YouTube Ads Are Getting Out of Hand, and People Are Furious

Mark
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YouTube ads have gone from being small interruptions to full-blown headaches. What used to be short and manageable now feels excessive, and many people are turning to YouTube Premium just to escape the growing annoyance.

But for some, paying for Premium isn’t an option, leaving them stuck with ads that seem to get worse by the day. Recently, people raised their frustrations about an unskippable ad lasting 58 minutes.

In the comments, others claimed they’d seen even longer ads, like one user who said they got a 10-hour ad, while another jumped in with a wild claim of a 90-hour ad. Although these longer examples sound questionable, one user did post proof: an image showing a nearly two-and-a-half-hour-long ad for a video that was less than an hour.

Looking closely at the shared screenshot, there’s a hint that ad blockers could be part of the issue. A small ‘skipping ads’ button appears in the image, which might mean the ad blocker failed to properly remove the ad and caused it to glitch instead.

Some users speculated that YouTube is cracking down on ad blockers by serving absurdly long, unskippable ads when one is detected.

However, even without ad blockers, unskippable ads have been getting longer. People shared examples like a 1-minute 28-second ad that felt way too long to sit through. YouTube has been gradually increasing ad time for free users, which many think is their way of nudging people toward paying for Premium.

For those stuck watching ads, it seems there are two choices: deal with them or spend time elsewhere. YouTube clearly doesn’t like ad blockers, as they impact revenue and creator payments, but these aggressive ad tactics are testing people’s patience.

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Mark is the kind of person who gets way too excited about new software updates and can’t resist taking apart gadgets—just to see if they can put them back together. With years of experience in tech journalism and a love for all things digital, Mark writes about the stories behind the screens, from game-changing innovations to the everyday tech that keeps life running smoothly. Outside of work, they’re the go-to “tech support” for friends and family, whether it’s fixing a printer that won’t cooperate or explaining why Grandma’s laptop keeps showing pop-ups. When Mark isn’t glued to their screen, they’re probably building their dream PC, rewatching sci-fi movies for the hundredth time, or testing a gadget that promises to “change everything.” Spoiler: they’ll let you know if it actually does.