For most of us, accessing YouTube and watching videos is a part of our daily lives. Whether for work or entertainment, the platform provides an unlimited amount of content from all around the world. And most of the time, we have no issues accessing it (unless you live in a country like China or North Korea). But every now and then, no matter which country that you are accessing YouTube from, you’ll find that some content is geo-restricted.
Here’s a guide directing you how to unblock the restrictions.
Why Is Some YouTube Content Restricted in My Country in 2021?
Licensing Laws
Some video owners choose to make their proprietary content available only to a few countries or regions because of licensing laws and restrictions. And, on the other side, YouTube may block content in a particular region in order to comply with local publishing laws.
Often, the rights to a particular video are held by a guild or an association that claims individual parts of the work – such as the music or copyrighted logos or images. Consider the content in question and split it up into video and audio. Each probably has a copyright holder, director, producer, distributor, licensee, writer, screenwriter, singer, actor, songwriter, or any number of other agents associated with it.
If anyone of the individual claimants disagrees with the release of the content, they can contact YouTube and have them block the content in specific regions.
This can quickly become a complex web of legal negotiations, and often the claims of ownership can be fraudulent. Nevertheless, YouTube will still block the content just to be safe! In the worst instances, you’ll sometimes find that content will be blocked on a mobile device but not on a desktop, seemingly with no rhyme or reason – and it’s all to do with licensing stipulations.
Content Windowing
This is a release strategy designed to publish content in batches around the world as a way of testing the response. This is very common for advertising companies or film companies who want to test their videos on a small audience first and then release them to a larger, global audience.
Another reason for windowing content is to create scarcity of demand. This can drive up anticipation and excitement in a particular region where the content is unavailable. It’s particularly common with movie trailers. You will often find that everyone on social media is talking about a new release in the US that the rest of the world has to wait months to see. Research shows that’s not an accident. It’s a marketing ploy.
How Can I Bypass YouTube’s Region Block in 2021?
If you’ve ever clicked onto a YouTube video only to find it is not supported or blocked, there are several options to bypass the restriction or TV locations including a proxy or a VPN.
Using a Proxy to Unblock YouTube TV Locations
The way YouTube blocks users in certain locations from accessing their content is by tracking their IP address. This is an individual identifier that each internet access point has that informs websites of the location of the visitor.
A proxy can help you mask your IP address and thereby circumvent the restriction. Unfortunately, although this way is fairly simple, it is a hassle to do frequently and often unreliable.
A proxy website is a computer in another location that is set up to act as a mediator between the client computer and the internet.
By using this computer, you send it a request to act as a mediator between the client and the internet. They then route the information through their servers so that, to a website like YouTube, it appears that the request to watch a video originated from the location of the proxy computer.
This sounds great, but the big downside is that it requires the proxy computer to be active, which is why a VPN is more selected when differences are made between VPN vs Proxy. It is common to find proxies constantly changing as they are sought out and shut down by licensing enforcers. So you have to search around to find one – no good if you just want to watch a video quickly.
Use a VPN to Bypass YouTube Video Geological Restrictions
By far, the most effective way to bypass YouTube’s region block and TV locations is a VPN. This stands for Virtual Private Network, and it can quickly and reliably mask your IP address and, consequently, alter your location in the eyes of the content provider. As a bonus, VPNs can use encryption to protect the information that you send out from your computer, keeping you safe from prying eyes and cyberattacks.
This service is commonly called IP masking or geo-spoofing, and as long as you’re signed up with a reliable VPN service like SkyVPN, you’ll be able to access any content on the internet from anywhere in the world, all while keeping your identity hidden and your location private.
How Does a VPN Work?
Basically, the VPN makes a tunnel between your local network and a secondary server at another location that could be anywhere in the world, and it uses this tunnel to transmit all the normal data you’d send when connecting to the internet. By redirecting the internet traffic, the VPN is able to hide your IP address from the final destination, YouTube. It also encrypts any of the data you send and receive, which means it is scrambled and cannot be intercepted by anyone else on the network.
The real bonus, as well as just masking your IP address, is that with a good VPN you can actually choose where your secondary server is. This means that you can get content that is specifically reserved for a particular audience. Put simply, that means you can get US Netflix if you are in the UK, or vice versa. In fact, you can get any content from anywhere!
Which VPN Should I Use? Some Elements that Must be Taken into Consideration in 2021
It’s unfair to directly recommend a VPN because different people have different demands when it comes to the reasons why a VPN is used. However, there are some elements you should take into consideration if you choose a VPN that really works for you.
What’s the Essential Aim of Your Using a VPN
What do you use a VPN for?
Bypass geological restrictions? Establish an encrypted tunnel? Protect your online privacy? Or all of them.
A well-performed VPN can do the above things altogether. Perhaps the first time you use a VPN is just to unblock geological restrictions but it’s still upset if you know your ISP keeps monitoring your online activities or throttling your bandwidth (slow down your network). Therefore, cybersecurity can also be a drive for your application of a VPN.
Which Device Your VPN will Work on
Which device are you going to use a VPN on? It’s also an important element to consider before you pick up a VPN.
Your VPN should be used on all devices connected to the Internet. So, you should use a VPN that is compatible with all devices, from PC to mobile, from Android to iOS.
It’s best to download a VPN that is able to work on all devices with just one account.
Definitely Choose a Secure VPN
No matter for what a VPN is used, cybersecurity is a can’t-miss reason. A VPN protects all your online activities from prying eyes and ISP based on an encrypted tunnel through which all the data between a user and the Internet can be well protected. Plus, a secure VPN should keep no log of users’ online data.
Definitely Choose a Fast VPN
Speed plays a significant role among all elements that should be considered as you select a VPN. A VPN isn’t created to slow down your Internet. However, a VPN possibly leads your network to become slow if it has a small count of servers around the world. SkyVPN is capable of getting users connect to the Internet at a flashing speed just because of the over 3,000 servers around the world.
Keep the elements above and you’ll be able to find a reliable and easy-to-use VPN.
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