For kids & families: What are paid product placements, sponsorships & endorsements?

What’s a paid product placement? (For Kids)

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When you’re watching a video, you might notice this symbol pop up. There may also be text that says “This channel got money or free things to make this video” or "Includes paid promotion." This means that whoever made the video might get money or free goods from a company.

For example, if a video has a toy in it, the video's creator might get money to show the toy to you. That toy is there because the company who made the toy wants you to buy it.

What are paid product placements, sponsorships, and endorsements?

Paid product placements:

• Videos created for a company or business in exchange for money, free products, or free services.
• Videos where that company or business’s brand, message, or product is included directly in the content. The company has given the creator money or free products to make the video.

Endorsements: Videos created for an advertiser or marketer that contain a message that reflects the opinions, beliefs, or experiences of the creator or endorsing party.

Sponsorships: Videos that have been financed in whole or in part by a company, without including the brand, message, or product directly into the content. Instead, the brand, message, or sponsored product may be promoted during a brief video intermission. For example, a creator might film a video where they paint a picture but take a short break to promote their video sponsor’s new product.

Teach your kid about paid product placements, sponsorships, and endorsements

It's important that kids understand that creators may get goods or services in exchange for promotion in their videos. Here are some tips and tricks for teaching your kid about paid promotion:

• Talk to your kids about paid promotion in videos and teach them to identify the paid promotion indicator (). Watch this short video and ask your kid to tell you how to identify if a video includes paid promotion.
• Discuss your kid’s favorite creators and explain how some of these creators support their channel through paid product placement. For many creators, making YouTube videos is their full-time job.
• Teach your kid to look for phrases like “sponsored by,” “partnered with,” or “#ad."

For more tips on how to help your child explore YouTube, download and review our family guide.

Paid product placement, sponsorship, and endorsement policies

All paid promotions must follow our ad policies, which prohibit ads in certain categories. Creators and the brands they work with are responsible for understanding and complying with their local and legal obligations to disclose paid promotion in their content. Some of these obligations include when and how to disclose, and to whom to disclose.