3 min read
Despite its massive user base, YouTube offers an intriguing economic model that allows users to access all the core services for free on an ad-supported tier. Getting a Premium subscription removes ads, lets you try out new features, and offers a few extra benefits.
However, many users want to enjoy an ad-free experience without any cost. While Google cracked down on freeloaders last year, YouTube is stepping up its efforts in 2025, making viewers with adblockers sit through hours of unskippable ads.
Even though ads are annoying for free-tier users, YouTube took drastic measures in 2024 to stop users from using location proxies to access Premium, patched, or modified programs like Vanced. They even resorted to server-side ad insertion and slower page loads when they found an ad-blocking browser extension.
Freeloaders have found a way to stay ahead, so YouTube is now using extreme means, like very long ad breaks that are sometimes even longer than the videos themselves.
This was discovered in different Reddit posts. The ad durations varied from 58 minutes to an incredible ten-hour chunk, even though no Redditor confessed to using an adblocker. Still, another individual made the claim that they had witnessed a 90-hour segment without providing any proof to back it up.
But when /u/Standard-Slip6572 accidentally shared a two-hour and fifty-two-minute YouTube ad, it was the “gotcha” moment. The following video was just 49 minutes in length.
Damn youtube. Almost 3 hours of unskippable ads
byu/Standard-Slip6572 inyoutube
Google Verifies Intentional Behavior
If you pay attention, you’ll notice that the long ad has a pop-up in the lower left area that says “Skipping ads.” It raises the possibility that the Reddit user is hiding the fact that they use an adblocker.
Some Redditors took YouTube’s side, saying that the lengthy ad might have been caused by adblockers, while others blamed the extension, saying that it had hidden YouTube’s Skip button.
According to a statement released by Google regarding this YouTube behavior, the standard duration of in-stream ads that cannot be skipped is 15 seconds on mobile devices and 60 seconds on TV. The company depends on ads to keep running and support creators. They are making a global effort to encourage users to watch YouTube ads or pay for a Premium subscription.
Those who browse YouTube on a daily basis and choose not to pay for a subscription may believe YouTube’s claim that it does not show hour-long adverts. However, the extremely long ads might be a new deterrent for freeloaders. Even while YouTube still has the option to completely disable playback for such users, this is still an unexpected step.
