YouTube now pushes warning messages with countdown timer for who uses an Ad Blocker

It’s been months since YouTube has started to test new strategies to combat the use of ad blockers.

The first test displayed a message to users who block advertisements, suggesting they either adjust their settings to allow ads on YouTube, or subscribe to YouTube Premium, the platform's paid service. The second experiment adopted a more forceful approach, warning those users that the video player would have been disabled after three videos.

The platform now gets even more aggressive by pushing adblock warnings with a countdown timer. Users who encounter this alert must wait for 30 to 60 seconds before they can close the dialog box and begin using the site.

Our take: To bypass these restrictions, users have several options. They can subscribe to YouTube Premium (even if Google recently increased its subscription price), try a browser with an integrated ad-blocker such as Brave, or explore alternatives like NewPipe, FreeTube, or Piped.