You can watch YouTube without any annoying ad breaks by in­stalling an Adblocker. An Adblocker can be installed on your desktop and with an al­tern­at­ive YouTube app on Android. We’ll explain how to block YouTube ads.

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Quick guide: Block YouTube ads with Adblocker

In the YouTube browser

  1. Add the selected adblocker (Adblock Plus in this case) to the browser.
  2. Click the Adblock icon in the browser menu bar.
  3. Subscribe to block lists to set ad­vert­ising filters.
  4. For websites whose ads you do not want to block, add ex­cep­tions.

In the YouTube app

  1. Go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Apps & No­ti­fic­a­tions’ > ‘Special App Access’.
  2. Allow your default browser to install unknown apps.
  3. Download the app NewPipe as an APK file from Github or from F-Droid.
  4. Give NewPipe the necessary per­mis­sions.

Why is there so much ad­vert­ising on YouTube?

Adverts will usually happen before a short trailer on YouTube or during an important tutorial video when you are trying to focus. Ad breaks are part of everyday life on YouTube. Many users have noticed that the number of ad breaks is in­creas­ing. The ad banners around videos are becoming in­creas­ingly annoying, and ques­tion­able con­sid­er­ing third-party tracking. This begs the question: Why is there so much ad­vert­ising on YouTube?

Two reasons play a role here: YouTube offers most of its content free of charge. Users can therefore watch unlimited YouTube videos for free. YouTube and YouTubers generate revenue through ad­vert­ising on the site and in videos. At the same time, ad­vert­ising ensures that users opt for the paid YouTube Premium version to enjoy YouTube ad-free.

How to block YouTube ads?

Ads on YouTube can be blocked using a special browser extension, an ad-free browser, or a YouTube Premium sub­scrip­tion.

Per adblocker in YouTube browser version

Ad­b­lock­ers are browser ex­ten­sions that block ad­vert­ise­ments. Ad­b­lock­ers won’t just remove YouTube ads, but also ads and ad­vert­ising content on other websites. Popular ad­b­lock­ers include Adblock Plus (Chrome, Firefox, Android), Spon­sorB­lock for YouTube (Google Chrome and Firefox), and Adblock for YouTube.

How to install an adblocker:

Step 1: Depending on the browser you use, download the chosen Adblock extension from the add-ons page of Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or directly from the provider’s site. In this example, we are using the free extension Adblock Plus for Edge. Usually, you add ex­ten­sions to the browser via ‘Install’ or ‘Add’.

Image: Adblock Plus installation via the Edge Add ons page
Depending on the browser, add the adblocker via the browser ex­ten­sions.

Step 2: Now you will see the Adblock Plus extension icon in the toolbar.

Image: Adblock Plus icon in the browser menu bar
After adding Adblock Plus, the icon in the menu bar leads to further settings.

Step 3: Now you need to set the adblocker. By default, the extension comes without ad filters. To block ads, subscribe to block lists which include the most popular ads.

Image: Filter lists for blocked ads in Adblock Plus
To block ads, subscribe to ad filter lists in Adblock Plus.

Step 4: You can also create custom filters by clicking the Adblock Plus icon and ‘Disable: on (name of website)’ when you visit a website which you want to exclude from ad­b­lock­ing. This way, you can choose if you want a par­tic­u­lar website to continue receiving ad revenue.

Image: Option for exceptions in the Adblock Plus settings
If you want to exclude a certain ad-supported website from ad­b­lock­ing, create an exception for them.

YouTube ad-free on Android

Use Adblocker app

While there are plenty of ways to block ads on YouTube in the browser, it isn’t so easy with the YouTube app un­for­tu­nately. Ad­b­lock­ers like Adblock Plus can be installed as an app, but the blocking function will only work for the browser app. One option worth con­sid­er­ing is the YouTube Premium sub­scrip­tion. Other options include al­tern­at­ive YouTube apps like NewPipe or YouTube Vanced, which offer YouTube videos without ads and tracking.

How to use NewPipe for YouTube without ads:

Step 1: First, you need to allow your browser app to install unknown apps in the Apps Settings of your Android device. This works via ‘Settings’ > ‘Apps & No­ti­fic­a­tions’ > ‘Special App Access’.

Step 2: Download the in­stall­a­tion file for the NewPipe app. You can download the APK file from a portal like GitHub. However, it is better to download the NewPipe app from an official al­tern­at­ive app store like F-Droid. To do this, first install the F-Droid app and authorise the app to install unknown apps. Then download the NewPipe app and disable the per­mis­sion to install unknown apps in the F-Droid app again for security reasons.

Step 3: Now install NewPipe and use the app to access YouTube videos and channels com­pletely without ads and tracking.

Use ad-free Android browser

Instead of browser ex­ten­sions, ad-free browsers from AdAway, Adblock Plus, or AdGuard are good options. The popular Brave browser is also a solution. You simply download the cor­res­pond­ing browser on your mobile device (or even PC) and surf online com­pletely ad-free, even on YouTube. Since ad­b­lock­ing hurts YouTuber revenues, the Brave browser offers an al­tern­at­ive revenue stream for YouTubers in the form of donations, monthly budgets, and payouts based on video view time with Brave Tokens and Brave Payments.

Subscribe to YouTube Premium

If you would rather support YouTube, subscribe to YouTube Premium. With the Premium version, which costs £11.99 per month, you can get several ad­di­tion­al features and of­fi­cially block YouTube ads.

Should you block YouTube ads?

Since YouTubers finance them­selves through ad­vert­ising, blocking ads can be con­tro­ver­sial to some. Skipping ads isn’t even counted as a ‘view’, so YouTubers therefore receive no revenue. If you block ad­vert­ising, there is no chance to earn ad­vert­ising revenue at all. You will often see advice on online news magazines to disable ad­b­lock­ers when visiting the site. It is advisable not to block all ad­vert­ising with ad­b­lock­ers across the board, but it might be a good idea to disable ad­b­lock­ing when visiting YouTube channels or other websites which you want to support.

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