can you trust a youtube reviewer what's
to stop us just taking money from
companies
to say nice things about them it's a
genuine concern that
a lot of you have told me you have so
this is how it works
every youtuber providing they meet the
minimum requirements earns some money
from adverts so every time you see those
double unskippable ads
as annoying as i know they can be that
is you supporting that creator
but the problem with ad revenue is that
the youtube is only getting paid
according to a
how many views they get b how long each
of those viewers is watching for
and see what their audience's
demographics are but
they have almost no control over those
things and to show you just how much
variance this can mean
a thousand views from the maldives could
pay a creator
15 a thousand views from jamaica 0.03
500 times less that's the difference
between the wage of the president of the
united states
and the wage of a 15 year old kid who
decides to do an hour of tutoring a week
and add to that
because a lot of these companies want to
advertise around christmas diwali new
year
when customers are actually following
through and buying things from those
adverts
ad revenue for creators is good in those
months but literally the second that
january rolls around
even if all your views your watch times
are all the same you're earning half as
much
so all i'm really trying to establish
here is that most youtubers
they need to make some sponsored content
every now and again
they may have full-time employees with
salaries they may have rent or families
they need to support
they may need to replace equipment or
buy products to make the videos about
so they need some sort of income that
they can at least control
okay with that out the way then given
that you know a youtuber is being
sponsored for a certain video
can you trust the words that are coming
out their mouth well
the way it works with paid content on
youtube is there's two types of
sponsorships
you will either get companies who just
want to be a part of an existing video
that you were going to make anyways
to be mentioned for 30 to 60 seconds or
you will get companies who
want their product to be the entire
video like you might remember that day
when it felt like the entire tech
community was testing dyson vacuum
cleaners
but broadly speaking this is what a
sponsor agreement looks like
the company will come to a creator with
deliverables what format of content they
want
they'll give you talking points key
things they want you to highlight a time
frame
and how much they'll be willing to offer
you for it and the final thing with a
paid video
is that the brand gets to have a look at
it before it goes live
just to make sure they're okay with it
so with all that in mind
i'm not about to tell you that you can
trust every single sponsored review you
see
because clearly there is scope for a
youtuber who just wants money
to say to the company yes it doesn't
matter what brand you are doesn't matter
what the product is
i will say exactly what you want me to
say this exists
but this is not me so i just want to
show you the extent that i go to
to make sure that when you're watching a
video here you're getting my thoughts
not a company's thoughts so the first
thing is that
i will not take on a sponsorship if i
don't think it's relevant
look this is a tech channel you're
interested in tech
maybe lifestyle maybe health but what
i'm not going to do is start promoting
credit cards or energy drinks or vapes
it doesn't matter how much i'm offered
for it the second thing
is obviously the product itself it's
really dawned on me in the last few
years that
not to blow my own trumpet but if i
recommend a product on this channel
there's a good chance that at least some
of you are going to go through and buy
it
i've met some of you at launch events or
just generally on the streets
and you told me i'm using this phone
because you recommended it
or i bought the xeon smooth x 2 axis
stabilized gimbal because it was
featured in that one episode of
smartphone gadgets on the 27th of july
2020.
or that one tablet from wish.com okay
fine no one asked me about that but
you get the point and so now before any
contracts are signed with any companies
i ask for the product i've got an
upcoming sponsored video for a really
cool smartphone gadget
but instead of signing the agreement
first which is the typical way of
working
i insisted that i have the gadget in
hand i've tested it myself
i've made sure it's good enough before
going back to the company and saying
i love it let's do this and this is true
for anything sponsored on this channel
whether it's a vpn service or a healthy
meal alternative i have tested it
and i've tasted it and i genuinely am
recommending it
it's very easy to look at a youtuber
making a sponsored video and to think
well obviously they're just saying that
because they're paid to but if they're
actually people you trust
then it's more likely that they've only
taken on that sponsorship
because they actually do like the
product for example you might know that
i do a lot of sponsorships with
surfsharkvpn that is not because
they pay me the most i've actually gone
out of my way to earn less
to make sure that i'm a promoting
something that i actually think is
better value for you
and b insisting that instead of doing
the sponsored piece during the middle of
the video
which would generate more income i keep
it right at the end
so that if you do decide that it's not
interesting to you it's not going to
waste your time
and that brings me on to the next thing
like i said brands do have a say
for a sponsored video or a sponsored
segment they will give creators
recommended talking points
but this is where the ball is in the
youtube is caught
because while yes you could just be like
sure i'll take your money and say those
things
that's not what you need to do and
that's not what i do my response to
these talking points is always
this is what i want to say take it or
leave it
because let's be honest a sponsored
video script it should be the same as if
you were making that video and you
weren't being paid for it right
like sure it might mean you cover a
product that you wouldn't have otherwise
covered
sure it might mean you have a slightly
different angle a slightly different
thing that you're looking at because
it's sponsored
but it shouldn't change how you feel
about it i even had this one time
i was gonna do a collaboration with a
really big phone brand i sent them my
draft script and they were just two
sentences that we couldn't agree on
they wanted me to say them one way and
they wouldn't budge when i told them
that
that didn't quite capture how i actually
felt about the device and that was
enough for me to say
fine i'm not making this video with you
and then i proceeded to make the exact
same video myself
without getting paid just so i could say
those two sentences
the way that i wanted to say them and i
think most accountants would probably be
screaming at me for that
and that brings me onto the money itself
because this is often the biggest
criticism thrown around about youtubers
doing things for money is like the first
thing you'll get labelled with if you
make an unpopular opinion
but the truth of it is i'm not a
money-focused person
like i have every physical good i could
possibly need
but even when i didn't in every list of
goals i ever made myself
for the channel or even just me
personally money was never a factor
this is why i don't have a patreon where
you can donate to me this is why i
didn't set up youtube channel
memberships where
you can pay monthly to support me even
though it would take like 10 minutes
this is why i don't have an only fans
account
okay there are other reasons for that
the point is i want my content to be
free
all of it what do i want i want to make
videos where
you guys watch for longer because that's
a sign to me that i'm providing
enjoyment
i want to keep learning and improving
because those things are fun to me
it's why i spend so much of my effort
trying to make this setup just
more interesting and more fun just keep
it evolving i want to hit 10 million
subscribers
so badly these are things that i do find
rewarding
and so if i ever feel like money or
sponsorships are going to compromise
them
or compromise the trust which is the
reason you watch my videos in the first
place
i'm not gonna do them that's it even
though i try as hard as i can to make
sure i do sponsorships in what i think
is the right way
you still have a right to know when
you're watching sponsored content
now because being an influencer is such
a new field
the regulations are kind of evolving as
we go and i'm still learning them
but what i can tell you for 100 certain
is that in the uk
where i'm from even if i wanted to i
couldn't make a sponsored video
and not tell you it's a sponsored video
and even if i went further and tried to
find some sort of legal loophole
the brand that was doing the sponsoring
would insist that i disclose it anyways
because they'd be in trouble too if i
didn't so
for the last year and going forward
especially i'm going to be as clear as i
can possibly be
i will verbally tell you when a video is
sponsored it will be in the video
description
and if the entire video is sponsored
you'll see this marker in the bottom
corner
so if a video does not have those things
no payment has been made
simple as that and this brings me onto
the other thing that i feel like i need
to address
i never have and i never will make a
sponsored
review the way i see it a review is a
very specific type of video
where you expect the creator to have
used a device for a period of time
and to be giving you their completely
unfiltered conclusive thoughts
about whether or not you should buy it
it just it wouldn't feel right for that
to be sponsored even if i am saying what
i think
like for last year's me 10 t phone
xiaomi
did sponsor me to make some twitter
content they wanted me to make a teaser
about this new feature that was coming
to it
and it was quite a fun and quirky thing
so i said yes and as part of this
xiaomi sent me this mi ten t well before
launch
so far before launch that if i wanted to
i could have made a full review
and released it the second the phone
actually got announced to the world
it could have been like the most
in-depth video on the internet at the
time
it could have done amazing but i didn't
i just felt like because i'd been
sponsored to make those twitter teasers
even though they would have had nothing
to do with any youtube content i would
have made
it still wouldn't feel quite right to
make a full review of a phone that i was
technically paid
to promote and on that note i feel like
there's a slight misconception that i
need to address linked to this
smartphone brands don't sponsor channels
i'm generalizing a little bit but in the
entire last 10 years that i've been
making tech videos i haven't had a
single company like xiaomi or huawei or
oneplus saying
we want to sponsor you it's always we
want to sponsor
that one video and so just because a
youtuber makes a sponsored video for a
brand
it doesn't make that brand a channel
sponsor brands don't just silently pay
youtubers for each nice sentence they
say about you
it's very much a black and white case of
this is a sponsored video
where the brand has approved it to go
live and this is not a sponsored video
where the brand has absolutely zero say
at all in it
okay there is one thing though that i
would say
is a gray area and it's something that
was on my mind when i used to watch tech
videos before i made them myself
review samples so it's probably not a
surprise to you that sometimes i
and every other tech youtuber we get
sent some of the devices that we review
by the companies themselves it's the
only way we're able to drop
videos of those devices the second they
get announced to the world
but this creates an obvious question
because if youtubers
and creators and writers are relying on
manufacturers to send them devices
then does that create an incentive for
us to just say nice things about them
so that we can carry on getting those
samples kind of yes
to be perfectly blunt with you when i
started getting samples like seven or so
years ago
some part of me was nervous about
criticizing that brand
as far as i'm aware i did still say what
i thought but it's perfectly possible
that somewhere subconsciously
my opinion was affected by the fact that
one i didn't pay for the item
and two i was trying to build good brand
relationships
but very soon i started to see this a
different way
i realized that there's like a hundred
tech channels out there they're all
bigger than me they're all growing
faster than me
we're all covering the same products and
so the only thing that i could offer
was to be useful even if it means
getting kicked off a company's list of
reviewers
in my eyes that's worth it if i'm kicked
off because i feel like i'm telling the
truth
because long term hopefully the viewers
you guys
would realize that and you would be
happy to wait an extra two weeks or so
for me to buy my own version of that
device and review it myself
this whole idea of trying to be useful
this is why i spend so much of my time
trying to make my videos concise this is
why i don't spend
40 seconds introducing the topic of the
video when i think the title and
thumbnail are enough for you to figure
it out
it's the reason why i don't spend much
time on relatively niche products
unless i think they have a really
interesting story behind them and
most importantly it's the reason why i
try to make sure that i give you good
information
at least according to my experiences and
my preferences
am i biased yes i prefer products that
are blue and white
as you can probably tell i don't use
wireless charging
i put more weight on battery life and
cameras than most because
those things are important to me
everybody has biases
but the crucial thing for me is that
those biases
are not affected by brand relationships
i'll give you an example
a couple of weeks ago i made a video
titled do not buy this smartphone
that was using a review sample
they sent the phone they even offered to
send money with it which i refused and
after testing it
it became very clear that it just wasn't
worth it so in no uncertain terms
that's what i said if this company wants
to send me their next phone for review
they're welcome to but i don't think
they will and that's okay
now this doesn't mean that i'm just
gonna openly criticize everything
smartphone companies do
for the most part tech is good now but
it does mean that if apple and samsung
are going to be disingenuous about
eco-friendly packaging
i'm gonna say it if some xiaomi products
look like carbon copies of apple ones
i'm gonna say it and if oneplus truly
screws up with a feature on its phone
i'm going to say it and so far at least
no major brand has had a problem with
that don't get me wrong i have had
smaller companies saying
how could you say that about our device
or we're going to sue you
because you damaged our sales but for
the most part the big companies
they get it reviewers are going to
review i've had times when
i completely tore a brand to shreds in a
video only for them to then email me
later that evening and say
that was really useful feedback i made a
video about xiaomi recently where i
openly criticized their terrible product
naming schemes and their alarming
similarities to iphones
but they actually went as far as to
share that video on their official main
xiaomi twitter account
companies don't mind authentic content
and so the point is that
ever since i got serious about reviewing
i have not worried at all about
offending brands the final thing that i
want to quickly address is that
i hear a lot of people say that i've got
a ghostwriter someone who writes my
script
for me and then i just take that come on
camera and
perform this is not how we do things
like we try to make the videos fun but
i'm very aware that the primary purpose
of them is to inform
so every rating every recommendation
every word on the script
is from me i spend like 60 of my time
scripting
okay if i had to leave you with one
takeaway from this video it's that
instead of deciding what to trust decide
who to trust
i think that if you trust a creator then
you can trust that even with their
sponsored content
they'll a only be doing it if they
believe in that product
b only agreeing to it if they can say
what they want to
and c they'll make it very clear when
they are being sponsored
because even though you do trust them
it's good to know the process that's
gone behind that video
yes i realized i've spent the last 10
minutes reviewing myself
but i hope this was useful
i'm going to be working with some
companies in march on some sponsored
content
and i hope you find it the enjoyable and
informative to watch
okay thanks for watching and i'll catch
you in the next one
you