# How to Turn Off YouTube Commercials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914 "2014-06-29T04:26:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/21 "2014-09-09T08:37:59Z")
Okay, I downloaded CCleaner onto the laptop, transferred the software over here to the PC on a flash drive, installed it on the PC and it seems to have worked. The Internet is back. I’ve also downloaded Adblock again, Adblock Plus, which I think is what I had last time. We’ll see how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/22 "2014-09-09T08:45:08Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Okay, I downloaded CCleaner onto the laptop, transferred the software over here to the PC on a flash drive, installed it on the PC and it seems to have worked. The Internet is back. > > I’ve also downloaded Adblock again, Adblock Plus, which I think is what I had last time. We’ll see how it goes. Hmm. I’ve readded Adblock Plus to Firefox and Chrome, but my computer won’t let me add it onto IE. I have IE7. Usually I use Firefox anyway for just about anything. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/23 "2014-09-09T09:49:19Z")
What is this IE of which you speak? I never use it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/24 "2014-09-09T10:00:33Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > It’s definitely adblock that does it. It probably just works differently on an iPad. I’ve a feeling that YouTube, in general, works differently on an iPad. I think this was originally because there is no flash, so the video content was served up differently. Not sure if that difference rippled out to other platforms, or if it’s still only iOS. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/25 "2014-09-09T16:16:10Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Wow, online advertisers really seem determined to shoot their feet off. Ads playing in the middle of a song! I have resisted AdBlock up to now (though I use Flashblock, which seems to be teh only other way to prevent Flash _animated_ ads), but at this rate I, and I should think many other people, will soon have to resort to full on AdBlock. Yeah, I resisted Adblock for a long time because I understand that people putting stuff on the internet for free have to pay for it somehow. But Youtube’s business model drove me to it. Trying to watch anything at all on Youtube was like playing a game of whack-a-mole – some damned ad would come up and you’d have to lunge for the “x” and then another one would pop up. I really don’t understand why there’s not a Youtube “Prime” where you can pay $50 or $100/year and be guaranteed to see no ads. I can’t be bothered to create a “white list” for adblock, so thanks to Youtube’s wretched ad policies, a lot of other websites I visit aren’t getting revenue. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/26 "2014-09-10T02:19:30Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Yeah, I resisted Adblock for a long time because I understand that people putting stuff on the internet for free have to pay for it somehow. **But Youtube’s business model drove me to it. Trying to watch anything at all on Youtube was like playing a game of whack-a-mole – some damned ad would come up and you’d have to lunge for the “x” and then another one would pop up.** I really don’t understand why there’s not a Youtube “Prime” where you can pay $50 or $100/year and be guaranteed to see no ads. > > I can’t be bothered to create a “white list” for adblock, so thanks to Youtube’s wretched ad policies, a lot of other websites I visit aren’t getting revenue. And after a while, at least for me, the X stopped appearing. Apparently they were receiving data that showed I was shutting off the ads, because suddenly there was no way to shut them. Just had to endure them, no choice. Second day and the Internet is still working okay, and no ads. I may have fixed the problem for good. Thanks to all for your advice. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/27 "2014-09-10T03:06:15Z")
AFAIK, mid-roll ads are something that have to be enabled by the uploader, to get more money than from the pre-roll ads. If musicians are enabling them in the middle of their music, they are being stupid. And if users are doing it with bootlegged music, they are even stupider. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/28 "2014-09-15T02:51:37Z")
:slight bump: > [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > I’ve been a user of AdBlock Plus for years. I didn’t even know YouTube had video ads for the longest time, until I watched a video from a friend’s computer. > > If you are using Firefox or Chrome, it’s a free download. I know. My brother-in-law uses Internet Explorer with no apps and I was shocked to see it has not only commercials, but also little pop-up ads in the video that you have to click to close. When did all that start? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/29 "2014-09-16T00:18:44Z")
I’m still getting the little pop-up ads despite using AdBlocker Plus. They’re for other videos, not product ads, so I guess those circumvent AdBlocker somehow? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/30 "2014-09-16T01:09:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’m still getting the little pop-up ads despite using AdBlocker Plus. They’re for other videos, not product ads, so I guess those circumvent AdBlocker somehow? What does this look like? Are you talking about the “suggested videos” popup that shows up in the lower left? You just turn off annotations to not see those. Edit: You can make them off by default (while logged in) from this page: [https://www.youtube.com/account\_playback](https://www.youtube.com/account_playback) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/31 "2014-09-16T01:11:07Z")
They appear in the bottom of the YouTube screen. Where are “annotations”? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/32 "2014-09-16T01:13:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They appear in the bottom of the YouTube screen. Where are “annotations”? Can you link to an example video where this happens? Hard to understand what you mean from the description. Annotations are in the cog, or turn them off for every video at [https://www.youtube.com/account\_playback](https://www.youtube.com/account_playback) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/33 "2014-09-16T01:14:31Z")
And I dunno if you’ve noticed this, but the ON/OFF button colors for annotations are very unclear, since one is dark gray and one is light gray. Just click the OFF button to make sure. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/34 "2014-09-16T01:32:14Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Can you link to an example video where this happens? Hard to understand what you mean from the description. > > Annotations are in the cog, or turn them off for every video at [https://www.youtube.com/account\_playback](https://www.youtube.com/account_playback) No, I can’t link to a specific one, because it seems to be random. I don’t see a cog. Is that just when you’re signed in? I never sign in. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/35 "2014-09-16T01:39:46Z")
You don’t see a cog in the lower right? I see it even when I’m not signed in… like this: [![](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/biss5dyo0v0lhp9/Screenshot%202014-09-15%2018.39.39.png?dl=0) ](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/biss5dyo0v0lhp9/Screenshot%202014-09-15%2018.39.39.png?dl=0) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/36 "2014-09-16T01:44:45Z")
:smack: D’oh! On the YouTube screen, not the computer screen. Thanks. Just turned them off. I never know what most icons are for. EDIT: Hmm. Looks like I have to turn them off with each video. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/37 "2014-09-16T02:13:11Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > :smack: D’oh! On the YouTube screen, not the computer screen. Thanks. Just turned them off. I never know what most icons are for. > > EDIT: Hmm. Looks like I have to turn them off with each video. Or just log in. If you don’t want to use a real Google account, make a fake one just for YouTube. Edit: Or apparently you can add a rule to AdBlock to disable them without doing that: > ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/38 "2014-09-16T15:12:01Z")
By the way, is there a way to disable ads with the Youtube app on Android devices? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/39 "2014-09-16T16:12:00Z")
> [@Lars\_Aruns](#): > > By the way, is there a way to disable ads with the Youtube app on Android devices? On android 4+, root it and install the xposed framework and then this: [http://repo.xposed.info/module/ma.wanam.youtubeadaway](http://repo.xposed.info/module/ma.wanam.youtubeadaway) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914/40 "2014-09-16T16:40:15Z")
This thread prompted me to finally install Ad Block Plus on Safari. Works a treat on YouTube. Pity I still have to endure ads on CNN videos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-turn-off-youtube-commercials/691914.md?page=3)