How to watch YouTube videos for free without ads

Advertising on YouTube is a nuisance for many users. In recent years they have become so common and intrusive that we would like to avoid them altogether. However, some ads cannot be skipped and must be watched before you can enjoy the video you are looking for.

Many people resort to ad blockers, but Google has apparently declared war on them. Some stop working in the browser or just 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 make YouTube ad-free is based on a bug in the Bing search engine. It works in almost every browser (we tested Chrome, Firefox, and Edge) and on both PCs and phones.

All you need to do is copy the URL of the YouTube video you want to watch into the Bing search bar. When the video appears directly, click on the new link. If not, you may need to copy and paste the title of the video instead.

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 should be noted that for longer videos, YouTube will update again later in the video and load additional 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 browsers.

Tech Advisor Entertainment Editor’s Note: The original article states that this hack worked when clicking the link to open the videos directly on YouTube, but that didn’t work for me. For security reasons, I would recommend staying in Bing video player to avoid ads.

Is YouTube Premium too expensive?

Of course, Google doesn’t like it when users try to skip their ads – especially since YouTube Premium offers the option to get rid of them via 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 subscription significantly cheaper. Subscriptions that had already been taken out were also canceled.

Therefore, we don’t encourage you to always block YouTube ads. This ultimately harms not only YouTube itself, but also the channels you enjoy watching. However, the fact that this trick works is very relevant in our eyes – even if Google or Microsoft may eventually put an end to it.