YouTube's crackdown on tools that block advertising continues with server-side ad injection. The developer of...
  • YouTube is testing server-side ad injection to counter ad blockers, integrating ads directly into videos to make them indistinguishable from the main content.
  • This new method complicates ad blocking, including tools like SponsorBlock, which now face challenges in accurately identifying and skipping sponsored segments.
  • The feature is currently in testing and not widely rolled out, with YouTube encouraging users to subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.
  • umami_wasabiEnglish
    2•6 months ago

    I doubt if they will refuse to serve as the stream still need to buffer. That’s the fundemental of streaming.

    Or I missed something?

    • @cley_fayeEnglish
      3•6 months ago

      Streaming allow caching a bit ahead, yes. But the “a bit ahead” part does not mean you can get everything; a server could very well decide to not send more than a few seconds of buffer compared to the realtime play. So, if you’re at 00:00:20 in your video and an 30 second ad is present in the video stream, the server could decide to not send anything beyond the 00:00:55 tag until 30 seconds have elapsed, for example.

      It would be very annoying to code server side, and very annoying for people with spotty internet, but it’s very doable.