It's a pain.

I've found a way around it using TamperMonkey extension which runs scripts to disable their nag. There are a couple more methods in this article:

4 Ways to Bypass “Ad Blockers are Not Allowed on YouTube”

https://gadgetstouse.com/blog/2023/05/15/bypass-ad-blockers-not-allowed-on-youtube/

I'd imagine that things will change as Google gets wind of work-arounds - I'll keep trying different methods to find the most elegant.
Remember the young guys who loudly proclaimed "Don't be evil" twenty or so years ago?

I would bet YouTube changes its tune when viewership drops 15-20%. I think some channel owners have been preparing for this for months because I'm seeing discounts in their pricing models for premium services, add-ons, and off-site offers.

Of course they predicted eBay would crumble for years too. But they found a way to squeeze the public who accept smaller and smaller crumbs.

I've installed uBlockorigin extension and it works even better than Tampermonkey. I might stick with this for a while.

the vid... BUT NO COMMERCIALS SHOW UP.. I don't get it.
So if I'm gonna watch a bunch of vids, I clear the first one and then all the rest have NO blocking warning and no commercials..
I don't care if I have to pause the ad blocking if I don't get commercials..
Mac with Safari..
Go figure..
m

https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube
FreeTube is an open source desktop YouTube player built with privacy in mind. Use YouTube without advertisements and prevent Google from tracking you with their cookies and JavaScript. Available for Windows, Mac & Linux thanks to Electron.

Home Page
https://freetubeapp.io

Downloads (everything?)
https://freetubeapp.io/#download

Not everything. No Mac ARM (Apple Silicon)
Time to fire up the old intel mini until one shows up.

Haven't tried. I use YT only for music, and use one or more yt-mp3 sites.
It's kind of amusing when a "video" consists of a static image or a "Ken Burns effect" image.

Check out NewPipe.

NewPipe has been created with the purpose of getting the original YouTube experience on your smartphone without annoying ads and questionable permissions.

The application is open source and you can check on it at GitHub.

https://newpipe.net/

I've been using the Adguard browser extension for years.

https://adguard.com/en/adguard-browser-extension/overview.html

which I delete and then watch whatever with no problems.

And trust me, I am not very technology savvy.