YouTube unblockable ads are irritating users

Uh oh. YouTube's hands have been caught as red as their logo.

Reddit users recently found that their ad blockers aren't removing ads from the video platform anymore. Instead, the platform's replacing the ads with several seconds of 'unskippable nothingness.'

This suggests YouTube is injecting ads directly into video streams. It's an apparent attempt to outsmart ad blockers (and users who refuse to pay for YouTube Premium).

If you're running ads on YouTube, this may seem like great news for you. But your audience may not be very happy about seeing your ads, despite using an ad blocker.

So how's YouTube pulling this off?

It all lies in the code.

Put 'simply' (with BIG quotation marks), ads that show up on YouTube, either as videos or rotating GIFs, are elements plugged into the website that are separate from the video you're watching.

It's these elements that ad blockers target and block when you first open the page.

However, what YouTube's done is attach the element supporting video ads directly to the element supporting the actual video.

That way, when ad blockers go after the ad on the page, they end up attacking the video, too. This means you just see an empty black box and loading circle that lasts the length of a normal ad.

At this point, ad block users have 2 options. Either switch off the tool and embrace the ads, or sit in YouTube purgatory for a few seconds.

Does it pay to be sneaky?

While this is arguably a clever win for advertisers, you might want to think it through before going all-in with YouTube ads.

The platform's non-premium users, their largest audience, haven't taken this decision very well. Users haven't been impressed with other recent updates, such as unskippable ads and increased ads in general, either.

If you are going to advertise on YouTube, here are our suggestions:

It'll pay to have ads that are - to be frank - good. Make sure people will actually resonate with them, and, if appropriate, make them a bit fun! That way, viewers might actually be fine with watching them all the way through.

Otherwise, it might be worth rethinking your ad strategy. Consider where your audience engagement comes from and where they hang out online. If they're not using YouTube to listen to 70s Japanese jazz-funk and city pop (like this writer currently is), then it might be worth slapping your ad up somewhere else, instead!

-Devin, Copywriter