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Streaming ads are an inevitability. They interrupt our Netflix binges, cut into Hulu dramas, and disrupt our Spotify playlists. They also support the content-creation economy on YouTube. With 2.5 billion monthly active users worldwide, YouTube brings in the big bucks without asking users to pay. That's great for creators and viewers—until the fourth consecutive advertisement runs, and you're starting to forget what you're actually watching.
For some, commercial breaks are simply the cost of doing (free) business. But for most, YouTube advertising is obtrusive and frustrating, and the platform is making it harder to get around them, which is why creators can now grant ad-free windows to their biggest fans. So, what can you do to make watching online videos a little more tolerable in between ad breaks? Fortunately, there are still ways to escape these pesky ads.
1. Wait a Few Seconds
Thankfully, the majority of in-stream ads that play before or during a YouTube video are short—usually 15 seconds or less—and are easily skippable. Which, honestly, is a pretty good compromise between watching and avoiding ads. Just wait five seconds until the Skip Ads button appears, click it, and move on with your day. There's just one catch: The clip no longer counts for the video maker.
If you immediately hit Skip Ads, it's no longer considered, as YouTube calls it, an "engaged-view conversation," and the creator won't receive any of the ad money they would have earned if you had watched the whole thing. To meet that requirement, you'll have to watch at least 10 seconds of the ad. To ensure they get what's owed to them, creators can make ads unavoidable. You might also encounter longer ad breaks on smart TVs.
(Credit: PCMag / YouTube)2. Report the Ad
If you're seeing the same ad over and over and wish to be free, you can report it. During the pre-roll ad on a YouTube video, tap Tab + Enter on your keyboard to prompt the "About This Ad" box with details on why you're seeing the ad and who's behind it. Choose Stop seeing this ad, and you'll see a warning that the particular advertisement shouldn't appear again. Keep in mind, though, that this won't stop you from seeing content in the future from the same advertiser.
Click Report this ad, and you'll be redirected to a new page, where you can report the advertiser for violating YouTube's policies on trademarks, counterfeit goods, or even just showing multiple ads (which is against the company's "unfair advantage" policy). While this won't mean the end of ads, it will limit exposure to those that aren't tailored to you. Or, if you hate the customization aspect (because it requires too much tracking of your online actions), turn ad personalization to Off.
(Credit: PCMag/YouTube)3. Pay for YouTube Premium
- Individual: $15.99 per month
- Student: $8.99 per month
- Family (five people, plus yourself): $26.99 per month
YouTube Premium is the same as YouTube—just without ads. This is the most legal and ethical way to skip YouTube ads, as it ensures the folks who make the videos you watch still get paid. Bundled with YouTube Music Premium, it lets subscribers play ad-free content, play songs in the background, and download videos to watch later. That freedom from ads extends to YouTube mobile and smart TV apps. And it strips out commercials on shares you make to YouTube Kids.
(Credit: YouTube)That said, it just got a price hike. Premium is now $15.99 per month or $159.99 per year (up from $13.99 and $139.99) after a one-month free trial. The Premium Lite tier is also now $1 more expensive at $8.99 per month. It includes ad-free viewing of most content, plus offline downloads and background play, but there's no YouTube Music access.
For household viewing, the Family plan covers up to five other people for $26.99 per month. Students can get it for $8.99 per month. If the price seems too steep, a Google One Premium plan includes 25% off YouTube Premium. Verizon also offers a cheaper plan with eligible mobile and home internet plans.
There are caveats: Premium isn't available everywhere, so if you travel to an unsupported region, you may see ads when your geographic location is identified (usually via your IP address). A VPN that spoofs your location will probably fix this. You may also see ads in embedded YouTube videos if you're on a site that blocks browser cookies. To avoid that, make sure you're signed in with the Google account used when signing up for YouTube Premium.
4. Block Ads (If You Still Can)
You were once free to use an ad blocker on Chrome, but after years of tests aimed at blocking users with an ad blocker installed, Google has declared all-out war on those who would deprive the company of its precious ad dollars, including the phaseout of "Manifest V2" extensions to disable several popular ad blockers.
Many developers updated their extensions to be compatible with Google's Manifest V3 API. If your ad blocker of choice has stopped working, try another one. For those mourning the loss of uBlock Origin, uBlock Origin Lite remains in the Chrome Web Store. Others, such as Privacy Badger and Ghostery, are also worth trying.
(Credit: PCMag)5. Switch Browsers
If you're sick of trying to keep up with the latest ad block meta on Google Chrome, alternative browsers like Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi have built-in features that block ads—including YouTube ads—by default. By switching to one of these browsers, you may be able to circumvent the ad-block ban on YouTube. Brave, for example, uses its Shields feature to block ads out of the box. You can adjust the controls to allow ads or block them more aggressively right from the browser window.
(Credit: PCMag)Firefox doesn't have built-in ad blocking, but it's the only major browser not based on Chromium, so its extensions are unaffected by Google. Ad blockers like uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and others can be installed from the Mozilla Add-Ons store and should all work as intended.
(Credit: PCMag)6. Unlock Add-Free Content With a VPN
A VPN isn't just for maintaining your online security and privacy. Since it diverts your web traffic through remote servers at a pre-selected location, many people also use it to unlock content on Netflix and other services from different regions. This same trick can also be used on YouTube to remove ads. Since YouTube only shows ads in certain countries, any location outside of this list doesn't show ads. By setting your location to one of these locations, you can bypass advertisements on the platform. Albania seems to be the preferred location for this trick, but Cambodia, Russia, Syria, Uzbekistan, and many others will also work.
7. Try YouTube Clones
The above methods are best for desktop use, but it's hard to block YouTube ads in the official mobile app. If you're not too attached to brand names, though, there are a few programs that provide an approximation of the video-streaming interface. Many work on Android devices and streaming hubs, such as Amazon's Fire TV devices, since they run a variant of Android—you just need to be able to sideload apps, which has become increasingly difficult, though restrictions are easy again.
You typically won't find them in a legitimate app store like Google Play, but the upside of using one is that they strip out ads. If you install programs like SmartTubeNext, NewPipe, SkyTube, or ReVanced, keep in mind that they may not last forever. In 2022, Google threatened YouTube Vanced with legal action, forcing the project to shut down, a fate any of these other tools could face.
(Credit: SmartTubeNext)8. Download Your Favorites
If there are videos you return to time and again but hate being interrupted by ads, download them from YouTube to store on your machine. This does take money away from creators, but you're probably not running completely afoul of Google's terms of service—or the law, for that matter—if it's for personal use. For the full how-to, read our YouTube video download tutorial. For music lovers, there's also a way to save your favorite songs as MP3 files using a converter.
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