Sponsor

 Sponsor is for paid promotions, paid referrals and direct advertisements.

Description

This includes:

• Paid advertisement of a product or service.
• Advertisement of a product received for free.
• Giveaway of items which are provided by a third party, and the announcement of the winner.
• Advertisement of affiliate links.
• Segues into a YouTube ad.
• Joke sponsors which are real companies.

Exceptions/ Edge Cases

• Fake/joke sponsor spots are skipped with Sponsor if they are real companies. If it is a fake company, they are skipped with  Tangents/Jokes.
• If the whole video is about (or closely related to) the sponsor, or if the sponsor is too tightly integrated into the video to remove cleanly:

1. Don't make a segment covering the entire video.
2. Submit a full video label using the Sponsor category.
3. Leave the disclosure of sponsorship unskipped, so viewers are aware of any potential bias.
4. Any parts that can be cleanly skipped while leaving the main content/storyline of the video intact should still be skipped.

• Sponsor should take precedence over all other categories.
  • Sometimes a sponsored section continues into the endcards. If a clean cut is possible, skip only the sponsored section and make a separate  Endcards/Credits segment for the remaining endcards, otherwise skip the entire endcards with  Sponsor.
• If the product stands in no obvious relation to the YouTuber, mark it  Sponsor.
• If the product bears the company's branding as prominently as the YouTuber's, mark it  Sponsor. (YouTooz, G-Fuel, GamerSupps)
• For videos that use YouTube's collab feature, if any linked collaborator was sponsored, even if the channel that uploaded the video wasn't, mark as  Sponsor.

• If the segment more closely matches the criteria for  Unpaid/Self Promotion, it should be marked as such instead of  Sponsor.
  • If they are closely linked with the product, or if the product bears their branding exclusively.
  • Free shout-outs for anything they like:
    • Other channels
    • Causes/charities
    • Websites
    • Products

Disambiguation

Exclusive Access

• If an affiliate link is added or referenced, the mention of that link is  Sponsor.
• If a video would be labelled  Exclusive Access, but the link is a direct affiliate link, then the full video label becomes  Sponsor.

Unpaid/ Self Promotion

• No association/affiliation with the company:  Sponsor
• Biased investment advice (stocks, cryptocurrency, NFTs, etc.):  Sponsor
• Custom/build-to-order products:  Sponsor
• Turnkey/white-label products:  Self promotion
• Considerable ownership of company:  Self promotion
• Wholly owned company:  Self promotion

Examples

• Branded "G-Fuel" energy drink:  Sponsor
  • If there is an affiliate link or if it is customized for the content creator.
• Merch through a third party distributor (RedBubble, TeeSpring):  Self promotion
  • RedBubble and TeeSpring are turnkey solutions for merch with limited involvement by the parent company.
• Beast Burgers:  Self promotion
  • Beast Burgers are part of a turnkey solution by Virtual Dining Concepts.
• LunarClient Partners:  Sponsor
  • LunarClient cosmetics are not turnkey.
• Epic Games Support-A-Creator:  Sponsor
  • Content creators have no association with the brand and in their Application even states that any creator must disclose their connection.
• Makeship:  Sponsor
  • Similar to YouTooz, the platform is promoted, and the products are not turnkey.
• Nebula:  Sponsor
  • While "owned by creators" and payouts are split, no creator has considerable ownership over the platform, it is owned by Standard Broadcast LLC.

Examples

Description	Video link
Positive examples
The sponsor at the start and the end both include their respective segues.	I tried Steam Deck early and it's awesome
The complete segue is included. There is a joke about the video's subject in the segue, but it is encouraged to include it as well.	Space Jam 2 - Terrible but very fun
The show is owned by HBO, but there is no obvious connection between the show and HBO.	Housing Discrimination: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Segue into a YouTube ad.	Rick and Morty season 5 finale breakdown (spoilers)
Outerminds makes video game collaborations for other YouTubers as well.	Papers, Please!
Negative examples
The disclosure at the start shouldn't be marked.	We might need a Wi-Fi upgrade - Juniper Networks showcase
The disclosure at the start shouldn't be marked. Further mentions of the sponsor may be cut though, like the segment at the start or at 6:30.	Jerk Chicken
At 1:06 he is promoting his own shop. This is considered  Self Promotion.	Honda Metropolitan II multipurpose lock picked
This is all about his keycaps. It is similar to using a company that produces and sells custom merch.	Make your keyboard thock for $3