YouTube viewers report hours-long unskippable ads
It could possibly be a bug as YouTube maintains it has no hand in the issue.
It looks like YouTube’s war on ad blockers may have taken a new turn.
Over the past few weeks, multiple users have reported seeing unskippable ads that stretch for hours—some allegedly longer than the videos they were trying to watch.
Screenshots from Reddit suggest ad durations ranging from 58 minutes to nearly three hours, with no visible skip button. One user claimed they were hit with a two-hour, 52-minute ad before a 49-minute video. Naturally, this has led to speculation that YouTube could be testing more aggressive tactics to push users toward YouTube Premium.
However, Google denies any such move. A YouTube spokesperson stated the platform does not serve minutes-long, non-skippable ads, instead suggesting that ad blockers may be causing a “suboptimal viewing experience.” The theory is that ad blockers could be interfering with YouTube’s UI—possibly hiding the skip button while failing to block the ad itself. Some users also noted that refreshing the page or disabling their ad blocker resolved the issue.
Late last year, YouTube began cracking down on ad blockers. It started with warnings before reportedly disabling playback for some users with ad-blocking extensions enabled. Now, it seems those who haven’t whitelisted YouTube—or subscribed to Premium—may be facing new roadblocks in an ongoing battle between ad-blocking tools and YouTube’s evolving ad policies.
That said, not everyone experiencing these extended ads appears to be using an ad blocker. A survey by Android Authority found that over 30% of respondents reported seeing unskippable ads longer than two minutes, raising questions about whether something else might be at play. YouTube’s official policy states that non-skippable ads are capped at 15 seconds on mobile and 60 seconds on TV, so the reason behind these unusually long ads remains unclear.
Whether this is a bug, an unintended side effect of YouTube’s ad enforcement, or something else entirely, it’s clear that free-tier users are feeling the squeeze. For those affected, the choice remains the same: sit through the ads, pay to skip them, or move to an alternative app like TikTok or Nebula—something more users may start considering if YouTube’s crackdown continues to make the free experience worse.
