Ytube and Ad blockers

[stevep]

  Has anyone else noticed messages turning up on Ytube?

Ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube

It looks like you may be using an ad blocker. Video playback will be blocked unless YouTube is allowlisted or the ad blocker is disabled.
Ads allow YouTube to be used by billions worldwide at no charge.
You can go ad-free with YouTube Premium, and creators can still get paid from your subscription.

  Not seen this before but cropping up the last few days.  Doesn't actually seem to do anything if you close the warning message and continue and doesn't always turn up.  For instance where Lordroel's given links to Templin Institute videos they don't seem to appear.  Has this happened to anyone else?
 

[Max Sinister]

I went there and didn't get any warning.

[stevep]

Sept 9, 2023 21:51:10 GMT Max Sinister said:

I went there and didn't get any warning.

  OK thanks for responding.  I suspect its some sort of scam.  Hopefully not a virus on my machine.  Will ask a mate I know tomorrow who's somewhat more computer savvy than me.

[stevep]

Well one development. Looking at a couple of videos just now and its displaying a count-down, saying only 3,2,1 videos will be allowed before they will be blocked. Since I've looked at a couple I will have to see what happens after the next one.

Steve

[kyng]

I found an interesting video, outlining why this policy might hurt revenue instead:



Basically, they can fall victim to something called the 'Cobra Effect' where attempts to fix a problem can make it worse (or create a new problem entirely). The effect takes its name from an story from early-1900s India, where the ruling British supposedly attempted to eradicate cobras by offering a bounty on every dead cobra. However, residents simply started breeding cobras, then killing them to collect the bounty. When the British caught on and cancelled the program, the breeders simply released the now-worthless cobras into the wild - and the cobra population was higher than before the start of the program.

In the case of ad blocking, most of the people who block ads were never going to click them anyway - so, the advertisers are actually getting a pretty good deal by only having their ads shown to people who are more likely to click them. Anti-adblock policies screw this up: forcing everyone to see ads will lower the click-through rate - and advertisers will see this, and will likely decide to take their adverts elsewhere instead.

Don't know whether this will happen, but it is a possible outcome!