Advertising Analysis

Most people who use YouTube have not purchased YouTube Premium or have an AdBlocker that removes advertisements on their videos. This means that the average user has to sit through ads at the beginning of the videos they stream and most likely during the videos they stream as well. There is a multitude of these ads, but it feels like I'm only receiving "Mike Bloomberg for President" advertisements on every video I watch. And of course, many of these advertisements are monetized to where the content creator will receive a small portion of the ads worth with YouTube taking the larger cut - but there is a form of advertisement where no money goes to YouTube. These videos have what is called "Paid Promotion".

A video that has a paid promotion is where the content creator will advertise for a company that is not owned by the content creator in return for payment. There are many different ways that these companies will contact the content creators, but its usually through third-party marketing agencies. Payments are different as well, with some companies opting to pay a lump sum in exchange for a certain amount of views on the video, others who have a Smart Phone app service will payout based upon a percentage of downloads using a link in the video description, and there are companies who will pay the content creator dependent on how many people use a specific code while purchasing products from their online shop.

What has not changed much is the companies that seek out these content creators. If the content creator you are watching has a tag on the bottom left corner of their video, just like what you see here on the right, chances are that it is one of about five different companies that the YouTuber will be advertising. This could be Squarespace, Audible, Fiverr, TikTok, and Raid: Shadow Legends.

I will take some time to go over some of these companies, however, my goal is to explain some of the logistics of these companies and whether these paid promotion practices are beneficial to the content creator, the business that they are sponsored by, and you: the viewer.

Squarespace: Website Builder

The Modern Rogue

Above is one of my favorite channels who started their video with a link to the Squarespace website. Squarespace has been on my radar, however, I haven't considered using it just because I haven't had the need for a website that I need to pay for. Within the last two years, many of the content creators I watch have routinely been sponsored by the company.

 The Website Builder Capabilities

A little recap on the video: Squarespace has many marketing options that make it competitive against Wix, however, it lacks in its design capabilities and these marketing capabilities that Squarespace has can be supplemented into a Wix website using other companies - costing extra money but ultimately being better than Squarespace at all ends.

Who Does This Help?

For the content creators, it feels as though they do have the leeway to give their true opinion on the company during the promotional period. With that in mind, there doesn't seem to be a conflict in interest for the content creators. For the company and the viewers of the promotional content, I find it to be a mixed bag. For the viewers, the websites are tailored more towards online shopping capabilities and have limited options within the aspect of design. So unless you are building a website with the intent to have paid subscribers/selling merchandise, Squarespace is not the best option. From Squarespace's perspective, they have shown the world that they are a competitive, top of the line website builder. They have enough money to pay for promotions from YouTubers so it appears as though they have success from their advertisement campaigns.

Raid: Shadow Legends

Above is a video from JonTronShow which begins with one of the more charismatic sponsorships of Raid: Shadow Legends. While I try to keep personal opinion out of most of my content, I can't stress enough how much I SEETHINGLY HATE Raid: Shadow Legends. I'll talk about this more during the "Who does this help" breakdown.

The Gameplay aka Pay to Win

Raid: Shadow Legends' commercials have everything a marketing company loves to push out: drama, action, and provocative characters. What they also have is a scheme that simply allows players who pay for the content to when any Player vs Player match as long as their opponent hasn't spent more money than them. The game is a scam from a Chinese based company. Most games that are pay to win generally get review bombed and have heavy backlash from YouTube and most other social media communities, however, the problem is that Raid: Shadow Legends was able to quickly take control of YouTube by reaching out to popular content creators who sign contracts that keep them from speaking badly about the game after the fact. Which all leads me to the next part.

Who does this help?

Simply put - Plarium Games, the company that owns Raid: Shadow Legends. Sure, content creators are able to secure a paycheck when they promote the game, yet they are given a script on everything they have to say about the game. There is no room for opinion, yet other content creators are thankfully showing all the issues that come with accepting a sponsorship from Raid: Shadow Legends. 

Worst of all, it is you - the viewers of these sponsorships - that suffer the most. Raid: Shadow Legends fulfills its role in taking on millions of players and then forcing them to pay money to be competitive in the game. Many viewers on YouTube are children who would be more than willing to spend whatever it takes to be good at a game, especially one that is designed to be addictive by creating both a challenge and offering "prizes" upon wins. It is certainly despicable.

Final Thoughts

I would certainly love to speak more about the other companies who regularly seek out YouTubers to promote their content, but as a disclaimer, I can certainly state that while some companies are truly awful, some of these companies and their products are worth giving a chance, such as Fiverr and Audible. Also, these companies should realize that being known within the community is great, they should also allow for more opinionated content from the YouTubers and be careful to not shove too many advertisements down the viewers' throats.