YouTube is Experimenting with Server-Side Ad Injection to Fight Ad Blockers
6 months ago
YouTube is experimenting with server-side ad injection, integrating ads directly into the video stream, making them indistinguishable from the video. This disrupts tools like SponsorBlock, which rely on timestamps to skip ads. The developer of SponsorBlock is rejecting submissions from affected browsers to prevent database errors. This method is still in testing and aims to counter ad blockers, encouraging users to subscribe to YouTube Premium.