Dive Brief:
- In an effort to boost transparency, YouTube announced a new feature for its creators in a blog post Tuesday that allows them to automatically disclose paid content, though it's not mandatory.
- Creators can now put an “includes paid promotion” tag at the bottom of sponsored videos. The disclosure will appear for only the first few seconds.
- According to the post, YouTube’s creators have requested an easy-to-use notification for disclosure of paid content.
Dive Insight:
YouTube is making its platform more transparent to audiences and in a fairly discreet manner following tightened FTC regulations on disclosure earlier this year. The new text overlay is unobtrusive and also automated, making it easy and intuitive for creators to tag paid content, which might avoid landing brands in hot water.
Even though communicating disclosure through features like the new tag is handled by influencers publishing on YouTube, the FTC holds brands responsible for ensuring that disclosure is executed. One of the more notable cases involving the Google-owned platform happened this summer, when Warner Bros. was hit with 20 years of sanctions over an improperly disclosed influencer campaign promoting a video game.
Influencer programs are popular with marketers right now, but the lack of a global standard for indicating paid promotion in videos means brands need to do their homework to insure they do not run afoul of local standards, regulated or not.
In general, there appears to be a move toward greater transparency.
YouTube already asks creators to clarify when videos contain paid promotion via a Video Manager checkbox in order to remove said videos from the YouTube Kids app and avoid serving external ads that might conflict with the paid content. The new tag appears to be an extension of this feature, and the simplicity of applying it should make the waters a little less muddy when it comes to transparency going forward, assuming creators remember to use it, as it's an optional service.