When Ad Blockers Backfire: The Curious Case of YOUTUBE Videos Ending Prematurely

From a digital world full of ads intruding into the experience, the knights in digital armour came to be those applications known as ad blockers. Until recently, few had cause for complaint. But a spate of incidents on YOUTUBE in the past weeks have led to much discussion, worrying and other theories from the video site’s users. When people started reporting that their videos playing on YOUTUBE suddenly rolled to the end, a common thread emerged: users found they had installed ad blockers to make YOUTUBE experience better. In the peculiarly unpredictable narrative of technology, policy and user behaviour, we find an evolving story.

GOOGLE’s Tightrope Walk on YOUTUBE’s Ad Ecosystem

One of the biggest dominators of digital content is GOOGLE’s YOUTUBE. It is well-documented how GOOGLE is exceptionally good at selecting paths through these complex digital systems. However, the application of this approach is revealing itself in new ways – for example through how YOUTUBE responded to the ad blocker problem. That is, GOOGLE has to keep advertisers happy, but also make sure people like to use YOUTUBE, in order to sell the ads and make money.

The Ad Blocker Dilemma: A YOUTUBE Phenomenon

The crux of the situation involves consumers who have installed ad blockers to control what they see. In the past few months, these consumers have begun to experience a new, very specific problem: YOUTUBE videos that end right after they start playing. This particular problem seems to be affecting consumers with ad blocking software more than anyone else. It is a tech whodunit, and a tale about choice as well as company policy.

GOOGLE Responds to Ad Blocker Use

In other words, GOOGLE said: We don’t like ad blockers. Using them is a violation of YOUTUBE’s terms of service. Soon, however, it was growing so bad that YOUTUBE had to clarify its position about that video-jumping problem. In a statement to 9to5GOOGLE, the company says the problem is the result of ‘an effort to improve YOUTUBE performance … and is not intended to specifically target ad blocker users’.

The Tech Behind the Scenes

Turning back to the technical context, it’s worth noting that this bug shows up more often to users of some ad-​blockers, such as AdBlock. Earlier cases where AdBlock was blamed for UI hiccups on YOUTUBE also illustrate the strained relationship between content platforms, ad-blocking software, and optimisation of the user experience.

The User Perspective: Challenging the Status Quo

However, this has already led to an interesting response from users, as reflected in the comments for this image. The top comment, made by Lexie, illustrates the profound discontent with GOOGLE Chrome: ‘The only reason I haven’t switched to an alternate browser is because it simply hasn’t worked.’ The statement is followed by a long conversation about which browser is the best, and how users are now demanding an uncluttered internet experience.

GOOGLE and YOUTUBE: Navigating Future Pathways

The bedrock of the story that GOOGLE is telling about YOUTUBE and ad blockers is that it is trying to support content creators and a healthy advertising ecosystem, and that viewers who want an ad-free experience should use tools like YOUTUBE Premium. That parses into subtle improvements GOOGLE can make to its services to discourage people from taking unofficial paths – such as using ad blockers – to pay for the content they love and enjoy it without interruption.

The Great Digital Balancing Act

In the way it’s playing out with ad blockers and YOUTUBE, this is a microcosm of a broader debate about digital advertising, user control, and the industry’s future. The jiggering that GOOGLE is doing with YOUTUBE might be the first sign of a new wave of digital business practice attempting to square user experience with business need in the new economy.

GOOGLE's Pioneering Spirit: Beyond YOUTUBE

Beyond YOUTUBE, GOOGLE’s culture of innovation and user-centred design can be seen in its array of products and services, from the evolution of search, to artificial intelligence, virtual reality and beyond, all of which are adjusted regularly to stay in tune with users and other stakeholders.

About GOOGLE

Posing as a model of innovation, technology and cultural transformation, GOOGLE (at once a company and a synonym for the digital revolution) emerges as the primary example in an era when nearly everything seems to be digital. Initially an experiment in search engines, GOOGLE evolved into a conglomerate devoted to technology, AI and the cloud, as well as consumer electronics and, of course, digital content – with YOUTUBE as a vehicle for the dissemination of digital material. In the process, GOOGLE has provided us with some important stories about how to harness technology in our everyday lives.