Video Integrations

I begun implementing short promos in the first 30 seconds of all my YouTube videos at the end of 2022 in order to highlight things I felt were important as well as make room for sponsorships if the opportunity arose. I spoke about this in more detail in this podcast episode, but with it I developed a system so that you will always know what kind of promotion I’m doing. I’d like to detail that here alongside some of the hard limits I’ve set for such integrations for full transparency.

Type Of Integration

There are three types of video integration I do, and it’s easy to tell which I’m doing in any specific video.

• Promo

  • Description & pinned comment reads: “This video is brought to you by…”

  • For promoting useful or helpful things, like website pages or other videos.

  • Monetary incentive: None.

• Affiliate

  • Description & pinned comment reads: “This video is supported by…”

  • For promoting things that might have an associated cost which I benefit from.

  • Monetary incentive: Commission based or percentage (such as receiving 70% of a YouTube membership or a portion of T-shirt sales from my merch store).

• Sponsor

  • Description & pinned comment reads: “This video is sponsored by…”

  • For promoting companies/products who have specifically asked for promotion.

  • Monetary incentive: Up-front payment (such as receiving a specific amount in exchange for promoting a product in a specific video with an expected number of views).

Integration Restrictions

I do set some pretty harsh restrictions when it comes to sponsors and mentions before the start of videos. While I haven’t had these tested to the extent of “here’s $20,000 to do a 2 minute promo of *insert awful mobile game here* in the middle of your video”, I’ve so far been able to stick to all of these and have turned away many sponsorship opportunities that I feel don’t fit.

• A maximum of 20 seconds for any integration at the start of a video. There’s an option for a further 40 seconds of promotion at the end, but never in the middle interrupting the action.

• Anything promoted that falls into the affiliate section above must be something I use myself, either currently, intermittently, or have used extensively in the past.

• Anything promoted that falls into the sponsor section above must be from a reputable company that I feel I can trust. I do some research on any company beforehand, and obviously if I also use the product myself it’s easier.

• Anything promoted must be relevant to me, my channel, or those watching. Tech, gaming, or racing products rather than fashion products or children’s toys for example.