It may only take a few seconds for the “skip ad” button to appear on a YouTube video, but sometimes that wait feels like an eternity. Unfortunately, some users have been forced to wait far longer, reporting that YouTube gave them ads that last for hours. Worst of all, there was no skip button.
People Are Seeing Hours-Long Ads on YouTube
The reports began on the YouTube subreddit after people posted the ridiculously long ads they were getting. It started just over two weeks ago when one user posted a thread showing a 3-hour-long ad without a skip button.
Then, someone else posted an hour-long ad they got hit with. Again, there was no skip button.
So, what’s going on? It’s easy to assume that this is YouTube’s big ploy to get people to subscribe to its ad-free Premium plan. After all, what better way to encourage people to pay than to serve hours-long ads for a five-minute video?
Well, things may not be as malicious as you’d think. If we take a look at both of these examples, you can see the text reading “skipping ads” at the bottom left of the first image, which implies that the user installed an ad blocker. For the second instance, the original poster stated that they had an ad blocker enabled.
As such, it may only affect people who are using YouTube with an ad blocker. It’s likely that whatever the ad blocker is doing to skip the ad isn’t firing properly and instead leaving people with really long ads without any way to skip them.
If you really want to get rid of the ads, it may be worth considering the cost of YouTube Premium and subscribing if you feel it’s worth the money. In fact, YouTube Premium subscribers recently got improved audio tools, so it’s a good sign that the company will continue adding perks to its subscription service.
