The Ethics of YouTube Sponsorship
Vložit
- čas přidán 9. 03. 2022
- Let's talk sponsorship, brand deals, "CZcams Money" and capitalism!
Find out more about NHS Professionals: bit.ly/3pKhy5Z
Pre-order Here & Queer: smarturl.it/HereAndQueer
Patreon: / rowanellis
Twitter: / heyrowanellis
Instagram: / heyrowanellis
Khadija's Video: • "Selling out"😬| Khadij...
Hannah's video on her "CZcams" income: • My Revenue Streams Bre...
Ali's video on his income: • How to make money on Y...
Cathrin's video on her "CZcams" income: • How Much CZcams Paid ...
__HIRE ME__
www.rowanellis.com/book-me/
I deliver engaging and inspiring workshops and talks at events, businesses, and universities across the world (see below for more details).
If you would like to speak about the possibility of me running a workshop or speaking at an event please get in touch via email: rowanellisyoutube@outlook.com.
__WORKSHOPS__
I facilitate tailor made workshops, designed to give participants a variety of discussion opportunities, interactive elements, and a final longer task individually or as part of a group.
The goal of my workshops is that participants come out of the them with actionable points to be put into practice afterwards, rather than feeling as if they had simply talked through the same old topics on that subject.
__TALKS & PANELS__
Talks, presentations, panels and Q&As allow for an in depth look at a topic or issue. I can deliver solo talks on a specific topic and/or moderate or sit on group panels. I have previously spoken on topics including:
- Building Inclusive Communities
- Using CZcams for social good and charitable efforts
- LGBTQ+ Representation on TV/Film
- LGBTQ+ History
- Pop culture and Feminism
- Writing Strong Female Characters
- Women on CZcams
- How to use CZcams/social media as a tool in your career.
- & many more. - Zábava
Honestly, I skip all sponsor messages. Even if the creator uses the product themselves, I don’t actually know them so their opinion on it holds no weight for me 😅
I usually listen through them at 2x speed. Apparently it is apparent in the analytics if people skipped a part of the video, and I'm afraid something like that could affect the rates paid to the CZcamsr.
@@petra1995 hadn't heard that before. Hmmm. Id be another that just skips ad reads normally. Might just mute in future so creators I like dont get impacted.
@@Cruelty-Torture I'm not sure if it can affect their revenue, but they CAN see where people watch and where they don't/skip/stop.
@Immortal Science of Hauntology I'm pretty sure your info is out of date. I might be wrong, but from what I've gathered lately, I'm not wrong. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Me too and it's not even that I don't know the creator but that I probably don't need that product and if I wanted it, I would do my research. I never trust ads as it's not an honest unbiased review.
I never like it when CZcamsrs are sponsored by BetterHelp.
Yes! Agreed! Maaaybe if it was many many years ago before we knew how better help works
same with Noom, especially if they’re a creator that’s critical of weight bias and fatphobia. it feels a bit like a slap in the face tbh
@@gracee234 right like why is there a weight loss app sponsor on a video critiquing societal norms regarding appearance💀
@@gracee234facts
Swell Entertainment also does yearly breakdowns of how much she earns from sponsorships and ad revenue and list out expenses (she just got a new editor, for example).
Yea I'm a new subscriber to her but I saw that and thought how I had never heard another youtuber I sub do that before
Love her. She's extremely transparent about the financial side of her channel.
One issue is... it's easy to have morals when you already have a large enough following that you can pick and choose between sponsorship offers. And sadly, the scummiest brands are also the ones most eager to throw around money at random influencers.
it's like they're especially preying on younger people who are new to having a larger online preference because they know they'll jump at the idea of potentially being able to make money off of something they actually care about. it's sad
Yeah and i dont know if i would call raid shadow legends not just not good and needy, ut yeah capitalism.
I mean, there is a certain level of pardon to be freely given to people who are in poor circumstances (not just financially poor) and make immoral decisions, but the fact that we still call said action immoral implies there's a level of universality expected in morals and they're still doing an immoral act. To a certain extent is accepting scummy brand sponsorship still unethical even if we were to consider it relatively
@@treshaunrogers My point wasn't "it's not unethical," my point was "some people can't afford to be ethical." Motive is irrelevant when determining the harm an action caused, it's not irrelevant when determining how people should be treated.
@@Sylocat What's sad is that I'm sure the people who "can't afford to be ethical" are also those who can be convinced to do sponsorships and partnerships for much less money because they don't feel equipped to value their work the way a larger creator wouldn't agree to be paid less than X amount for an ad.
Imo if a creator needs that Raidshadowlegends money to pay the bills they can go for it, I don’t care. The kinds of companies I do worry about being taken as sponsors are those shoddy VPNs, fake therapy websites, and other “services” that can prove to be harmful. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth when a creator shills something that could negatively affect their audience.
I mean mobile games like Raid are designed to squeeze money out of people as well. I'd argue that potentially pointing a viewer to something designed to make them "whale" and exploit that would also be as bad as those other things. Financial harm is still harm, after all.
(I don't have a concrete opinion on sponsorships overall to be clear, I just don't think that sort of thing is necessarily "less bad")
Pretty much a rite of passage at this point his chauffeur raid Shadow Legends because everyone knows that anyone who would play it is already on it 😂
Raid shadow legends also lets you bypass a credit card even if you are a child by letting the child have the expenses in raid billed directly to their parents cellphone payments. This feature requires no password, no confirmation, and has been added by a lot of cellphone services to be turned on automatically without the holders consent. This also requires an annoying process to turn off. Also games such as raid shadow legends specifically target those with gambling addictions, and those who are vulnerable to being tricked. They invest a lot of money into psychological manipulation more than the gameplay and that is a red flag. They spend so much on ad sponsorships because they know once you are in, there is a good chance they can manipulate you into spending money. Its a very nasty game. @@Emma-rw8yo
Big ya self up for being so transparent about this, Rowan. Corporations can't lowball us if we know what they're giving us!
Always love seeing Foreign in a comment section 🙌
I quite like Tom Scotts approach. He's usually super transparent, I remember one he literally said "you should treat this video as an ad" at the beginning
I love that video he made on VPN companies misrepresenting the uses of their product, which, from what I recalll, was originally meant to indeed be an ad for a VPN. Either that or it was meant to be satirical all along, I don't remember, honestly
Same with Internet Shaquille: he blatantly states, in a extremely separated part of the video tonally, “*X Company* has paid to be mentioned in this video” then does a bare-bones ad read of the product or service, without any of the casual personal/emotional endorsement of “oh i use this and love it” fare
I tend to flip-flop with my opinion on sponsorships honestly just because it's such a gray area. Like, I'm probably never going to stop watching a creator just because they take a sponsorship from a brand I dislike, but at the same time, I do roll my eyes a little when people will be openly critical of companies like Amazon, then turn around and advertise Amazon-owned services like Audible. Still, I've worked as a freelancer, and I've definitely taken jobs for people whose beliefs/personal politics don't align with my own - it'd be hypocritical for me to say someone else couldn't do the same in a video to put food on the table. So while I might take notice of a youtuber I like promoting a less-than-ethical company, I know that the realities of the situation (especially in an economic system where so many people have to work for companies they don't like/do jobs they hate bc there's no other way to survive) often make the "choice" to work with a given brand not much of a choice at all. At the same time, I'm someone who is rarely swayed by advertisements in the first place and likes to do some research before buying a product/service (and honestly even when I do like something it takes me a few months to get around to actually buying it), while many people might depend more on the recommendations of their favorite youtubers, and thus have more of a vested interest in having the youtubers they watch only advertise products that are actually good/don't misrepresent themselves in ads or use deceptive practices. Idk, it's complicated!
You can be critical of Amazon AND endorse Audible if you are VERY clear that you are doing that ad as a ad, not a personal recommendation. But they aren't. That will cast doubt on their credibility.
The difference between that and a lot of freelancing is that there isn't a component of personal recommendations as someone who writes ad-copy or does some digital design for an ad. YOU aren't the one putting your name to an endorsement.
Personally, I am significantly less likely to even consider a product I see advertised by CZcamsrs since those companies are relying on potential buyers trusting someone enough to take an endorsement as personal on some level. This is manipulative, and I hold both the company and the creator are joint fault. Both sides are relying on parasocial relationships to foster a sense of trust.
tl;dr: No ethical consumption under capitalism. (I write on my google phone in a google app).
Yeah, the Audible sponsorships are the ones that stand out the most to me.
Also twitch which is amazon owned, its like youtube who is part of google, they are just that big in social platforms. Iff you treat them as funny ad rather than a personal recommendation, thats just capitalism we live under.
The difference between uou taking those jobs and them taking sponsorships is their MASSIVE platform. You don't have a primarily young fanbase that has a known lack of spending knowledge, but they do
Just starting this video but I JUST saw this article yesterday of a Latina who created a "Glassdoor for creatives" and its called "Clara for Creatives" and influencers/creators can review companies, anonymously post how much they got paid for what, etc. Might be helpful!
i've never said this online before, but i just assume that any time a creator i watch goes into an adbreak, anything they say during that section is not true and i 100% support them doing that. i have no qualms at all about a creator i like taking any kind of sponsorship whatsoever. i think this is an important part of / symptom of having healthier relationships with creators, i.e. not parasocial ones
Same. If a creator is being paid, and I'm viewing their creations free, unless they're promoting something illegal (in which case I'd probably stop watching the video/their creations and divesting myself of the free content I no longer receive), I have zero influence over their choice of sponsorships. And it is frustrating to see comments where folks berate a creator for accepting a specific sponsor, the sense of entitlement some commenters have over a creator's occupation and finances is pretty scary (what I'm talking about, I've seen paragraphs where folks are telling creators they shouldn't use a sponsor and statements of no longer following/subscribing because they've accepted a sponsor or of they continue to use that sponsor)
I've been duped into buying products I would not have otherwise bought because it came in what I thought was an honest recommendation from an influencer. I'm a little more skeptical now.
@@PrettyGuardian it's a reasonable thing to have happen, we're all vulnerable to being sold stuff. i've never really brought it up in comment sections because it feels like if it was a widely agreed upon thing (that ads are just ads) the creator could lose their sponsors. i do get the sense, though, that some people understand that it's an unspoken understanding that once an ad read starts, anything til the end of the ad read can safely be considered not true (regarding the creator's interest/endorsement). like VPN services for example: the stuff that creators say about how VPNs can let you access foreign versions of netflix, hulu, etc. are 100% true and can be very nice to have, but (in my experience with a good internet plan) often the internet speed is a lot slower as a result. so the information in the ads is true, and some people will definitely find value in the products advertised, but a lot of the time, it's stuff you probably wouldn't buy otherwise. i think it's fine to just accept that fact as part of trying to support content creators for their labor
@@bellablue5285 Honestly, I'm with you on CZcams audience being entitled. While I believe that creators should be held accountable for things they have done, there are nuances in many cases. How much do they get paid with and without such sponsorships? Also, while dirts about those sponsors (like WetterKelp or CelloPresh) might be well known to you, not everyone is going to know all dramas happening here. It is a little bit unfair for us to totally "cancel" or "drag" creators just because they did the ad read for Maid Shallow Agents or BoardETMen.
That said, audience entitlement is probably a separate topic on its own. Should, say, someone who watches videos on this site for free, without premium, membership, or any other way to pay the creator, not even watching ads, be allowed to dictate how creators get paid?
@@notthatcreativewithnames You can chose a good sponsor tho.
Also, ''cancel culture'' is just a buzz word.
Hey just to let you know in the English captions Khadija's name is spelt wrong. I'll link a few of the places where it occurs so it can be easily fixed - as I am sure it wasn't done intentionally.
I always appreciate the fact you have closed captions as it makes your videos very accessible to me as a disabled person :)
0:19, 0:29, 3:17, 4:37, 5:06, 5:52
Thanks for that, I was gonna leave a comment about it. I first thought Rowan was talking about someone else.
Not me thinking the binder-comparisson was about office supplies xD
i 100% use office supply binders i would take an office supplier binder sponsorship in a heart beat haha
I would definitely appreciate sponsors concerning both chest binders and office supply binders.
@@krisscoss8907 I'm looking forward to the day two companies notice both the homonym and the overlap between people who use binders and are writers/artists who like binders, and release collab binder sets where the chest and office binders have matching cool af designs.
@@neoqwerty I feel like most people who wear binders want them to be skin-colored so they don't stick out under clothes
@@siblinghoodsys Pretend you have some cool tattoos?
i’ve heard youtubers mention turning down most sponsorships, and only going for things they’d actually recommend. i’m sure some people don’t have that luxury, and just take what they can get in order to make ends meet, but i really respect that mindset :-)
I can't respect people who won't turn down sponsorships they wouldn't give, for free, to their friends. The whole "don't have that luxury" is false. Creators choose to do this in the first place.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria I don’t yell at Walmart greeters cause they’re promoting Walmart by making money from them
Who mentioned yelling at anyone? There's a big difference between saying you lose respect for someone promoting a thing you dislike and you actively harass someone promoting a thing you dislike. Nobody automatically deserves our respect regardless of their actions or choices, but we generally shouldn't be yelling at people for doing a job either, and these things should not be equated.
If they dont do for the ethical bad and just very needsy not good without personally recommanding.
I dont blame people to having not great brands nottoo enthusiastic that are not the worst to pay bills. Like i get why raid shadow legends would be ok if, infamously looked upon regardless.
Also iff its relative transparent with the other gotten across and not overly enthusiastic endore bad things. Subtext can a lot show, eh i needed the money or thats just an add, or i really am ok with it. And if that are just not great sponsorships or problematic ones
@@TheDelinear Sure, but there's also a difference between failing to understand a metaphor and purposefully acting like you missed the point because you don't want to acknowledge or address that it's been made. Saying that not having the luxury of viable options is "false" makes me feel like the statement is made by one who has never been homeless and employed full-time, simultaneously (speaking as one who very much has,) which is not a bad thing - it's an excellent thing, actually, that everyone should be able to claim, but regardless, it's called privilege. Privilege at a level and to a degree that not everyone can, in the real world, claim. Remember, this is an international platform and not all of us live in nations with socialized education and healthcare systems, so for many of us poverty is a very real aspect of mundane life.
Furthermore, saying that a creator should just get a regular or part time job in addition to the independent ownership of a small business (yes, CZcams channels function, probably most often, as small businesses,) makes me feel like the speaker is one who has never dealt with running a small business and thus has no real notion of how much time it requires in addition to lack of benefits and assumption of risks. It also kind of fails to follow a few of the main points in this video about ethical working standards and healthy time investments in money earning, so... that too.
Not to "yell" or make you feel like my statements are equitable to yelling. Don't get me wrong, I get wanting to take a hardlined stance on the issues you care about, but this can become a bit pointless if you forget that people are the reason to stand up for ideas. When you play respectability politics about income earning efforts made by impoverished people, you risk hamstringing the efforts of those people to climb themselves out of poverty and that's the definition of self-defeat.
my attitude toward sponsorships within youtube videos is generally a case of "i get that this person has taken this sponsorship just to get by, i'm gonna skip it and just pretend like it isn't there" so i'm kinda surprised at how compelling i've found this video. i've very seriously considered trying out creating content on youtube a good few times and i've always thought to myself that i'd just never take ANY sponsorships, but it's interesting to consider the different angles that different youtubers will approach the subject with.
I’m glad this came up since I see Hello Fresh as a sponsorship all the time (just started video so not sure if it’s covered) but it’s been accused of some really questionable stuff regarding their labor (all alleged) so I watch youtubers who seem to care about employees being treated well and then they do their HF sponsorship and it’s such a disconnect to me
the first one that comes to my mind is illuminaughti lol ... she talks so much about exploitative companies I'd think she'd at least be aware of the controversy.
@@nikolasslead6582 i also follow her and find her hello fresh sponsorships very annoying, in General i love her content but dislike the fact she takes 2 sponsors per vídeo, but thats her problem, she gotta get her coin
The worst thing about CZcams sponsors is that the VPN Companies are lying to you
The VPN ads are the ones that annoy me the most, they’re everywhere. It makes me sad to see my favorite youtubers advertising for them because it means that either they’re not aware what they’re saying is basically lies, or they do know but just don’t care enough.
I got one to watch region locked content. Guess what. They don't work like that half the time
What is the deal with VPNs? A couple of CZcamsrs I like are sponsored by them. I know what they're for, but how are they worse than other products/services advertised? The one who I consistently see being sponsored is pretty open about her use of it. She's a movie historian and that's how she's able to watch most of the old foreign movies that show up in her videos.
@@maurinet2291 The issue is that most of their claims are either extremely dated or an outright lie. Especially in the security department. They do not protect you online, and you are just as venerable online using them as not using them. Most of their safety claims come from outdated reasoning (IE connecting to an unsecured wifi hotspot, how common are these these days anyways?) or very niche risks like specific kinds of man-in-the-middle attacks.
They're great however to avoid local online legislation, which they (ironically) can't legally advertise in most countries. And to get access to region locked content. However most of them heavily try to sell themselves on security, not bypassing geo-fencing.
Not to mention quite a few advertise themselves as "not sharing or sell data" only to be found out later to share or sell your data.
All in all VPN's are akin to spyware that let you access region locked content, sold to people as security but with the actual security it gives being akin to using a snickers wrapper as a replacement for a condom.
Granted people gladly pay for having spyware installed into their own house with things like Alexa's and Google voice machines just to gain some minor convenience of not having to press a few buttons or possibly standing up. So what does that say of most people desire for privacy and security anyway?
@@relo999 Thank you so much, this is a great answer.
So glad to hear your dad got the care he needed ❤️
Seconded! It must have been a scary time for her family.
Great thoughts. I really feel your disclaimer about changing your mind as I feel differently about this from one day to another. Complex. I think you were still employed when I last saw you at Tom’s thing but congrats on going full time! Good luck ☺️
Thanks!! Medical stuff def feels like it’s own minefield of ethical questions!
Love this nuanced discussion. It's a topic I've been thinking on more and more recently as I get more offers from major brands. I've still not accepted a sponsorship as I don't have the personal/emotional bandwidth to do a proper sponsorship at this time (as I'd want to research the brand, trial the product, offer honest thoughts). But... I know realistically it would be a game changer to start carefully accepting sponsorships in terms of generating additional income as AdSense varies so widely. I also don't really know where to start, re: knowing what I'm worth. But also I'm hyperaware of my potential influence and how loaded my choices may end up being which is so stressful.
Really really enjoyed this! You might want to know, though - the closed captioning has Kadijah's name spelled wrong throughout the video. They have it as "Kadeisha" instead.
Stripped of all pretense, Sponsorships at their core are a request by the Sponsor for the viewer's time/money/trust. The Creator is just advertising-with-extra-steps that puts more degress of separation between the viewer and the advertiser. If sponsorship can't pass the initial test "Should my audience be asked for their time/money/trust by this Sponsor" then all flow-down ethical considerations are prefaced on exploiting the audience. Maybe it's only perceived as a "little" exploitation ("My viewers won't mind much if I take this sponsorship"), or maybe it's viewed as something the audience owes the creator ("They'll understand how much I need this"), but it will always be exploiting the audience's time, money, or trust to some degree or another. The Sponsor isn't there for the Creator, they're they're for what they can get from the viewer. Without the Viewer there is no Sponsor, so that's where the ethical consideration should start.
Exactly. An actor in an ad is playing a character and we know that they're not real. When creators are portraying themselves as themselves, then give recommendations, which ads are, viewers expect that recommendation to be real. Creators rely on trust with their audiences. That comes with responsibility to be honest, and honestly is authenticity. I find alarming how many creators I've seen who don't understand this. They may believe their justifications, making their views authentic, but that's still a problem. They're losing sight of what the truth of a matter is in favor of how they can justify it to themselves in a way they can believe and feel good about.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria I think Internet Historian and Terrible Writing Advice both have their sponsor ads down pat: it's obvious it's a plug, it doesn't use the "main character" (the Historian and J.C. respectively)... and honestly even if I'm not going to use what they're sponsoring they're at least going the "make the ad fun" route instead of following a shilling script so they don't act as mouthpieces for the company. (that and they're clearly marking the ad segments as, well, ads.)
One of my favorite bits of media about some of the absurdities of sponsored content remains Stephen Colbert’s “wheat thins” bit where he basically just reads out the absurd brand presentation parameters.
I think sponsors are important for youtubers especially when youtube can be very inconsistent with monetization it can be a more consistent amount of money. I just don't think that you should let go of your morals when getting sponsored.
this is a small point, but thank you for refusing to work with diet/weight loss brands! i've been seeing Noom sponsorships popping up on channels i wouldn't even expect and it's been super disheartening.
Is Noom shady? I thought it was a legit app but idk
@@alexbennet4195 their "psychology based tactics" encourage thinking that easily leads to disordered eating and have pushed weight loss on their "non diet related" noom mood app (mickey atkins has spoken about it, tw for eating disorders though)
@@alexbennet4195idk if they’re necessarily shady but i tried to sign up for noom and as SOON as i put down that i have an ed they said “we can’t accommodate this app for people who have or used to have eating disorders” which to me just sounds like they promote ed’s and dont want to admit it.
I think CZcams creators need an independent union, maybe even several of them.
!!!
The green brothers made one a while ago. Not sure if it still exists. And there's the online creator association for tiktok.
I have to admit that I skip over most advertising moments in videos now, simply cause I feel like it's the same 10 companies every damn time and at this point I know all the specific sentences they want/instruct the CZcamsr to say by heart ("Hello Fresh is America's number one mal kit...") and it's just boring (and sounds fake) by now. I sometimes watch when it's one I haven't heard of or the creator does something funny with it.
I think the important thing with sponsorships is to be honest about so people know it’s an ad. I think queer content creators in general have had to rely a lot on sponsorships because YT demonetizes their videos so they don’t get regular ad play money.
About disclosing ads, there was a huge scandal in Germany around an Instagram model who didn’t tell people it was an ‚ad‘ when she posted a photo wearing clothes that she bought with her own money (!) and linked the friend she spent the day with (!!). She was sued by some sketchy law firm for misleading advertising… and LOST. So for a while, even private folks on insta wrote Ad in their posts if they just spent a day with a Friend and tagged them. It was insane. The guidelines were revised later but. What the hell.
Nothing really surprising here, though on your comments about how the standards seem different, Tom Scott did one of his rare long form videos on this topic, and... Yeah, the legal standards are vastly different for CZcamsrs compared to traditional media. I think his conclusion was that they shouldn't be... The standards that get applied to CZcams are probably the standards that should be applied everywhere.
I like the way Internet Shaquille does it. He makes short videos, and then at the end of the video he literally says "[X brand] has paid to be mentioned at the end of this video". I really like that kind of transparency.
I really liked the examples you used with the makeup look video sponsor, there’s so much nuance there I wouldn’t have thought about otherwise.
Your example of only using X brand products in a makeup look video reminds me of a video I saw before from a slime youtuber who challenged themselves to make slime only out of stuff they could find at dollar tree
Great and informative video, and some good discussion in the comments, too. I just want to add that there is no amount of sectioning-off or ad-segmenting that doesn't affect the "content". Part of the reason brands pay out sponsorships is that it's sometimes the closest they can get to the classic native advertising. Also, it makes ad-skipping for the viewer a bit more annoying.
In any case, the video itself, as it exists to the public, is substantially altered to accommodate the ad. The runtime is increased, the tone and pacing have to account for the ad break, etc etc. It's like listening to a song and the singer suddenly wants to tell you all about VPNs. Pile on top of all of that the fact that advertisements exploit people's insecurities, fears of missing out, or utter alienation caused by whatever they have to do for the majority of their waking hours. Any given ad is just one of the thousands of daily psychological beatings that create and constrain the consumer subject. We and our works bear the scars of exploitation, an exploitation that is piled on top of the usual concerns of medium and language.
But people need money to live, and having a steadier and higher income is a great relief (at least in my personal experience). Precarity sucks. The stress of poverty is horrible. Ultimately, I can't fault people for doing what they can to have a better life. There's no solving the problem of having ads within one's work because it's all predicated on a moment-to-moment reality of economic coercion. I personally think it's a positive development when artists try to support each other and share information, so it's always nice to hear that.
At this point I doubt FOMO really kicks in with most ads, considering the same group of ads (or very similar products) have been paying for ads from youtubers for years now. Like I don't think anyone really feels they miss out on Raid (especially considering the "special sign up legendary hero and x amount of gold" has no context for a new player) or Nord considering they've been running ads for, I think, 3 or 4 years now.
Also as for artists supporting eachother, it might be because I work in the indie game dev sphere and have worked in the general art sphere, but that always turns into a rather incestueus mess of an "in-crowd" and to get access to the wider audience and media it requires trying to align yourself with the views, politics, living location, etc. of that in-crowd or require viral success. (And looking at the popularity of moving to LA by a lot of video and film people, it doesn't look much different in other media).
As for sectioning off ads, I'm fine with it however I think it should be crystal clear it's an ad. Skipping them is basically the same as pressing the skip button, just slightly more time consuming. Personally I'm a big fan of youtubers that actually make them a full on skit, if it's a comedy channel, rather than the cold reading. At that point at least there is some value to the average watcher over yet another Raid or VPN reading I heard multiple times that day, cold reading are just dead air.
When I read a magazine article about recommended products, I definitely hope (I'd say expect but that seems naive) that the people writing the article have not only sampled the products (or experiences) that are being recommended, but have also sampled alternatives and come to the conclusion that whichever product they're recommending is better than those alternatives. And obviously, if that's been gifted, it should be mentioned at the top of the article
I've worked in the publishing industry and can guarantee that the people that write articles and the people who choose advertisers have nothing to do with each other. Nobody who writes articles in magazines gets free samples of everything they advertise.
I think that lots of times, people just take sponsorships that don’t represent their values, they just want money.
It seems like it does represent their values; their values are “get more money.”
@@tobistein6639 I feel like that really talks past the point. Very few people would say they value “money” even people who are super red pilled on that mind set will say things like “money equals freedom” or something along those lines
@@bobpope3656 My point is that if someone purports to have a value and they make a choice that goes against that value for the sake of making money, then they must prioritize making money over the purported value. Also that's a very nebulous claim that very few people would say they value money. I'd wager many (at least in the US) would.
@@tobistein6639 I understand, but to assume that someone doesn’t hold a value because of your understanding, is not cool. Depending on the ethic or value in question, the person could just be ignorant to the value they hold all the way to having very strong views on the implication, that you do not agree with. It’s pretty not cool to tell others people what their values are or are not.
a lot of the times they need the money. youtube's monetization system is shit and is even worse if you live in a country that adds tax to any transaction done in dollars. For example if you give 10 dollars to a person in a latin american country they will get only 5 or less dollars due to tax. That's what happens with the monetization system and why sponsors are soo big. They offer creators a stable source money
I always skip Hello Fresh ads because of my ed, and when I see ads for Raid I just roll my eyes because 100% none of the CZcamsrs who are sponsored by them actually play it
Idk about all of that but I hear that raycon earbuds are noise cancelling and are much cheaper than other leading wireless earbud brands
Are they? They look like cheap bs.
I instantly distrust any ad where "the other leading brand" can't be mentioned. If you stand by your research them say the name of the company and trust that your research can stand up to scrutiny.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria Interesting, is that a thing you can do in other countries? Germany for example has regulations that you're not allowed to denounce other specific brands in your ads. Meaning you can vaguely allude to "being the best" or "being better than others" but you are not allowed to directly compare the product to that of another brand (at least within the ad, i.e. researched comparison articles are of course a different topic). I always assumed that other countries had similar regulations.
@@Dave102693 they do. I was just mocking the talking points that youtubers always say whenever they’re sponsored by raycon
I really appreciate when creators like you take the time to go through these topics - it makes it more clear that this is a parasocial interaction and breaks the effect as if it were a 4th wall break. Great job, love your content, looking forward to your future videos
I have been playing this until around the 30 minute mark, but I stopped. I realized I had a massive brain fart.
I tend to shut my brain down when videos talk about sponsors. So I shut my brain down, waiting until the tone changes, or different keywords are mentioned. I have been waiting for Rowan to talk about the topic I clicked the video for.
Turns out, I was being stupid for 30 minutes because I misread the title as "The Ethics of CZcams Censorship".
Don't mind me, I'm just gonna casually restart the video and pretend nothing embarrassing happened....
omfg 😂 You waited for 30 minutes? I'm impressed by your patience
If I see a video from a small creator and I'm not interested in the topic, I still play it. If the ad is not so cringy it makes my skin crawl, I still watch it (I don't know if companies ask for numbers on how much the ad is skipped). I just wish the ads were a little bit more entertaining instead of scripted (you know who you are *cough cough* BetterHelp); please brands let creators do what they do best. I enjoyed the hell out of ads from the podcast FANTY because they talk about the brands in their regular personality, which is really really funny. I'm also down with the eye rolling from Lindsay Ellis, is quite funny 🤣.
Do creators or sponsors care if I skip the add? I usually skip adds via timestamps and get a bit frustrated if there aren't any. Even worse if there aren't any visual differences.
The creator might care if they get a commission for every purchase and click on the link. But I think sponsors will care more because they want something out if the deal.
Fact fiend's Karl Smallwood has a bunch of videos how he does sponsorships. Karl is also extremely transparent about his interaction with sponsors, which is hilarious.
This was super insightful and interesting, thank you for taking the time to make this and share it with us
I watch a really wide range of channels and my favourite approach to ads is from FactFiend - who tend to work with small businessess chosen by vibes and creative control. But that doesn't stop me from watching Graham Stephen and knowing the ads were almost entirely influenced by who was paying him more. Pretty much every channel I watch is open about how they handle this conundrum though.
Excellent video, Rowan, and I applaud and respect you for laying it all out like that, for your transparency and your nuance.
Additionally, I just wanted to mention two channels in particular who stick out to me in terms of the sponsorship ads. The first, which I suspect you might have had in mind at one point in this video, is Some More News. I like how they kinda sorta talk shit about it and acknowledge how it annoys everyone, but we’re all in this together. But I especially like how they put a red border around the screen during the ads so you can more easily fast forward through them if you want. Since I noticed that, I have ironically skipped their sponsored ads less just because I want to reward them for respecting their viewers like that. The other channel is History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday. That lady is just so damn smooth and clever with her transitions into her sponsorships that half the time I don’t even realize she’s doing it until she’s well into it. I almost never skip hers out of respect for the hustle and the cleverness.
So just from my personal experience, even if not considering the ethics and morals surrounding which products and companies, etc., I think the respect creators have for their viewers’ intelligence goes a long way. I hope that made sense. The ADHD is in overdrive today…
Sponsored sections for me are like TV adverts. Just as I would change the channel when the adverts come on, I fast forward to skip the sponsored section(s) of any video I watch. I don't care what the product is, as soon as it begins I skip it.
Thank you for this video, it was very enlightening! I think my view of sponsorships has always been on the negative side since I dislike advertising in general, but I never thought about it as a way for individual creators to gain more stable income, and be responsible employers. I don’t have all the answers but I think making this knowledge more available to people would be a huge help, especially for people who are becoming content creators or trying to get into the industry. As someone who doesn’t get paid for their content, it definitely makes me think twice about trying to make it a paying job.
....how did i not know about the oreo sponsor controversy before!! i def only watched dan and phil's oreo video through a link sent around in fan spaces but i never knew why it got taken down initially lol
I also didn’t know about this.
i'm dedicated to exposing the deep dan and phil lore
@@HeyRowanEllis our hero 😆
I continue to be in awe of your intellect and depth of exploration of subjects.
Keep shining Rowan!
this is so interesting; thanks for sharing rowan!
That was a really interesting and thought provoking breakdown in sponsorship. Exactly what I hoped for! Thanks!
you are really easy to watch, i really like your pace and personability! think you def chose the right career :3 thank you for explaining things, i'm so far away from even getting the 1k adsense revenue it's ridic but it's all really interesting to think about, especially how there's no real fixed number
I'm so using this topic for a university essay. Love the video
That's what authenticity is about.
When it comes to authenticity and such, what it come down to it this: CZcams/TikTok/et.al all rely on some form of parasocial relationships. Creators aren't openly portraying a character the way an actor in a commercial is, or an actor in a TV show or movie. Robert Pattinson as Batman, some unknown person as that person using X medication, etc. We expect people who are playing roles to tell us what they'd paid to say rather than endorsements to be personal. They aren't the ones ultimately on control, and even the actors who have leeway only have leeway because their bosses over them allow it, and can revoke it.
When it comes to creators who are selling WHO they are as part of, if not the whole, package, then If is YOU who are endorsing a product, not a character you've created, and as YOU are the boss on control, then the expectation changes since you aren't presenting yourself as a fictitious being. You aren't Rowan Ellis played by Jane Smith. You are Rowan Ellis presenting who you want us to believe you are, and that is Rowan Ellis.
You're too young to remember this, but in 2003, Jessica Simpson was in a reality show where she made some comments about tuna and the brand Chicken of the Sea, and she was DRAGGED for her stupidity. In the end, it turned out she was trying to play a role for entertainment, yet there was no distinction. It wasn't her portrayed that way in editing, or producers manipulating her to get what they wanted to splice up in editing, as we all know is normal in reality TV. SHE chose to play the role of a airhead in a way that had no clear divide between her actual self and her character. She was playing it as if that was who she really way, yet she saw is as a role, and she chose to do that. And since it was her show, as opposed to being cast on a reality show, she ended up presenting an inauthentic version of herself as her real self for entertainment.
Some creators blur the line to the point that it's all gray, then wonder why they aren't trusted or why dumb things they said that was presented as real is held against them forever. This is why. Are you being truthful with us about this being who you are, or are you secretly intentionally playing a character using your real name? And if we can't know, yet your selling point is yourself, how can your endorsements be trusted? If is you yourself, or you-the-character?
Authenticity is about honestly, and honesty is acting within your power to be as truthful as possible. As the creator in charge, this means it's 100% on you, and blurring truth with fiction and not making the line clear means you aren't being real with us. You aren't being truthful. If you are being as honest as you can, then you are authentic.
Using a platform where you're presenting yourself as authentic, then making recommendations you wouldn't make for free to friends, is fake. Since that's a choice, you would be seen as inauthentic.
I just came here to drop this nitpick because I’ve wanted to complain about it forever but didn’t really have anywhere to put it.
Every Hello Fresh ad clearly has the same copy/script, and there’s a part where they say the packaging is made of a certain percentage of recycled CONTENT. It literally makes me want to put my hair out, I dont know why it bothers me so much 🤣
When you said binders I thought you were talking about a three ringed binder lol 😅 I just thought "yeah I guess some of your audience could be in school still"
i would 100% take a three ring binder sponsorship i am a stationery girl haha
@@HeyRowanEllis lever arch file > 2/3/4 ring binders.
Great video. I really appreciate your honesty and transparency on this issue.
This is such a interesting topic, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for making this, Rowan! Yours and Khadija's videos are very important resources, especially for us smaller creators who haven't gotten sponsorships yet and are wondering what navigating that will be like (assuming we get there).
This was super informative, thank you!
great video! Always a great topic.
So excited for this!!!!
Definitely going to check out the video on history and palaces now. I was like wait how tf did I miss that until I figured out it was on their channel, not yours. That seems like a very cool concept though!
thank you, i see you as an authentic person and appreciate your content.
I know that if I’m watching a video like a makeup video that is sponsored by a brand and they use like a bunch of products and the person doesn’t say ANYTHING they dislike I don’t really trust it. Like just something like “oh I don’t love the flowery smell of this lipstick.” It feels inauthentic and inhuman to like everything about that much product
That’s when I know it’s an ad and not a genuine product review. Very shady.
Love this discussion
Love the video! I'm glad you're father is okay! ❤
Congrats on 200K. Sponsorship on You tube is such a slippery slope. Especially for Role play Creators.
Hey, what’s your opinion on energy drink sponsorships? I noticed you avoid drugs and diet food as your channels values. Energy drinks are kind of a grey area and I see companies like Bang and monster advertising to younger and younger audiences and most countries have no age limit for these beverages.
It’s been on my mind lately and your video was so fascinating.
This!! I’m so worried about younger and younger kids regularly imbibing caffeine…I drank a lot of coffee and tea starting in 5th grade to keep up with my homework load, which has led to a higher level of general anxiety and because I also used to stay up for days working on assignments, I’m more prone to auditory and visual hallucinations.
They would full under drug area pretty sure, potentially. So i guess its a off, just guessing.
Dunno tea is probably better than coffee or energy drinks. eriously with tea its fairly diverse and , if anyon wants to go into that , tea is i think the most healthy to dope a bit. And ther are all kinds of tea and youhave pretty healthy tea. I would advice getting into tea honestly.
@@marocat4749 Tea is magic and if you do enough research on what herbal properties do what you're gonna find something for every symptom management.
A friend's added ginger tea to my stash of teas because I sing as a hobby and some days I just sing myself hoarse, and that always help soothe my poor vocal cords. And I'm a trans dude so I always keep chamomille tea stocked, that stuff does WONDER when Aunt Flo comes to visit.
I find it fascinating watching this now that I'm more heavily involved in the Twitch streaming space than I am in the CZcams space. I'm always happy for creators I've followed a long time getting sponsorships, I think everyone deserves to get paid for their work. The kind of people I follow seem to have the view that they wouldn't work with a brand their uncomfy with or don't like their products, but even then I still take "influencer" recommendations for a product with a grain of salt. In this instance, with NHS professionals it's clear the ad isn't meant for me because I live in the US and don't plan on moving anytime soon. Would it still be helpful to you monetarily if I were to click on the link in the description? or since its not a genuine interest would the engagement the brand is looking for not be there?
When something is for free.. sometimes ...we are the product.
At least that's how i feel about some controversial sponsorships.
Anyway great video!
I love this video; very informative and cool. I'm only really using CZcams to try and spring ball a live music performance/production career, if anything else (over on my other channel) so it's a kind of a musical LinkedIn. All people could really offer me would be practical things I'd actually use. If they tried to sponsor me for tech/instruments I don't use or play, it'd be pointless because I couldn't accurately demo it!
As a viewer/fan/supporter of a ton of creators, some of whom I’m good friends with, and others I watch because, well, I just like their content, and personality and creativity, etc., I sometimes get a bit concerned about sponsorships. But I’ve decided that in the end, who I like to watch never really depended on sponsors anyway, (I usually skip those ad reads if I’m not interested.) and my feelings towards a creator based on whether or not a sponsor is shifty is really up to just me and my feelings! I don’t have to agree with or use sponsors to support or enjoy creators! Really, I just want to support my favorite creators and enjoy some fun videos!
Just wanted to get that off my chest!
Thank you for the great overview of the type of discussions and considerations that usually only happen behind the scenes. Watched quite a few other videos on the topic (including of course Tom's), and really like the ethically driven approach you described. There's always that little voice in the background questioning anything sponsored, but have to admit that I'd much rather watch a video with a (declared!) sponsored segment than slog my way through CZcams advertisements.
My opinion of CZcamsr sponsors is that it ruins the authenticity when they're supposedly giving their genuine thoughts and then randomly telling you how much they LOVE Nord Shadow Legends or whatever. Sponsors worked in television because the medium never was about authenticity, just entertainment. Let's be honest, if someone's making a video of firing toy trains out of cannons, nobody cares what their motivation is. It's just fun to watch. I wouldn't mind sponsor segments so much if it was at the end of the video and/or a real trustworthy product. A sponsor segment for Ovaltine isn't going to annoy anyone (in fact, it'll get tons of Christmas Story jokes, I know I'd make one) because it's something that's actually good. Coca-Cola, Duncan Hines cake mix, Colgate toothpaste, Cascade dish detergent, those are products we know and trust. Some of the sponsors CZcamsrs take actually scare me, because they're abusing the trust of their often young audience and selling them gambling sites and sometimes literal Ponzi schemes. Even the better sponsors like Magic Spoon cereal are disappointing (overpriced cereal that doesn't even taste good, but at least it's a real product). If real companies sponsored CZcamsrs, that'd improve the prestige of the site and the CZcamsrs. Also if the ad couple be put right at the end or maybe the beginning. Kurzgesagt always puts the ad at the end instead of the middle so that it doesn't negatively affect the video itself.
If only CZcams doesn't consistently screw their creators for even tiny little things
the youtuber with the best ad policy is definitely Internet Shaquille
41:00 loved that video btw
I came here to say your hair looks really nice styled like that.
You know, as an aspiring creator myself, this is SO helpful and eye opening. Thanks for all your hard work!
I like how Fact Fiend do it. Always very blatant about how the money on the channel is split, will call out BS sponsorship tactics, but super happy to do independent and whole-hearted sponsorships for fans’ businesses.
I hope you are doing well and not answering any emails that cause you unnecessary additional stress 💜💜
This is so interesting!! I’ve actually been wondering about this so thank you!
this is really really relaly really really really raly rely relealy good
When she talkeabout some people in her audience might find binders useful my first though was "huh, yeah I guess some people here like stationary" 🤦♀️😂😂😂
Thanks, Rowan. I'm very concerned about the ethics behind sponsorships (and in fact, all facets) of my work on CZcams, but am trying to make this work support me and my family. I think I first became familiar with your channel back in your gay cottagecore video, which was also delightfully thorough and considered. I'll be watching more soon. Thanks again.
i'd never thought of influencer ad reads as being like celebrity ad reads, but it's obvious now that you spell it out! the small-time aesthetic of a lot of social media personalities does play into the way i see their ads-i definitely think of it as more an opportunity for the creator or a recommendation, rather than the celebrity equivalent of jury duty. tv and movie stars benefit from their ads appearing in more diverse forums, so you're not e.g. seeing keira knightley shilling perfume before all her movies. i've had to unsub from a couple of youtubers because they kept doing ad videos for companies i had problems with and it was coloring the content of even their other videos, so it felt too much like that one mlm friend who's always pushing essential oils. because the ads are on their work and not in random magazines or w/e, influencers have to pay a lot more attention to how much a brand is part of their brand, and also balance how much advertising they're doing, often without the help of a publicist/similar professional. hope we get to a better place with this in the future!
Tom Scott's video on CZcams sponsorships is fascinating for the comparison with celebrity sponsorships.
Appreciate the heck out of whoever writes the CC for Rowan's videos when they include her misspoken word accurately in the subtitles XD
Personally I'm pro-sponsorship if only because all other income made on youtube seems to be insecure besides that and membership. Sponsorships make it a lot easier for creators to not worry about super-strictly appealing to CZcams's TOS (which is kinda murky on its best days)
these scams are the infinity stones of CZcams sponsorships - they are everywhere, and they sponsor my fav CZcamsrs 😭
I wonder if a lot of people even know that traditional media gets so many gifts. Like I never knew.
My personal stance on CZcams sponsorships is that I would not judge someone else for using them since making money off of CZcams is rough (especially when there's extra people working with you that you'd have to pay) but on an individual level, I refuse to use them because stuff like the BetterHelp debacle from a couple years ago has made me apprehensive to these brands
Great video as always, and as an American, I love the way you pronounce “controversy”.😀
Yo that’s so weird I was thinking about how whack the sponsors were and was scrolling down. It’s always like the SAME FIVE sponsors, always some sort of app, baldness cure, or outright data collecting scam.
Money is such a curious topic. It's such a fundamental reality to our lives, and yet it feels more taboo to discuss than one's sex life. I have an internalized idea from childhood that making money is/should be hard and directly correlated to personal, and usually physical, effort. Which is, of course, ridiculous. I know it is. In pretty much any economic system in history, it is not the people doing the most physical labour who make the most money. But it's a lesson/value that has been so reinforced that I struggle not to accept it without question.
I run a small music studio teaching music lessons in a few local communities. I have to set my rates and deal with payment and admin. I *know* what I do has value. I *know* it is work. I *know* I deserve to be paid for the work I do. I even know that the people who come to me for lessons value the work I do. And yet, if someone is behind on their payment or for some reason gives me the wrong amount, I still feel colossally uncomfortable bringing it up to them. If it was about nearly any other subject I had a concern about, I wouldn't have nearly the difficulty addressing it. Money is just so uncomfortable to me.
I really appreciate and admire you for being so open about this subject. If someone asked me how I come up with my rates, I could explain it to them, but I doubt I would be anywhere near as articulate. Just the idea of it has a knot of anxiety in the pit of my stomach. It shouldn't be something we are uncomfortable talking about. And it shouldn't be embarrassing to make money from something that is enjoyable. It seems like that's a goal I had always worked towards, but upon attaining it, feel unworthy of it.
I'm not sure I would call it an ethical issue, but one thing that I'm starting to find very off-putting is people trying to make their ad segments "fun" and "funny" and "authentic" and "relatable" and then pivoting to spewing out obvious marketing-speak-filled ad copy with no tonal shift whatsoever. It's just creepy
I hate that I know what each logo in the thumbnail is.
If I really like a creator's content, I don't mind them getting sponsorships because I'm just happy that they're making extra money. With youtubers I know a little less I tend to just skip the ad section or only watch it if it's entertaining and fits within the video
I'm definitely more likely to watch a sponsorship section if it fits in with the video I'm watching, such as a paint brand sponsoring A DIY video, or if the creator consistently works with a brand and mentions it outside of their sponsorships, such as being sponsored by hello fresh and mentioning them in an unrelated video
The worst sponsorships are definitely when it's a random mobile game or a product you use over time when the creator clearly hasn't invested any time into it (ahem raid shadow legends)
I once saw a video where the sponsored section made up about *60%* of the _entire_ video, and on top of that it was definitely bs
I don't really have a point with this, just sharing my thoughts
Where can I find the episode about museums she mentioned in the video? 41:01
I have a rule if a youtuber sells it I don’t buy it.
Funny that creators think a lot about this, but celebrities don't though they have much bigger impact. Shame on them.