What’s a paid product placement? (For Kids)
When you’re watching a video, you might see this symbol 
For example, if a video has a toy in it, whoever made the video 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.
For parents or guardians: Understand paid product placements, sponsorships & endorsements
Being a YouTube Creator can be a full-time job and many popular channels have teams that support the creation of their videos. Sponsorships, advertisements, and partnerships are some of the ways that Creators support themselves when they make great content on YouTube. It's important that kids understand that Creators may get goods or services in exchange for promotion. Kids should learn to differentiate between videos that have paid product placements & endorsement and videos that do not. A clear disclosure will be visible on any content that contains paid promotions when designated by the creator.
Tips for parents & guardians
- Talk to your kids about paid promotion in videos and teach them to identify the paid promotion indicator in videos. Watch this short video and ask your kid to tell you how they can tell whether the content they are watching includes paid promotion.
- Discuss your kid’s favorite Creators and explain how many of these Creators make content for YouTube as their full-time job. This approach means they work with other businesses and partners to fund their channel.
- Look for phrases like “sponsored by”, “partnered with”, or #ad, which can also signify that a company has paid a Creator to promote their product.
For more tips on how to help your child explore YouTube, download and review our family guide.
What are paid product placements, sponsorships & endorsements?
Paid product placements:
- Videos created for a company or business in exchange for compensation or free products/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 contains 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 integrating the brand, message, or product directly into the content. Sponsorships generally promote:
- The brand
- Message
- Product of the third party
What does this mean for my kid?
All paid promotions that appear in videos directed to children contain a disclosure that is designed to be understood by children.
All paid promotions need to follow our Ad Policies, which prohibit ads in certain categories. Advertising on content set as “Made for Kids” must not be deceptive, unfair, inappropriate for its intended audience, and must not use any third-party trackers. This content must not collect personal info without first obtaining parental consent, and must otherwise comply with all laws and regulations. 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.