YouTube, for some time now, has been cracking down on ad-blockers. Now YouTube is expanding its crackdown from ad-blockers to apps on your phone or tablet that lets you watch YouTube without ads.
“The use of ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service,” said a Google spokesperson to cord cutters news when the crackdown started. “We’ve launched a global effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience. Ads support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube.”
Now YouTube has announced its crackdown on apps on your phone that does the same thing.
Hi everyone,
We’re strengthening our enforcement on third-party apps that violate YouTube’s Terms of Service, specifically ad-blocking apps.
Viewers who are using these third-party apps may experience buffering issues or see the error “The following content is not available on this app” when trying to watch a video. We want to emphasize that our terms don’t allow third-party apps to turn off ads because that prevents the creator from being rewarded for viewership, and Ads on YouTube help support creators and let billions of people around the world use the streaming service. We also understand that some people prefer an entirely ad-free experience, which is why we offer YouTube Premium.
We only allow third-party apps to use our API when they follow our API Services Terms of Service, and when we find an app that violates these terms, we will take appropriate action to protect our platform, creators, and viewers.
This comes as YouTube pushes its YouTube Premium subscribers that lets people enjoy ad-free YouTube plus other features like offline viewing. Earlier this year, though, YouTube Premium has started to contact users who appear to be sharing their premium subscriptions with others. In the emails (an example can be seen on Reddit HERE), they let the customers know that they are suspected of password sharing. If the owner doesn’t reply to the email and agree to stop sharing, YouTube will put their Premium subscription on hold.
This all comes as YouTube has been bolstering its efforts to stop viewers from using ad-blockers on its platform as the extensions violate YouTube’s terms of service. The company earlier this year touted a “global effort” to stamp them out.
The effort to force out ad-blockers, which cut into its ad-generated revenue, is taking hold. Google posted third-quarter ad-revenue from YouTube of $7.95 billion, compared with $7.07 billion a year earlier.
The ad-blocker crackdown also aims to drive viewers to the company’s paid tier, YouTube Premium. The site has been relentless in offering users the option to switch to the Premium tier.
YouTube Premium offers users an ad-free experience for $13.99 a month, as well as family and student plans. With a subscription, customers can also download videos for offline viewing and access YouTube Music Premium.
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