YouTubers have to declare ads. Why doesn't anyone else?
Tom Scott6 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2021-2024
9.2M views · 5 years ago · explainer · dated
Tom Scott examines why YouTubers must declare paid endorsements while TV, film and other media face no such rule, comparing regulations in the UK and US.
HN cites it as a clear explainer on sponsorship and ad disclosure rules and their inconsistency across media.
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10 comments from Hacker News
There's only so much money you can make off of banner ads and at a certain point native advertisements are way more lucrative. I wonder how they get around disclosure requirements but I guess it's probably because the articles are never directly funded but there's some other form of compensation in the backend. Tom Scott made an interesting video about internet advertising regulations a while back. [1] [1]: ▶ this video
> not enough context, maybe > Probably some corporate compliance drones and underfunded government stooges. Youtube alone has 720,000 hours of fresh video content per day Tiktok must have less number of hours but more Videos per day. Add Instagram, facebook, Twitter and it's impossible for anyone to verify this manually so in the end how is the platform supposed to decide what to show and what not where the "not enough context, maybe" is the most common answer? > Is product placement in movie an ad? > yes, clearly not so clearly even in this case. see ▶ this video , a very nice recap of what an ad is.
FWIW the UK also has fairly strict laws about this (possibly stricter than Germany). Tom Scott once did a good video about this: ▶ this video German streamers also ran into a separate issue with German broadcasting regulations when they tried to run a 24/7 streaming format. Turns out you need a broadcasting license for continuous scheduled programming like that.
I'm 90% sure Amazon paid SNL to make this ad (SNL does paid brand integration in various skits, see Tom Scott's video on product placement for other examples ▶ this video ). It's a spoof commercial where the product advertised isn't what's being made fun of. The set is unusually authentic to actual Amazon Go stores, down to the "just walk out" logo signage, and the loud and clear message of the ad is that you should stop worrying and trust Amazon. They're lampshading people's distrust of automation, especially in a liberal context of racial equity, and demonstrating that actually Keenan was really silly for thinking a computer would be racist.
Tom Scott talks about how he is fictional - ▶ this video I think the secret is out. I don't get it? Do people think Taylor Swift, Joe Biden, Ōsaka Naomi are real still? Or are we just projecting other people are that stupid to think 'media personalities' are real to make ourselves look smart?
> Influencers are actually some of the only advertisers who aren’t well regulated in Europe, When was the last time you saw product placements being clearly labeled in TV shows/movies? For most people, the answer is "never". Just because we are used to it doesn't mean it's fair. Tom Scott explains it much better than I can: ▶ this video
Yet the TV industry is still far from done with shady advertising. Very Related: YouTubers have to declare ads. Why doesn't anyone else? [0] On another note, that is like the shortest news article ever! It's literally just 102 words! [0] ▶ this video
On the subject, Tom Scott has a great video on the inconsistency that online influencers and youtubers have to declare ads/product-placements while traditional media does not. ▶ this video
A bit unrelated, but if you want a overview of sponsorships in different media platforms across different countries (mostly Britain and US though), I suggest watching Tom Scott's excellent video: ▶ this video . (Note that the video is ~30 minutes long. It's unfortunately that complicated, even when only talking rules mainly in two countries.)
Why don't we make it the law for reviewers to disclose incentives in the reviews/ videos, similar to how youtubers have to disclose it ▶ this video