YouTube ads are now unskippable and can last for several hours, jsut to deter users with adblockers. Google is cracking down on freeloaders by showing excessively long ads to promote premium subscriptions.

Google has offered an explanation for why these ads are happening and what users can do about it. Whether the explanation is satisfying?

In response, Google has intensified its crackdown on such freeloaders, particularly in 2025, by introducing extreme deterrents like unskippable ads lasting several hours.

Google has denied reports that it’s serving unskippable ads that last for minutes or even hours to some YouTube users who have ad blockers enabled, instead blaming ad blockers themselves for any “suboptimal viewing experience.” Users have complained of seeing unskippable YouTube ads ranging from a few minutes to several hours in duration.

YouTube users have reported encountering excessively long, un-skippable ads, with some lasting between 57 minutes to 3 hours. Screenshots shared on Reddit even show ads longer than the actual video being watched.

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Google denies serving extended unskippable ads on YouTube despite survey showing 31% of users encounter ads longer than two minutes.