The development team behind SponsorBlock, a tool used to block ads on YouTube, has revealed that Google is testing the insertion of ads directly into video streams from the server side. This new method will make ad blocking on the client-side much more challenging.
Currently, YouTube divides video files into chunks and releases them for viewers to watch. Inserting ads from the server side means adding an ad clip as another chunk in the video stream sent to viewers. Google’s side of the task is relatively straightforward, but for the SponsorBlock client-side, it’s impossible to determine which chunks contain ads and the length of the ad clips. The SponsorBlock team states that there is currently no straightforward way to avoid this issue.
Source: SponsorBlock via Android Central
TLDR: Google is testing adding ads directly into YouTube video streams from the server side, making it difficult for ad-blocking tools like SponsorBlock to function properly.
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