One of YouTube's most irksome ad formats is finally going away April 6

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Content source

https://www.neowin.net/news/one-of-youtubes-most-irksome-ad-formats-is-finally-going-away-april-6/

Unless you subscribe to YouTube Premium, you have to deal with watching video ads when you want to check out the latest viral clip on Google's streaming video service. However, one very annoying ad format will be taking its last bows next month.

In a post on YouTube's support site (via Android Police), the service announced that it will no longer support what it calls the "Overlay ads” ad format. Those are the banner ads that show up on the bottom of your YouTube video. However, they only were seen by people who accessed YouTube on the desktop website.

The overlay ads will officially disappear on April 6. Frankly, we don't understand why those ads shouldn't be taken down immediately, but perhaps there are contracts with ad agencies that might delay their disappearance until next month.

Google's YouTube division will likely see some more changes in 2023 under its new leader Neal Mohan. Earlier in March, he posted some of his plans for the business in the next year. That includes expanding revenues for both YouTube and its creators beyond ads. He plans to add more support for subscriptions, additional shopping options, and more.

One of YouTube's most irksome ad formats is finally going away April 6

The overlay ad banners that are only visible on YouTube videos to desktop viewers will no longer show up starting April 6. YouTube admits this ad format was "disruptive for viewers."

www.neowin.net

 

[Jonny Quest]

The annoying ads were one of my main reasons for going premium for my notebook and PCs. It sounds like a bit of a start in the right direction.

 

[Trident]

They will remove the banner and increase the time ads are displayed before a video starts. It is currently 20 seconds! Soon it will be a minute [assumption]

 

[HarborFront]

I'm using NewPipe. It contacts YT directly, so exposing your IP address. However, like me, if you use Always-On VPN then it's a non-issue

It can download 4K video like YT Revanced. One thing is that the NewPipe app has no trackers. YT Revanced app has some trackers as below

Alternatively, can try LibreTube. It's FOSS. Can download 4K videos, has no trackers and works through a proxy to YT, so not exposing your IP address. Don't use a VPN here, otherwise it can cause stuttering videos

 

[jackuars]

I'm using NewPipe. It contacts YT directly, so exposing your IP address. However, like me, if you use Always-On VPN then it's a non-issue

It can download 4K video like YT Revanced. One thing is that the NewPipe app has no trackers. YT Revanced app has some trackers as below

Alternatively, can try LibreTube. It's FOSS. Can download 4K videos, has no trackers and works through a proxy to YT, so not exposing your IP address. Don't use a VPN here, otherwise it can cause stuttering videos

I've used them all. The reason why I still use Revanced/Vanced derivatives is because it has a better layout than NewPipe and it shows recommendations based on behavior instead of showing random videos, which I'm not interested in (like in NewPipe, Skytube, Libretube)

I also have Blokada (adblocker) with filter lists enabled on my Android phone to take care of trackers and other stuff. Exposing my IP address is not a big deal for me.

 

[plat]

Well this is lovely...NOT.

As first spotted by a Reddit user this week, YouTube will display a pop-up warning some users that "ad blockers are not allowed."

"It looks like you may be using an ad blocker. Ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide," the message adds.

Upon receiving this notification, users will have two options: either disable their ad blocker to allow YouTube ads or consider subscribing to YouTube Premium to get rid of all advertisements.

Emphasizing that this is still in the testing phase.

YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers

YouTube is running an experiment asking some users to disable their ad blockers or pay for a premium subscription, or they will not be allowed to watch videos.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

I watch YouTube for a few techie's posts and the odd 'How To' video.

I'm sure I'll survive without either if worst comes to worst.

I use DuckDuckGo which has an ad free YouTube viewer natively, so no current problems anyway.

 

[brambedkar59]

That's a fake website. Correct one is this: ReVanced

Be careful there are a lot of those fake websites. There is a chance you will get malware/spyware from those other websites.

Spoiler

 

[Mr.X]

Is ReVanced MicroG still required to use ReVanced apps?
If so what github repository is legit?

 

[plat]

Well this is lovely...NOT.

AdGuard to the rescue! Could Mr. Hill be far behind w/uBO? Mmm, maybe asking for too much. But one can hope.

Spoiler

 

[brambedkar59]

Is ReVanced MicroG still required to use ReVanced apps?
If so what github repository is legit?

I think you need to install it only if you want to login with Google account, not 100% sure though.

Releases · TeamVanced/VancedMicroG

MicroG tweaked to work for applications such as Vanced. - TeamVanced/VancedMicroG

github.com

Link taken from this guide.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

No. Just no! I refuse to use sites who block adblockers. I'm sure uBlock and Addguard and NextDns will have ways to get around this and still block adds on YouTube. I can't see Google implementing this to all users but I would never trust YouTube with privacy, it's a advertising company after all. It will turn away millions of users and mean less visits. It's like MV3, there will be pushback and it will get delayed and delayed some more.