YouTube skipping videos may be Google’s latest ad-blocking tech

Some viewers using ad-blockers on the web are seeing YouTube videos skip straight to the end of the clip, as well as similarly unusual behaviors, according to 9to5Mac, which cites complaints on Reddit. The skipping problem occurs even when trying to replay a video from the beginning, at best showing it for a moment. Trying to fast-forward to a specific segment may leave YouTube in an endless buffering cycle.

Disabling ad-blockers reportedly eliminates all of the above problems. Notably, they may appear the instant an ad-blocker is turned on, even when that’s done in the middle of a video. The existence of issues could depend on which blocker you’re using, however — while Adblock Plus triggers them, some people are watching uninterrupted using uBlock Origin.

Google’s war on ad-blockers

Google, which owns YouTube, has been gradually escalating its policy against ad-blockers, whether on the web or in third-party apps. In June 2023, it started warning people that it would cut off viewing after three videos if a blocking extension was detected. In April 2024 it adopted a tougher stance against third-party apps, threatening to remove API access for apps with built-in blocking technology. In fact it warned that people might encounter buffering or error messages, even in apps they’d already downloaded.

Google’s argument is that ad revenue not only supports YouTube as company — which needs the labor, servers, and bandwidth to support billions of uploads — but the many creators who make YouTube a full- or part-time career. When videos are monetized, a portion of ad income is split with creators, although some of them have complained that they need extra money from sources like Patreon in order to make a living. The only officially endorsed way of getting around ads is a subscription to YouTube Premium, which typically costs $14 per month but does offer perks like offline caching and YouTube Music.

The trouble for many people is that they’re already paying similar prices for multiple streaming services, such as Netflix and Disney+, and that Google has ramped up advertising in a way that can make YouTube unpleasant. Some ads are unskippable, and viewers may have to deal with (relatively) long interruptions even when watching clips under 20 minutes long. Other video services tend to have less obtrusive ad breaks.