ADBLOCK BAN: YouTube is stupid for blocking AdBlock.
Not just from some sort of information should be free and screw big corporations mindset but
from a grounded fundamental perspective. This might be confusing to hear. Wouldn’t
blocking AdBlock lead to more people viewing ads and/or upgrading to YouTube premium? That
would lead to more revenue for YouTube, not less right? Well, while that argument
may seem true at first glance, it doesn’t hold up against scrutiny and here’s why.
EVERYONE USES IT:
First of all, let’s establish just how popular ad block really is. As of 2021, 42.7% of internet
users worldwide use ad block. This number is likely a good amount lower on YouTube because
people tend to watch YouTube on mobile devices and TVs where AdBlock doesn’t work but the point still
stands, AdBlock is extraordinarily popular. And, when you combine this with the scale of YouTube,
we’re talking about hundreds of millions of people. YouTube literally has 2 billion
monthly active users, so even something that only affects 10% of users adds up to 200 million people
much less 42.7%. So, safe to say, we’re talking about a lot of people which opens up YouTube to
substantial reputational risk. You might be asking why? After all, YouTube isn’t doing anything wrong
by forcing ads. It’s their platform and they’re providing billions of people with value whether
that be educational value or entertainment value. So, it’s only fair that YouTube expects to gain
some value in return whether that’s directly through YouTube Premium or indirectly through ads.
That only makes sense, but the reality is that what’s fair is mostly irrelevant. You see, people
often like to get mad at big corporations and say that all these companies care about is maximizing
profit over everything else. And that’s completely true, but here’s the thing, it’s the same way
with like 90% of people. The only thing that the vast majority of people care about is what value
they get from a business. They don’t give a crap about the business making some money. They might
have some sympathy towards a mom and pop shop or local restaurant but with a mega corporation like
Google, that sympathy is non existent. In fact, most people are happy when these companies lose
money or embarrass themselves. How do I know that? Well, those are usually my most viewed videos. So,
with that being said, the average person simply doesn’t care if AdBlock is losing Google money.
And this is extremely important to note because it lays the foundation for how people will react
to an AdBlock ban. Hundreds of milllions of people have been conditioned for over a decade
to watch YouTube for free without any ads. When you change that, they’re naturally gonna get mad.
REPUTATIONAL RISK:
When hundreds of millions of users get mad, you start seeing substantial backlash against the
company. But, this doesn’t manifest in the way that you might expect. It’s not like people are
gonna throw fits on Twitter and make a scene. Wait nevermind, people are already doing that but this
isn’t most people. Most people will never argue that AdBlock is good or that YouTube is wrong
for banning AdBlock because well, they know that it’s mostly fair. But, what people will do is hold
a grudge that they express in several different ways. And the perfect example of this is Netflix.
You’ve probably noticed that over the past 12 to 18 months, people have suddenly started to
hate Netflix. If you read through YouTube comments about Netflix, you’d be convinced that the company
is on the brink of collapse or something which is absolutely not true. Yes, they lost subscribers
for a quarter or two, but they’re already gaining subscribers once again. Also, even if they did
stagnate, over 200 million paying subscribers is nothing to complain about. But then,
why are people so pessimistic about Netflix, even rooting for its demise? Well, it really
just comes down to this. Netflix is increasing prices, they’re implementing ads, they’re cracking
down on password sharing, and they’re losing content to competitors. That’s the bottomline,
but most people will never admit this. Instead, they’ll point their finger at some BS reasons some
of which may have even been advantages previously. Take Netflix’s content catalog for example.
Nowadays, it’s popular to say that there’s a lot of stuff on Netflix, but none of it is good. When
you were sharing passwords with 4 friends and only paying $4 per month, having too much content
likely didn’t seem like a negative. In fact, I bet most people viewed it as “Yo, this is awesome.
I’m never gonna watch most of this stuff, but the fact that I can get all of this for $4 per month,
that’s insane.” But, when you have to pay full price, the attitude suddenly switches to “Bro,
I’m paying $20 per month and they can’t even show me something that I wanna watch. What is this.”
It’s the same Netflix in both scenarios. Even the pricing is the same. The only difference
is password sharing but now it’s the platform that’s sucks. The same sort of thing will happen
on YouTube. Most people will never blame YouTube directly for blocking ad block but they’ll take
out their anger on every other shortcoming of the platform like the algorithm. It’s no secret that
YouTube recommends some random stuff from time to time. Normally, people take this pretty jokingly.
They might go onto this random videos and comment “Yooo, the algorithm is drunk again”.
But, when they’re forced into buying YouTube premium and the same thing happens,
the attitude shifts to, “Dude, Google is a trillion dollar platform and they can’t
even figure out recommendations? This is unacceptable.” People are naturally
really good at finding justifications for their grudges. In fact, that’s probably why many of
you are watching this video right now. You want justification for using AdBlock. Whether this
is fair or not is besides the point. That’s simply basic human nature. And as a company,
it’s in YouTube’s best interest to be cognizant of this bias and act accordingly. Otherwise,
it may not be long until they end up with a brand favorability like Netflix at a staggering 11%.
PROHIBITION DOESN’T WORK:
Putting the whole branding aspect of blocking adblock to the side, the reality of such bans
is that they don’t even work. The most classic example of a ban not working is prohibition. Back
in the 1920s, the US decided that it would be a great idea to ban alcohol, but this didn’t stop
people from drinking. It simply led to illegal production and black markets. Not to mention,
it also led to a rise in gang violence and organized crime. Congress would eventually
repeal this law 13 years later but we don’t even have to look that far. We can just look at AdBlock
itself. The fact that there are multiple AdBlocks on the Chrome webstore itself with hundreds of
millions of downloads each show that people will work around rules that they don’t like. If AdBlock
is no longer the bypass for ads, they’ll find a new bypass. Maybe that means downloading an
app that streams YouTube videos without ads or downloading the videos through some sort
of third party application. YouTube may be able to stop funny business from happening
directly on the platform but they can’t stop it from happening just outside the platform.
This could easily lead to a situation in which people still watch YouTube videos but just not
on YouTube itself. This is a massive problem for YouTube because as Bill Gates said . Similarly, if
people are gonna watch YouTube videos without ads, its in YouTube’s best interest that they still
watch it on YouTube itself. Sure, they may not make money off of these viewers, but they still
have control and influence over these viewers which could be monetized later down the road.
If people migrate over to some bootlegged version of YouTube though, that’s no longer the case.
But, it’s not just these viewers that YouTube risks losing. YouTube also risks losing the casual
viewer. The casual viewer probably isn’t gonna go out of there way to pirate YouTube videos. But,
if they’re starting to feel that watching ads is annoying, they’ll likely just watch YouTube less.
And in an era where attention is the most valuable currency, YouTube is actively
trading long term attention and even addiction for short term cash. Simply not a great trade.
Also, this trade may open up YouTube to competition. For the longest time, YouTube
was impossible to compete against because it was universally accessible and completely free. But,
as Google cracks down on ads, competitors now have to ability to say “Come to our platform,
we don’t have ads.” This is exactly what Netflix did with cable TV. Before viewers didn’t care
about such temptations because well they could get the same experience on YouTube itself.
But, as Google cracks down, such alternatives may seem more and more enticing. So,
if YouTube wants to protect their monopoly, well then, allowing AdBlock is ironically
their best move. If people are gonna steal, you want them to steal from you.
THE SOLUTION:
Ok all of this makes sense from a theoretical standpoint. A lot of people use AdBlock so
clamping down so hard will no doubt piss off a bunch of people and threaten the monopoly.
But then what is the alternative? How do you go about monetizing viewers who don’t want to pay for
YouTube Premium and use AdBlock? Well, the answer is simply what Google was already doing. Google
had it right the first time. You may not know this but Google actually has their own AdBlock that’s
built into Chrome and is automatically enabled. This likely seems super counterintuitive for an
ad company but this is the way. For any sort of sales effort, the number one priority is to get
eyeballs. Only after that can you sell or monetize or whatever. Google understood this perfectly.
Their number one priority was to get people to use Chrome. They didn’t want ads to be the reason that
someone chose Safari or Edge over Chrome. And that strategy worked out perfectly. Basically everyone
started using Chrome, and once everyone was on the platform, Google focused on monetization. But,
with this new AdBlock crackdown on YouTube, it seems like Google may have their priorities mixed
up. Now, you may be asking, if Google never cracks down, how will they ever be able to monetize?
Well, for that, we can just look at Google search once again. There’s plenty of ad blocks for Google
search ads as well. But Google didn’t ban these or take them off the chrome webstore. Instead,
they straight up just partnered with them. That’s right, Google pays Adblocking services to
whitelist Google specific ads. This is why most ad blockers do not work with Google search ads. These
adblockers are literally getting paid to show them but they wont just show any ad. They only
show ads that they feel are discrete and don’t take away from the user experience because their
reputation is on the line. If the ads are too annoying, people will simply blame the ad block
not Google and that’s the genius of this strategy. For a small fee, Google is able to run their ads
without being the bad guy, and if people do get annoyed, its the adblocker that takes the heat.
I think Google should have taken the same approach on YouTube. Now, you might be saying that this is
misleading and it is but that’s not the goal. The goal is not to trick people. The goal is to make
the ad experience so good that it’s not actually a negative. Ideally, people shouldn’t even notice
that the AdBlock isn’t working. As such, the right strategy isn’t to force people to watch ads by
banning AdBlock. The right strategy is to make the ad experience so pleasant that people don’t even
feel the need to use AdBlock in the first place. Google understood this perfectly for the longest
time and they still definitely do. Though with the recent crackdown, it looks like they’re willing to
take a gamble. They’re essentially betting that people are so addicted to YouTube that they can
force ads and get away with it. And they might be able to with this move specifically, but that’s
a slippery slope. If they can force us to watch ads, why not make it 2,3,4,5 ads? And before you
know it, YouTube will be indistinguishable from cable TV. Is that where YouTube’s heading? Only
time will tell but this is not a great first step and that’s why YouTube should feel stupid
for blocking adblock. Google is clearly losing their cool but someone who isn’t is Microsoft.
If you’d like to learn about how Microsoft gave up their ego, check out this next video.