Can you please not mention adblock. Last thing we want is google banning adblock users

Fun story: adblock does NOT block youtube ads. It would be almost impossible to - they are served from the same inscrutable urls as real videos. Instead youtube detects adblock and does not show ads to adblock users on purpose.

So next time you see a YouTube employee, thank them for that

I don't think this is accurate...

Adblock Plus for example uses EasyList by default, and that contains this rule to block the ads:

  youtube.com#@#.video-ads

Your claim might still be correct if google keeps that class name to avoid breaking adblockers (considering most other class names on google properties are randomly generated and change each week)

Actually, no. > they are served from the same inscrutable urls as real video

This may be right, so host based adblocking may not work.

However, uBlock origin etc definitely block youtube ads and it works as a browser extension so they have access to the DOM and probably do something there.

I've noticed in the last few weeks that YouTube has some sort of fallback when an ad gets blocked. You get a white overlay with with impossible-to-read lightgrey text on it, with a blue button in the middle with a call to action on it (eg Signup Now, Click to Learn More). There is still a Skip Ad button and a widget to indicate when the ad will go away on its own.

I have two YouTube accounts, and at first it only happened on one. Now it is happening to both. Maybe it is something they are currently just testing.

> Instead youtube detects adblock and does not show ads to adblock users on purpose.

Do you have a source or a more detailed explanation for that?

I can tell you for sure that I've been seeing Youtube ads even though I use uBlock Origin. So they definitely don't try to avoid adblockers.