YouTube says ad blockers could cause channel views to drop

YouTube has addressed reports from some creators who claim their video views have recently dropped, pointing to multiple possible explanations — including the use of ad blockers.

In a statement, YouTube said its first step when receiving reports like these is to check for technical issues, but a deep dive confirmed that “viewership systems are working correctly.” The platform emphasized that there is no systemic issue affecting creators across the site.

According to the company, several factors could explain why some channels see lower view counts, including returning to normal after a viral video, seasonal shifts, and competition.

YouTube also mentioned that viewers using ad-blockers and “other content blocking tools” could cause your views to go down as well.

Ad blockers cited as a factor

They said in a statement that channels with larger audiences relying on such tools could see more fluctuations tied to updates in how those tools interact with YouTube.

“Ad blockers and other extensions can impact the accuracy of reported view counts,” they said. “Channels whose audiences include a higher proportion of users utilizing such tools may see more fluctuations in traffic related to updates to these tools.”

This comes just days after Linus Tech Tips reported issues with his channel losing viewers, but blamed it on the YouTube membership feature pushing people away. According to him, members-only videos “clutter” the channel and that it’s “kind of annoying.”

Unsplash.com: Zulfugar Karimov

YouTube responds to Restricted Mode rumors

In early September, users across social media began to report that Restricted Mode on their accounts had been turned on, leaving people wondering if YouTube had done it on purpose and whether it had anything to do with the lower viewcounts being reported across the platform.

“Restricted Mode represents only a small fraction of the daily views on YouTube, there has not been an increase in viewers using Restricted Mode, and this optional setting is not causing a drop in views,” they said in the statement.

“We also want to state plainly that we are not using AI to automatically enable Restricted Mode for viewers. That is not how the feature works.”