YouTube sensation PewDiePie has weighed in on what he feels is the real reason YouTube Red, the company's new paid subscription service, was created. He says it was to combat increased use of ad blockers on YouTube videos.
The video game-playing Internet star says that use of ad blockers on YouTube videos is at an all-time high.
"I can ... confirm with my own Google statistics 40 percent is a correct estimate," PewDiePie claimed. "It's a number that has grown a lot over the years, from roughly 15 to 20 percent when I started. And it's not unlikely that it will keep growing."
PewDiePie directs readers to statistics in an article that claims YouTube is not profitable, and blames this on the use of ad blockers. He says that the introduction of YouTube Red, which is an ad-free subscription-based streaming service also set to offer exclusive content from various YouTubers, including PewDiePie, is an attempt by Google to bring the service into profitability.
"I think what many people still don't realize is that ... YouTube Red exist[s] largely as an effort to counter Adblock," says PewDiePie. "Using Adblock doesn't mean you're clever and above the system. YouTube Red exist[s] because using Adblock has actual consequences."
PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, says that he personally doesn't care if his fans use ad blockers on his videos, and that it's the smaller content providers that are hurt by the commercial-nixing programs. With over 40 million followers, PewDiePie is estimated to have earned over seven million dollars last year from YouTube views.
Many users of YouTube have installed ad blockers to counteract what they feel is an overuse of advertising on the site, with some videos requiring viewers to watch commercials whose length is actually longer than the content they are ultimately attempting to access.
While the introduction of the YouTube Red subscription service may in fact be partially due to the growing use of ad blockers, some observers have also pointed out that it enables Google to amass a library of users' on-file credit card information, which, unlike Apple, the company doesn't currently maintain for many users of its services.
