Ads have always been annoying even when they were just small popups at the bottom of the screen. Now that they play during certain parts of a video without the option to close, people are using ad blockers to prevent them from appearing. YouTube, of course, is not happy about that.
YouTube Cracks Down on Ad Blockers
If you want to watch videos on YouTube without being interrupted by ads, then either you pay for the Premium subscription or watch it somewhere else because the company is no longer letting ad blockers slide. That goes for add-ons, extensions, or programs that make it possible.
The company claims that trying to get rid of the ads is a violation of YouTube's Terms of Service (TOS), a spokesperson said to Engadget. After all, it's through ads that the company still earns revenue even though there are users who still watch videos for free.
"We've launched a global effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience. Ads support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube," says the company.
The global crackdown is a significant move for YouTube, given that the streaming service only gave out warnings before that users can only watch three videos unless they remove the blockers. The company gave out those warnings back in June and not much has changed.
It's only now that YouTube is already showing pop-ups that warn users how they're violating the TOS. To make sure that the notification is actually read by users, there is a timer that counts down before it is closed, just like unskippable ads.
Users are not happy about the change, especially since YouTube raised its price for the Premium subscription. Previously $12, which was already too high for some users, is now at $14 per month.
Other Streaming Services Raised Their Prices
As if the $2 increase in YouTube's ad-free service is not bad enough, other streaming services are raising their prices as well. Just this October, Netflix also raised its subscription prices, even as it claims that its anti-password sharing policy was a success.
The Basic plan will now cost $11.99 a month, which is $2 higher than the previous price. As for the Premium plan, what was previously priced at $19.99 will now be $22.99, as reported by The Verge. This comes as a disappointment especially after Netflix abandoned its $10 Basic ad-free plan.
The same goes for Disney+ and Hulu as it raises its prices as well. From $15 per month, the subscription for the latter will now cost you $18 monthly. The former also implements a price hike as its subscription price goes from $11 per month to $14.
The prices continue to increase for the companies to be able to continue providing new content to their subscribers. Ironically, the increases in price are causing others to cancel their plans. Due to the new costs, others are choosing to give up some services to keep the others.
