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YouTube tests blocking videos unless you disable ad blockers
(www.bleepingcomputer.com)
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this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Technology
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I think many large corporations like Alphabet/Google are making their money as brokers of peoples personal data more so than ads directly on their sites.
Not that I don't believe ads are a big source of revenue, but YT has been chugging along just fine (and squashing its competitors) for decades without much trouble despite everyone and their grandmother having an ad blocker by now, so I find it hard to buy that they're suddenly struggling to make ends meet.
If it were a smaller site without much reach I might be more predisposed to believe it.
I'm pretty sure YouTube has always operated at a net loss (strictly in terms of revenue and expenses). But of course, the value of the data Google owns makes up for it.
Most people don't use ad blockers. Link below says 43% use them world wide, as per user reports. Ad blocking is (only) detected in 18% of web sessions on computers among American users. https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users
Interesting, most striking is that ad blockers are most prevalently used among age 16-24, I would've expected millenials to be a bit more savvy too.