YouTube is cracking down on people who use advert blockers on its site in an attempt to drive users to sign up for its 'YouTube Premium' service. Speaking to The Verge, the video giant said it will be testing a new system that detects who is using the ad blockers and will give them two options to continue watching.
A Reddit user first reported encountering the test on June 28, telling others that YouTube is prompting users who are running ad-blockers to either turn them off and watch the ads or to subscribe to YouTube Premium. A spokesperson told The Verge it is currently running "a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium."
Google spokesperson, Oluwa Falodun, added: "Ad blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable ad blockers. We take disabling playback very seriously, and will only disable playback if viewers ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube."
