Jun 14, 2024 11:35:00

YouTube's next move could make ad blocking harder

It turns out that YouTube is experimenting with inserting ads directly into videos, which could potentially break ad blockers that only filter out video signals.

YouTube is currently experimenting with server-side ad injection. This means that the ad is being added directly into the video stream.

This breaks sponsorblock since now all timestamps are offset by the ad times.

— SponsorBlock (@[email protected]) (@SponsorBlock)

June 12, 2024

YouTube tests harder-to-block server-side ad injection in videos
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/youtube-tests-harder-to-block-server-side-ad-injection-in-videos/

The developers of the

SponsorBlock extension, which allows users to skip over parts of videos, have reported that YouTube is experimenting with server-side ad insertion, which means that ads are added directly to the video stream.

Until now, YouTube has inserted ads on the client side, and ad blockers have been able to hide ads by blocking the JavaScript required to display ads.

However, when it comes to server-side ad insertion, the ads are integrated directly into the video and delivered, making it difficult to block ads on the client side.

SponsorBlock itself works based on timestamp data collected from users, but when ads are inserted on the server side, the timestamps are misaligned and it no longer works. The SponsorBlock developer says that for now, it blocks data collection from users with server-side inserted ads to prevent data mixing.

According to SponsorBlock, there are several ways to deal with this.

For example, if an ad displays UI such as a clickable link, YouTube will store the length of the ad as data, and ad blockers may be able to detect this data and block only the ad.

SponsorBlock said, 'We don't see the end of popular ad blockers, but they will be difficult to combat.'