YouTube’s New Black Screen Tactic: Testing Server-Side Ads Against Ad Blockers

The number of users reporting that their screens turn completely black at times while watching videos on YouTube with ad blockers has been increasing.

YouTube is inserting a black screen in place of ads.

This indicates that YouTube is testing server-side ads. Ad blockers cannot block server-side ads displayed as part of the video. The tested server-side ads are causing a black screen during the ad duration on systems where ad blockers are used.

YouTube is currently testing this new ad feature with a very limited user base. The company is known to have introduced a new technology that shows black screens instead of blocked ads. Users on Reddit claim that these screens last between 6 and 20 seconds.

This situation is believed to be caused by the server-side technology that integrates ads into the video and makes it difficult to skip. YouTube has not yet commented on the technology, but it recently released a statement about raising security standards for browser extensions to protect viewers and content creators from cyber threats.

Some users are not bothered by the brief black screens, but this update seems to be quite eager to encourage YouTube users to upgrade to YouTube Premium.