Advertisements on YouTube are annoying for many users. In recent years they have become so frequent and intrusive that we prefer to skip them altogether. However, some ads are not skippable at all and must be watched before you can enjoy the video you searched for.
Many people resort to ad blockers, but Google has apparently done just that declared war on them. Some no longer work in the browser or only show a black screen. However, there is an alternative way to skip ads at the beginning of YouTube videos without the need for a browser extension or other tools.
How to watch YouTube without ads
The trick to making YouTube ad-free is based on a glitch in the Bing search engine. It works in almost any browser (we tested Chrome, Firefox and Edge) and on both PCs and phones.
All you have to do is copy the URL of the YouTube video you want to watch into the Bing search bar. If the video appears immediately, click the new link. If not, you may need to copy and paste the video title.
Hannah Cowton-Barnes / Foundry
Hannah Cowton-Barnes / Foundry
Hannah Cowton-Barnes / Foundry
That’s it! You can now watch the video in the window that appears without ads.
It’s worth noting that for longer videos, YouTube may update itself again later in the video and load further ads. However, you can always skip them at the beginning of a new video or for shorter clips. If that doesn’t work, you can try reopening Bing or changing the browser.
Tech Advisor Entertainment Editor’s Note: The original article states that this hack worked if you clicked the link to open the videos directly on YouTube, but it didn’t work for me. To be on the safe side, I recommend staying in the Bing video player to avoid ads.
Is YouTube Premium too expensive?
Google obviously doesn’t like it when users try to skip their ads – especially since YouTube Premium offers the option to get rid of them through a subscription.
However, for many, this is simply too expensive, especially since YouTube recently blocked a popular VPN trick that allowed users to get the Premium plan for a significantly lower price. Subscriptions that have already been taken out have also been cancelled.
That’s why we don’t want to encourage you to always block YouTube ads. After all, this not only harms YouTube itself, but also the channels you like to watch. However, the fact that this trick works is very newsworthy in our view… even if Google or Microsoft can eventually put a stop to it.
This article originally appeared in our sister publication PC WELT and was translated and adapted from German.