> Exactly, how will I figure now that a 20 min video has no content promised in the title?

Both Google and rights holders don't care. The more of the video you sit through, the more ads they get to shove in your face. It's a win-win situation for both parties.

is there a reliable way to block YT ads with a browser add-on?

I'm using Ublock + Umatrix and still seeing a huge surge in ads across all videos.

Youtube is also injecting pre-rolls at the beginning of content I've uploaded to a new youtube channel that is not monetized (I have no interest in putting ads in front of my content)...so I have zero interest in supporting their ad empire.

Enhancer for youtube which makes youtube much better in my opinion. Ironically there is now a large, prominent sponsor logo on the add-ons settings page.

https://www.mrfdev.com/enhancer-for-youtube

what the hell?

What are ads? Ublock Origin on Firefox on PC, here.

are you subscribed to any unique lists? Ublock is the first thing I install and it's been on my machine for many many years, but the YT ads seem to be pushing through

Ublock Origin on Firefox on PC here too and I don't see ads either, thank Zeus!

Are you using Firefox? If not, it blocks additional resources when compared to Chrome.

I'm using a flavor of chromium, but have noticed no ads when watching of FF. It didn't click that Google made changes to restrict ad-blocking effectiveness on YouTube at the browser level; thanks

no, default settings

AdGuard on iOS or Brave on Windows reliably removes YouTube ads for me.

Piped + Privacy Redirect

Shut up and swallow some more ads!

SponsorBlock has a video highlight part option now, as more users start submitting it, you could use that to judge.