YouTube ads cannot be blocked using DNS blocking because YouTube ads and videos are served from same domain. Blocking ads would also block video playback on YouTube. For most streaming services other than YouTube this is not the case and hence following method can be used for them.

Ads are universally annoying and no one likes them. They use to be a non issue on old TVs as we could just switch channels during AD break. But sadly that is not the case with smart TVs. The ads are no longer skippable. Their durations are increasing. To make matters worse they even keep track of what we are watching on TV. Android TVs are particularly bad with ads so I’m sharing a method that can reduce the ads on Android TV to certain extent.

Create a new TV profile on WebShield. This keeps your TV settings separate from your other device profiles. Configure the profile to block ads along with any other requirements you have. Note the DoT endpoint for this profile. Now on your TV find out IP address. It’s usually shown in the network setting under the connected WiFi or ethernet interface.

For next step, you will need a laptop with Android Debug Bridge(ADB) installed. Open your terminal and run below command.

$ adb connect <ip address>:5555

You will see a prompt on your TV asking if you trust the device trying to connect. Press Yes. Your laptop terminal should print connected to <ip address>:5555. Now run below two commands

adb shell settings put global private_dns_mode hostname
adb shell settings put global private_dns_specifier <your webshield DoT endpoint>

That’s it. WebShield will start blocking ads on most streaming services. If you ever want to turn off blocking, you can use below command

adb shell settings put global private_dns_mode off

If you are facing any issues, feel free to drop me a mail at email below.