YouTube’s efforts to crack down on ad blockers are having a negative impact on the companies behind these tools. Ad blocking companies have reported a significant increase in the number of users uninstalling their products since YouTube began displaying warnings to users with ad blockers enabled. AdGuard, one of these companies, stated that since October 9, over 11,000 people have uninstalled its Chrome extension daily, compared to 6,000 per day prior to YouTube’s changes. On October 18 alone, 52,000 users uninstalled AdGuard. Interestingly, installations of AdGuard’s paid version, which is not affected by YouTube’s crackdown, have actually increased.
Another ad blocking company, Ghostery, revealed that its usage remained steady in October despite experiencing three to five times the daily number of both installs and uninstalls. Notably, over 90 percent of users who completed a survey on why they uninstalled Ghostery cited the tool’s inability to work with YouTube as the primary reason.
Since YouTube’s crackdown appears to only impact Chrome users on laptops and desktops, some users have sought alternative browsers as a workaround. Ghostery reported a 30 percent increase in installations of Microsoft’s Edge browser in October compared to September.
YouTube’s advertising revenue has been steadily growing and now plays a significant role in Google’s overall revenue. The company generated over $22 billion in ad sales on the platform between January and September of this year. However, YouTube is also actively encouraging users to subscribe to YouTube Premium, a paid service that eliminates ads, offers video downloads, higher quality streaming, and access to YouTube Music. Earlier this year, YouTube increased the price of YouTube Premium by $2 to $14 per month.
