Add paid product placements, sponsorships and endorsements

Following Google Ads policies means that you can't include paid promotions of the following products and services in your content:

• Illegal products or services
• Sex or escort services
• Adult content
• Mail-order brides
• Recreational drugs
• Pharmaceuticals without a prescription
• Online gambling sites not yet reviewed by Google or YouTube
• Services to cheat on exams or tests
• Hacking, phishing or spyware
• Explosives
• Fraudulent or misleading businesses

This policy applies to videos, video descriptions, comments, live streams, Shorts and any other YouTube product or feature. This list is non-exhaustive. Don't post content if you think that it might violate this policy. 

Examples

Here are some examples of content that's not allowed on YouTube.

• Paid promotion of an academic essay writing service
• Paid promotion of a website selling counterfeit passports or providing instructions on creating forged official documents
• Paid promotion of software that generates fake credit card numbers
• Paid promotion of an online pharmacy that sells regulated pharmaceuticals without prescriptions

What happens if your content violates this policy?

If your content violates this policy, we'll remove the content and send you an email to let you know. If this violation is your first time violating our Community Guidelines, you'll get a warning with no penalty to your channel. You can take policy training to allow the warning to expire after 90 days. However, if your content violates the same policy within that 90-day window, the warning will not expire and your channel will be given a strike. If you violate a different policy after completing the training, you will get another warning. We may prevent repeat offenders from taking policy training in the future.

If you get three strikes, your channel will be terminated. Find out more about Community Guidelines strike basics on YouTube. 

In addition, we may age-restrict content if the product or service being promoted is not suitable for all ages.

Paid product placements are pieces of content that are created for a third party in exchange for compensation. This content is also where the third party's brand, message or product is integrated directly into the content.

Endorsements are content created for an advertiser (or for a creator's own brands if the relationship between creator/brand is not clear) with a message that users are likely to believe reflects the opinions of the content creator.

Sponsorships are pieces of content that have been financed in whole or in part by a third party. Sponsorships generally promote the brand, message or product of the third party without integrating the brand, message or product directly into the content.

1. On a computer, sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left-hand section, select Content.
3. Click the video that you'd like to edit.
4. Select More options. 
5. Tick the box next to 'My video contains paid promotion like a product placement, sponsorship or endorsement'.

6. Select Save.

Yes. Whenever you mark your video as containing paid promotions, we automatically show viewers a disclosure message for 10 seconds at the beginning of the video. This disclosure message will tell the viewer that it contains paid promotions with a link to this page educating users on paid product placements, sponsorships and endorsements.

Note that different jurisdictions have various requirements for creators and brands involved in paid promotion that may require you to do more. Make sure that you check and follow applicable laws. 

• Title cards: Five seconds or less and static. If they're placed at the beginning of the video (0:01 sec), the card must be co-branded with the creator's name/logo.
• End cards: Placed within the last 30 seconds of the video and must be static.