DuckDuckGo announced that its browser can now block most video ads on YouTube, including those shown before the video starts playing and during playback.
The feature is enabled by default in the latest versions of DuckDuckGo for iOS, Mac, and Windows, while Android users can enable it manually by going to Settings > Ad Blocking.
YouTube is the world's largest video platform, serving billions of users worldwide. Apart from YouTube Premium subscribers, free users are shown ads that help fund operational costs and creator payouts.
However, in recent years, these ads have become more frequent, longer, and in some cases, unskippable.
DuckDuckGo's new ad-blocking mechanism is separate from 'Duck Player,' an embedded YouTube player in the browser that uses YouTube's strictest privacy settings to prevent tracking cookies and personalized ads.
Instead, the new ad-blocking system relies on community-maintained filter lists from uBlock Origin to detect and block YouTube ads. It is supplemented by its own compatibility rules to further strengthen its effectiveness.
DuckDuckGo says users can enable both features simultaneously, allowing them to use Duck Player's enhanced privacy protections while also using YouTube Ad Blocking when browsing the standard YouTube website.
"YouTube Ad Blocking blocks video ads on the YouTube website, so you can watch without interruption," the feature announcement states.
"It's the regular YouTube experience, just without ads […] so you're free to take advantage of YouTube features like remembering your viewing history and saving your spot in playlists."
DuckDuckGo noted that the ad blocking may introduce slightly longer buffering times, but once the videos have loaded and start playing, the experience should be as smooth as usual on the platform.
Another potential issue is that YouTube frequently changes how it serves ads, so any ad-blocking solution may periodically and temporarily stop working until its filter rules are updated.
The team behind DuckDuckGo invites users to test out the new feature and submit anonymous feedback right from the browser's options menu.
Considering this is a new feature, it might not work reliably or be fully stable yet, so user testing and feedback are important at this stage to help the team fix any issues.
With this new feature rollout, DuckDuckGo joins Brave and Opera, both of which include built-in ad and tracker blockers that can block most YouTube ads without requiring third-party extensions.
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Comments
johnlsenchak - 1 week ago
I've blocked 7.2 million Youtube ads using Microsoft Edge with a ad blocker extension ! LOL
CJatWork - 6 days ago
Holy crap, that seems like too big of a number. Assuming super short ads (5 seconds - do those even exist any more?), you've been saved from watching over 416 full days of advertising. When they take over and plug us all into the Matrix, they'll try to make you watch all those ads you skipped. If I recall correctly, you're gonna want to take the red pill, heh-heh.
xrobwx71 - 6 days ago
"Holy crap, that seems like too big of a number. Assuming super short ads (5 seconds - do those even exist any more?), you've been saved from watching over 416 full days of advertising. When they take over and plug us all into the Matrix, they'll try to make you watch all those ads you skipped. If I recall correctly, you're gonna want to take the red pill, heh-heh."
Bud, you are already in the Matrix. The current AI explosion is just camo for hiding in plain sight. :)
johnlsenchak - 6 days ago
""Holy crap, that seems like too big of a number. Assuming super short ads (5 seconds - do those even exist any more?), you've been saved from watching over 416 full days of advertising. When they take over and plug us all into the Matrix, they'll try to make you watch all those ads you skipped. If I recall correctly, you're gonna want to take the red pill, heh-heh."
Bud, you are already in the Matrix. The current AI explosion is just camo for hiding in plain sight. :) "
I watch thousands of Youtube videos every year , a lot of content creators don't deserve any money.
Mr.Tom - 4 days ago
"I watch thousands of Youtube videos every year , a lot of content creators don't deserve any money. "
Jesus Christ! Thousands? You don't see much of the outside world, do you?
CJatWork - 6 days ago
Dang, that explains it. The other day, Grok addressed me as "Mr. Anderson".
DQ52 - 6 days ago
"Dang, that explains it. The other day, Grok addressed me as "Mr. Anderson"."
Hahahahah, that's funny. Great movie reference.
I doubt this will last long. Most of Google's profit is from Ads. They are literally an Ad company. They will likely "donate" to DDG to change that or potentially crush them out of existence. Google always has its "mind on it's money and it's money on it's mind".
CJatWork - 5 days ago
"I doubt this will last long. Most of Google's profit is from Ads."
@DQ52 That was my first thought; Google will not "go quietly into the night" over this. That said, I wonder if DDG has enough browser market share to hurt Google to the point where they actually care about this?