription (say, $2.99/month) for loyal TV subscribers.
Sadly, I was so naive when I first subscribed to YouTube TV back then, I thought YouTube content could be viewed in the former’s app and web site…