Edgar Cervantes / Android AuthorityTL;DR YouTube viewers have noticed that connections from Albania don’t appear to be served advertisements.As a result, connecting to YouTube through a VPN with an Albanian endpoint can be an alternative to paying for Premium to get ad-free content.This method has its own expenses involved, could be risky, and isn’t guaranteed to last.
YouTube Premium — even paying full price for it — is easily one of the best values in streaming around.The sheer volume of content available is impossible for anyone else to touch, ranging from the briefest Shorts to satisfy our decimated attention spans, to award-winning, feature-length films.But despite there being very good reason to pony up for that ad-free YouTube Premium experience, some viewers are dead-set on not paying YouTube one extra penny.
If that’s the camp you fall into, you’re going to want to know about this VPN hack.Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority? Set us as a favorite source in Google Discover to never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more.You can also set us as a preferred source in Google Search by clicking the button below.
Here’s the gist of it: YouTube is a big, global phenomenon, and its ads department targets users all around the world.No matter where you’re accessing it, you can expect to see ads directed at the local demographic.At least, that’s the case nearly everywhere, but as TechRadar points out, that list doesn’t appear to include the European nation of Albania.As a result, if you use a VPN to appear as if you’re accessing YouTube from Albania, you may not get served any ads at all — in its testing, TechRadar saw no ads even after 150 minutes of viewing.
Sounds great, right? What’s the catch? Well, there are several, actually.The first one, and maybe the biggest (depending on your motivation for wanting to go this route in the first place): It’s still not free.While there are free VPNs out there, in order to get one that explicitly gives you an endpoint in Albania, you’re probably going to end up paying for a more feature-rich option.That can still cost less than a full YouTube Premium subscription, but if your line in the sand here is “not paying,” you may be out of luck.Then there’s the question of how well this loophole is going to hold up.
While the Albanian ad issue has been known about among YouTube users for a while now, Google’s not dumb, and it sounds like the company has already started taking steps to change things.Over on Reddit, we see user epicflex posting last year about starting to see ads when connecting through Albania.More recently, users like UltimateAdmiral have been getting flagged for VPN usage.Finally, if you just have to try this out, we would absolutely not recommend doing so with a Google account you value in any way, shape, or form, because this feels like an easy way to get your account flagged.
We can’t say for certain what the consequences may be, but if Google notices any shady business, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the company might take steps to further limit abuse.Maybe just moving to Albania is the easiest option in the end? Or paying for YouTube Premium.Your choice.NewsGoogleVPNYouTubeYouTube PremiumFollowThank you for being part of our community.
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