Users are noticing that their YouTube videos are taking longer to start. This strange behavior may not be a simple bug. The cause could well come from a tool that many use without thinking.
For months, YouTube has been increasing its measures to block or bypass ad blockers. Warning messages, interrupted playbacks, and offline access restrictions: the platform is exploring several ways to protect its advertising revenue, which is essential for funding creators. The latest technique: an intentional slowdown of video loading for certain users equipped with a blocker. The goal is no longer simply to prevent playback, but to frustrate users enough that they deactivate their extension themselves.
Testimonies published on Reddit and the Brave browser forums report that videos sometimes take several seconds to start. The player doesn't seem to launch until the theoretical end of an ad. A message may appear during this wait, inviting you to "disable extensions" or to test playback in incognito mode. While YouTube hasn't officially confirmed this, this isn't the first time slowdowns have been observed with an active ad blocker.
YouTube is testing a new way to discourage ad blockers
According to its official help page, YouTube warns that using ad blockers violates its terms of service and may result in a "suboptimal viewing experience." The company advises disabling all extensions or switching to a private window. Some even suspect that the slowdown is specifically targeting accounts with a history of using ad blockers, a method that is difficult to detect and harder to bypass for traditional extensions. This type of strategy could also be coupled with server-side ad injection techniques, making blockers less effective.
In this context, YouTube is pushing even more towards its paid subscriptions. The YouTube Premium Lite offer, at €5.99 per month, is becoming less attractive: it will soon no longer prevent ads on Shorts, a very popular format. The price hasn't changed, but the main advantage is crumbling. Conversely, the full YouTube Premium remains ad-free, but costs nearly €12 per month. Between forced slowdowns, access limitations, and a reduction in free options, the platform is multiplying its levers to encourage users to abandon blockers.
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