If you are one to go on a YouTube splurge, only to get the same frustrating pre-roll ad over and over again, fret not as it is a systemic issue, thanks to Google’s user-targeting advertising algorithm. The easiest way for you to solve this problem is to pay for YouTube Red and get rid of all the advertising. However, the easiest free way to do it is outlined below.
When you see a particular ad over and over again, scroll your mouse cursor over the “i” circle logo in the lower left corner of the video, to the left of the “Visit Advertiser’s Site” link. Click it when “Why am I seeing this ad?” appears on the screen.
The video will pause and then show the message below, explaining in very broad terms how Google determines which ads to show you. Click the link marked “Stop seeing this ad.”
After clicking the link, you won’t see this specific ad on any of YouTube’s videos. You could answer the next question, about whether the ad was “Inappropriate, Irrelevant, or Repetitive,” and give Google a little more data…or you can click “Close” without saying why you didn’t like the ad. It’s entirely up to you.
The structure is almost identical on the YouTube mobile app: make sure you’re viewing the video in the full screen interface,
- Tap “Stop seeing this ad.”
- Next, click “Yes” on the confirmation window. Again, feedback on why you don’t want to see the ad is optional.
If you’re thinking, “why not just do this for every pre-roll ad on YouTube?” Don’t bother yourself. Because of its ubiquity, YouTube has a practically inexhaustible supply of advertisers that want to sell you stuff. The best use of your time will be to simply flag the ads that are the most annoying or frequent.
