Google in recent years has started to add advertisement to the popular video hosting platform YouTube. Ads on YouTube nowadays come in a variety of ways, from sponsored channels to banner ads or in-video advertisement. The video hosting site currently supports two different kinds of in-video ads. First a video ad before the actual video requested by the user, and then ad overlays when the requested video is playing on the screen.
These ads either benefit YouTube and Google completely, or if revenue sharing is enabled, the original uploader of the video as well.
A percentage of the site’s user base may prefer to bypass ads to fully enjoy the contents without overlay images being displayed to them while the video is playing.
YouTube AdsFree is an Opera extension that removes the majority of ads on YouTube. The latest version of the extension blocks the ad servers so that the ads cannot be displayed anymore on the screen. The description lists popup ads as the main ad form that gets blocked. These are the overlay ads when you start watching the videos.
The extension furthermore blocks full window ads and promoted ads on YouTube and on websites who have embedded the videos. There is also an option available to remove branded banners, for instance on the VEVO channel, from being displayed on YouTube.
It is not really clear if the ad blocker covers 100% of ads, or if some ad forms remain on the site. While I personally have not seen any video ads before the actual video, it could be that these ads are still shown on YouTube.
Opera users who would like to try out YouTube AdsFree can install the latest version of the extension on the Opera Extensions website.
If you are not using Opera as your main browser, you may be interested in this guide that explains how to skip ads on YouTube.
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