While YouTube maintains it doesn't serve hour-long ads, that might be true for regular viewers who would watch it rather than pay a subscription fee. However, the aggressively long ads might be a new deterrent for freeloaders. YouTube also reserves the right to stop playback entirely for such viewers, but this is a surprising move nonetheless.

Google has responded after a YouTube viewer went viral on Reddit showing a 60-minute unskippable ad on a video.

Google has offered an explanation for why these ads are happening and what users can do about it. Whether the explanation is satisfying?

YouTube ads are getting more frustrating, with some users reporting unskippable ads that are nearly an hour long. Are ad blockers to blame?

Users with ad blockers are reporting seeing hourslong unskippable ads. Google has denied reports that it’s serving unskippable ads that last for minutes or even hours to some YouTube users who have ad blockers enabled,