Next logical step is to modify the uploaded video itself to contain ads around the video frame or on automatically detected clear surfaces in the video.

but i saw another article saying that adblocker usage dropped by like ... meh i dunno 80% or some awful figure that I didn't want to believe.

i'd rather live in the version of the world where this one is true, that nobody is installing adblockers, but i know better (sometimes) than to simply succumb to confirmation bias...

if youtube were smart though, it'd make ads less shitty, intrusive, and obnoxious.