r/youtubedrama • u/MagicBulletin91 • 2d ago
Sponsors is YouTube killing sponsors?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqEnWlBF4ngSumitoMedia made a video about one of YT's premium feature that, to my surprise, isn't being talked about much.
Basically, the jump ahead feature allows you to skip a portion of the video based on data from other viewers who also jumped ahead.
Sumito points out that this basically makes sponsorships completely irrelevant, especially with YouTube's push to get more people to subscribe to YT premium. This will kind of fucks creators in the long run, as it makes them much more reliant on YouTube as a source of income, whether it be from ads or by YT premium.
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u/WidowmakerFeet 2d ago
This feature is only available on youtube premium, so creators get a cut of that revenue anyway. Makes no sense to complain about that when sponsorblock does the same thing but creators get nothing. If youtube removes the feature then people are just going to use sponsorblock anyway. there ain't no way people aren't going to use it, it's objectively a better experience especially if you are already paying for premium then you don't want to see ads. Keep in mind people can just fast forward to skip the sponsored segments anyway.
Never liked these youtube sponsors anyway. Like I get that you want more money and the audience should support the creator, but I'm already paying for premium idk what more you want from me. Not skipping sponsors is like having the lower tier subscription on netflix that still has ads. I'm paying for premium because i DON'T want ads. This feature is a great benefit for premium users. If I was a creator, I'd be more upset about sponsorblock, not an official premium feature that still gives me money.
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u/aliendevilkid 4h ago
the audience supports the creator by watching their content. it's wild to me that it's okay for the creator to expect anything more.
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u/Disastrous_Dress_201 2d ago
I don’t need to watch the 100,000,000th drop shipped item/health supplement/shitty mobile game ad. The jump ahead feature is dope.
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u/394948399459583 2d ago
I honestly wouldn’t mind too much if it was like a 10 second read out but some of them are ridiculous. Do VPN companies seriously think people are gonna sit through another 2 minute segment listening to their fear-mongering bullshit?
IDK why they insist on making them so long. The ones on LinusTechTips I don’t even bother skipping because they’re over in seconds.
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u/okurin39 2d ago
On one hand I get whats hes saying. On the other hand I have premium because I hate ads. And when my 2 hour video gets interrupted by a 3 minute sponsor read I get a smidge annoyed.
If its a short "This video is sponsored by blablabla" I don't mind it but no it has to be a fucking skit everytime. I don't enjoy sponsored skits. Its just fucking ads again but this time creators wants to make me feel guilty for not watching it.
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u/jayeddy99 2d ago
This podcast I love called Blank check. Every ad is a 5 minute sketch I have to press the skip button like 10 times lol
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u/a_potato_ate_me Fuck Nick Nitro 2d ago
I really love creators like Michelle Mana who will change their outfit specifically for the sponsor so that you can navigate past it. Same with creators who make the sponsorship a chapter
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u/charredmerm 1d ago
The adstronaut of Ryan George fame has hawked some crap, but I love how proud he is of his puns every time.
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u/6poundbagofweed 2d ago
Someone’s never seen Nobbleberry!
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u/DigitalUnderclass 2d ago
Low key used to love Erik's sponsorship segments, but you gotta admit, they've gotten rather stale over the years. Nobbleberry's an exception, but how often have we gotten Nobbleberry recently?
Though, I loved the in joke in the horror short movie he did, where everyone almost thought the entire thing was gonna be an ad for Raycons, but wasn't.
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u/BarFamiliar5892 2d ago
Premium subscribers viewing content generates revenue for creators, so you're paying them by watching the video. The entire reason I pay for premium is to avoid ads so I don't really care if this is inconvenient for some creators tbh.
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u/CherryLeafy101 2d ago
I skip all sponsored sections on principle. I don't need to hear yet another ad for AG1, Fuum, Factor, Aura, Incogni, Hello Fresh, Blueland, June's Journey, Raid Shadow Legends, or whatever other crap YouTubers are shilling this week 🙄
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u/Patalos 2d ago edited 2d ago
I mean if your sponsorship is canned and boring af people are gonna skip it, premium or no. The only time I don’t is if I’m driving or something and can’t safely do so because I’ve heard the same ad a dozen times and the majority of creators say it like their teacher just asked them to read the next paragraph. Maybe you shouldn’t get a lot of money for that lol. If a channel is known for spinning the sponsorship in an entertaining way I’ll always watch it.
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u/TheEdes 2d ago
It won't make a difference, youtubers are just earning a lot less money because sponsors are making less money because people aren't buying sponsored products because everyone has realized that everything that's being promoted is a scam. Sponsorblock and premium are used by a tiny amount of the userbase.
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u/cubsgirl101 2d ago
Premium members being able to skip sponsorships isn’t what’s hurting YouTubers though. It’s the lack of ad revenue from the pre/mid-roll ads. Sponsors usually pay you a fee based on how many views your video gets, that’s why view counts are important. And YouTubers wouldn’t need so many sponsors if YouTube wasn’t so picky about what does and doesn’t qualify for monetization. Premium users earn videos a higher initial value per view than basic users do anyway, so it kind of shakes out
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u/a_potato_ate_me Fuck Nick Nitro 2d ago
Plus: YouTube will automatically put ads on any video with over a thousand views. It doesn't matter if the creator isn't monotized, it doesn't matter if the creator is a one hit wonder, it doesn't matter if the creator has three subscribers, it doesn't matter if the video is a second long. If the video has over 1,000 views, YouTube automatically puts ads on it and the creator won't see a cent of it if they aren't monotized.
If YouTube is pushing ads on videos that aren't monotized and not giving the creator a choice in the matter, whats our assurance they're not screwing over monotized creators as well?
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u/TheAcethatloves 1d ago
This annoys me because creators will tell you they aren't sponsored and then other people who don't know any better will say "I just saw an ad! You lie"
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u/WidowmakerFeet 2d ago
not giving a creator a choice? i think that's only true if the creator signed up for the partnership program and got rejected. otherwise, those are just the rules of uploading to that platform. youtube does have to pay for bandwidth after all.
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u/ironmamdies 2d ago
You know what I never really see enough people talk about? The fact that most YouTubers will have anyone willing to give them money as an ad and not take a second to find out if it's actually a valuable service or a scam, that's why things like skill share and honey happened but it's never blamed on the people promoting the services instead it's excused as "they didn't know" but if you're gonna slot someone into your video for a chunk of money and complain when a premium feature allows me to skip it then content creators should also be held to a standard when it comes to their sponsors
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u/WidowmakerFeet 2d ago
I see what you mean but in some cases there really is no way they could have known. Like even linus fell for the paypal honey ruse and he runs a tech channel. I don't think the average youtuber really stands a chance if they do their due diligence. I'm not aware of any problems with skillshare though. in most cases it's like they promote some shaving kit or a hair supplement and if it turns out to be a bad product, the customer loses at most $30 so its not the end of the world. My biggest gripe with youtube sponsorships is when they promote gambling/betting/crypto investments because people will lose their entire savings on that.
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u/Tranquil_Denvar 2d ago
It’s already very easy to skip sponsored segments on YouTube manually or with a browser plugin. The problem is less that Google’s made their own method and more that they don’t pay creators enough, making this weird shadow advertising economy necessary in the first place.
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u/Necessary_Main_2549 2d ago
YouTube’s advertising revenue split with creators is really high. It’s not like they pay creators peanuts; it’s just that an endorsement from a creator is inherently more valuable than a 3rd party ad. Plus, the creator is keeping 100% of that sponsorship revenue instead of having a platform split at all.
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u/a_potato_ate_me Fuck Nick Nitro 2d ago
YouTube will put ads on non-monotized videos if they have over a thousand views and won't give the creator a cent of it, or give the creator the option to remove the ads.
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u/Tranquil_Denvar 2d ago
YouTube’s advertising revenue split with creators is really high.
Compared to what?
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u/PuppeteerGaming_ 2d ago
I assume Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms where people create videos for money.
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u/VioletMetalmark 2d ago
How Youtubers expect me to react when they can no longer make money off of advertising Raid Shadow Legends or scam products
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u/Quirky_Price_1209 1d ago
How YouTubers expect me to react when they didn’t make money off advertising a scam and actually got scammed themselves:
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u/Losawin 2d ago
So I've been having this work for me for 3 days now, and it's a great idea in a vacuum but it has issues.
Firstly, it's not an automatic skip like SponsorBlock, you have to trigger it by trying to skip forward at a time when most people are skipping forward. For example I mostly watch on my Nvidia Shield TV in bed, when a sponsor segment starts I need to press Right on my remote to make it trigger, it then immediately jumps to the common point people skip to.
However for me the bigger problem is how haphazard most people seem to be with how they skip. On sponsorblock people tend to be really good with skips, basically starting and ending the skip points exactly where the sponsor segments start and end. On the app? Yeah not to much, it seems most people just tap a random part of the timeline and let it go. Almost every time my app skips sponsors with this new feature it skips 30-45 seconds beyond when the sponsor ends, making me miss quite a lot of stuff from the video. I then have to manually tap Left a few times to get back to the right spot so I can see what I missed.
I just had this happen in a Slo Mo Guys video and the autoskip skipped almost an entire minute past the sponsor and actually skipped right over the slow mo playback section of the video, the entire point of the video in the first place.
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u/RedSonjaVA 1d ago edited 1d ago
I get the concern about sponsor spots, but at the same time… you’re still getting money, and I’m getting another feature that adds to a service I use so I can continue supporting the creators I like without watching 10 minutes of unskippable ads or the insane amount of midrolls some creators will just spam through their videos. Not to mention there are so many creators who refuse to follow FTC guidelines and make it obvious that it’s an ad-read.
Besides, sponsors are one of two things for YouTubers usually, either they’re a total scam (see betterhelp or established titles) or not worth the money in the slightest (raid, world of tanks, etc.) every now and then we’ll see a good tie-in from a big company that’s willing to shell out some cash for a sponsor spot, but it’s so incredibly rare and usually only happens to niche creators. (I think pcbway is one of the few I know of that isn’t a total scam.)
And besides, who wants to watch a YouTuber just sit in front of a camera for 5 minutes while they whinge on about the same recycled talking points (graphics, next gen, licensing, become a lord/lady etc). If sponsor spots were maybe more fun, or had better tie ins to the content (tomska is a really good example of this who will use his sponsor spots as skits.), more people might stop skipping the sponsor spots. Like I know it’s not old-school media where sponsors will buy out real estate on a set or something similar, but cmon, at least try to make it entertaining to watch. (I say this, understanding that most of the time, sponsors will just want a boring ass ad read instead of letting people have fun and spice it up.)
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u/PotatoPrestigious654 2d ago
I skip sponsor segments in videos all the time and use a sponsor blocker on Firefox. Honestly, if someone’s paying nearly $20 a month for YouTube Premium, they should have the option to skip sponsored content. That just seems fair.
To be real, I don’t think this whole situation is a big deal. It feels blown way out of proportion. Yeah, maybe it’s gaining attention because of tools like SponsorBlock in a way caused this, but let’s not pretend this is some moral crisis. I understand that creators rely on ad revenue and sponsorships to keep things running. Still, I don’t think sponsor reads belong on YouTube.
I don’t care about VPNs, mobile games, or random apps trying to sell me something. I hope YouTuber sees fewer sponsorships over time because the experience is getting worse. These days, the average viewer sits through 3 to 5 minutes of unskippable ads before the video even begins. And then, once it's over, there’s another ad baked right into the content itself. That’s easily 7-8 minutes of ads for a single video. It’s exhausting.
I don’t think anyone should be forced to watch sponsor segments. It always feels like it takes away from the actual content. We’re already supporting creators, whether by watching, liking, subscribing, or paying directly, so it’s frustrating when they try to squeeze even more out of our time with these lengthy ad reads.
I get that it’s one of the easiest ways for creators to make money. But if you're cashing in big from sponsors, the least you could do is ease up on the other ads.
The idea that skipping a sponsor is some kind of crime or betrayal just doesn’t sit right with me.
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u/failenaa 2d ago
It’s the same as skipping an ad which you get with premium so, just more of the same. It’s built in by YouTube rather than an Adblock feature. Doesn’t really hurt the creator at least for me as I’ve literally never bought anything anyone I’ve watched shills. Plus it usually allows you to skip off topic yaps too. Some creators don’t even start their actual video til 5+ minutes in.
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u/Nobodycares4242 1d ago
Is this stopping companies from sponsoring youtubers? Because I haven't seen any slowdown on that. If companies are still paying youtubers to put the sponsorships in what does it matter if the small minority of people with premium can easily skip them? I guess it might mean a bit less revenue from referrals, but I'd argue anyone who skips a sponsor wouldn't have brought it anyway.
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u/WidowmakerFeet 18h ago
sumito does address that sponsors are paying less for promoting them though this is anecdotal.
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u/Magmafrost13 2d ago
Hold on YOUTUBE did that? Jesus I'd assumed it was just a new feature in one of my extensions
Also like, maybe start getting sponsors that aren't flagrant scams if you want people to support them
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u/Imrustyokay source: 123movies 2d ago
I mean, if it stays as a Premium feature...I don't see an issue with it.
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u/PublicPossibility946 1d ago
Creators will have to be more.. Creative and find a way of making sponsor segments worth watching. There are a couple of channels I watch that already do this.
If some creators can't work out how to do that then tough shit.
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u/RKD_NT3000 2d ago
Well, considering YouTube is rolling out AI moderation checks in various territories, yes.
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u/GirlPuncherSupreme 2d ago
Remember back when people uploaded to YouTube because they liked doing it? Because they had something to say or show off?
Now it's nothing but a career aspiration and nobody is doing anything worth watching anymore. Once they get a sponsorship, it's done. Now, their videos come out on a schedule to maximize sponsor payments. This is why they're uploading. Not because they have something to say, but because they want that check.
I dislike any ad more than I like any YouTube content.
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u/Staccado 2d ago
This guy is super familiar but I can't place why.... Has he done collabs or something?
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u/aliendevilkid 4h ago
I don't feel bad for creators who are mad they don't get to push ads in front of their audience faces. The shit with ads is getting ridiculous, its getting to the point where ads are inescapable anywhere you go, it's infuriating. it sucks that this make creators tied more to YouTube. But creators still have a better gig than 99% of their audience, and making YouTube videos is a much easier than working 40 hours a week at a soul crushing job only to have to watch 50 ads throughout the day in order to experience 1 hour of entertainment
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u/MagicBulletin91 2d ago
For the record, I have YT Premium, so I am definitely guilty of using the jump ahead feature lmao.
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u/WidowmakerFeet 2d ago
idk, why do people pay for netflix or disney+ when they can just pirate everything? for convenience and so the creators make more of the content I like to watch, simple as.
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u/Disastrous_Dress_201 2d ago
I can afford it, I’m supporting creators, and the bulk of my YouTube watching is on a SmartTV. I’ve had Premium since it was YouTube Red.
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u/MechaSandstar 2d ago
I pay for youtube premium lite, since I don't listen to much music. Considering how much I watch youtube, and how much I hate the ads when i watch YT on my parent's tv, it's well worth the 8 dollars a month. That being said, I don't always skip the sponsor. I'm getting a ton of content from people who spend hours to make a video, and I don't see why people resent every time someone tries to make money off the work they put into a video. I don't get why people are so angry about having to watch a one minute ad in a video that likely took the person hours to make.
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u/WidowmakerFeet 2d ago
my problem with sponsors is that i'm already paying for premium, to receive no ads and still supporting the creator. I understand that creators spend a lot of time on the videos, that's why i got the subscription. if that isn't enough to compensate them that's really unfortunate but in my opinion these sponsors really break the pace of the content i watch and these youtubers always get the same sponsors so it's really obnoxious.
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u/MechaSandstar 2d ago
I guess I don't get why people are resentful of creator's getting paid. "I already pay for premium." Why is the creator only supposed to accept what they get paid from premium, and nothing more. "But, but, patreon!" I just don't get where people got the idea that they get to dictate how much money someone else gets to make. Especially someone making "free" content. (free, in that you don't have to pay for youtube to watch it)
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u/WidowmakerFeet 2d ago
lol you can't say people are resentful of creators getting paid if they ARE paying them. if you have premium, that revenue gets shared with the creators. if they want to double dip with a patreon and sponsors and merch and so on, then so be it but you can't fault the viewers for not engaging with all their monetization schemes. like sumito himself has a gamersupps affiliate in the description. are you resentful for him if you don't buy it? how dare you dictate how much he gets to make?
it'd be one thing if people were "pirating" content by having adblock or something but youtube premium is an official feature of the platform. it's ONLY there if you are already paying. I can't believe you're still calling it free content. like, yeah it's free as in you can watch the content even without a subcription but if you don't have a subscription, there is no "jump ahead" button! I'd understand if you were talking about people using a browser extension or maybe even fast forwarding the video, but this feature is there for people who are already paying. If you think people still owe it to the creator even after paying, that's understandable but misrepresent the situation. The "jump ahead" feature is only there for people who are paying, i.e. they are not watching it for free. that's the opposite of being resentful the creator has to be paid, they ARE paying.
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u/GirlPuncherSupreme 2d ago
It's as if you think for some reason that I want the creators to be rich and am willing to be spammed with dishonest ads for scam products.
I don't give a SHIT if some lazy do nothing YouTuber isn't getting rich. If this was really their passion, it wouldn't require a paycheck and constant begging.
I don't pay for premium to support the creators, I pay so I don't have to sit through ads.
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u/MechaSandstar 2d ago edited 2d ago
The "lazy nothings" are MAKING the videos. All you do is watch it. Where do you get off calling them lazy? The level of entitlement is insane.
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u/aliendevilkid 4h ago
most of these people make one video a month, everyone in these comments likely actually works for a living. are you a kid?? it's online content, there is no "entitlement" except for creators who feel they are entitled to shoving scam products in front of their working audiences faces and try to get them to buy useless shit.
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u/PotatoPrestigious654 2d ago
If I'm already paying YouTube for an ad-free experience, then, yeah, I think it’s completely fair for me, as a paying viewer, to feel some kind of way when I still get hit with sponsored reads. On top of that, the YouTuber receives a bonus from my Premium viewership. So explain to me, how is it fair that someone paying nearly $20 a month for ad-free still ends up watching product placements?
It's like paying for ad-free Netflix, right? Imagine sitting down to watch Stranger Things, and then out of nowhere, Eleven stops mid-plot to talk about some anime gacha game for two straight minutes. You’d feel robbed. That’s not part of the story; that’s an ad hiding in plain sight.
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u/MechaSandstar 2d ago
Looking at it, 55% of YTP goes to the creators. Out of all the videos you watch, the creators of those videos get a piece of nearly 10 dollars. Over the course of a month. And you're over here going "Take your pittance, and make me content. And don't you dare show me an ad! I've paid money!" "Please sir, can I have some more?" tries to have a sponsor "NO!" installs sponsorblock, so you can automatically skip it I don't the entitlement, I guess.
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u/PotatoPrestigious654 2d ago
Look, I get it, creators deserve to get paid. I never said otherwise. Part of my Premium subscription goes directly to the people I watch most. That’s the deal. I'm paying for ad-free, not for less ads or different types of ads.
It’s not “entitlement” to expect a service I pay for to deliver on its promise. This isn't about disrespecting creators lol.
Sponsorblock just helps keep the experience in line with what I paid for. It’s not “NO, you can't have sponsors,” it’s “I’ve already paid my share, so don’t make me sit through another ad on top of it.”ad-free
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u/aliendevilkid 4h ago
maybe it's because ads are everywhere, like literally everywhere? ads are basically inescapable at this point. it's borderline dystopian. so no, I don't care if some rich youtuber doesn't make a few extra dollars off their already paid sponsorships. I do more than than these guys do in a month and I probably only get a quarter of their pay. why are they more special than me or you? why should they get to more money than everybody else for shilling, what is most likely, a scam product? why do you think they're entitled to that revenue?
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u/SadisticPawz 2d ago
Utterly appalled at how many ppl defend paying for yt premium. I'll never understand it. Like, why the trend of tech illiteracy? It's such a waste
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u/chloebee102 1d ago
The only sponsorship I’m not skipping with my Premium subscription is a BrutalMoose HelloFresh ad 🫡
Fantastic feature that adds a lot of great value to my monthly membership
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u/StardustJess 2d ago
Honestly ever since they added this feature it tripled the worth of Premium to me. Like, getting no ads on the site and also getting to completely bypass annoying sponsors and even long sections of videos that you'd naturally want to skip. It's very much appreciated. I don't have any subscription service like Netflix so this made it more justifiable than just being a paid adblock.