As a reviewer of games and products, and as a consumer advocate, it’s important to me to be able to accurately convey possible conflicts of interest, and to properly disclose if and when money or objects of value are exchanged. In each video where I am in contact with a company, I always have and will continue to disclose within the video itself the nature of that relationship. However, in order to make it easy moving forward, every type of business relationship I intend to make will be outlined and explained below for ease of reference.

YouTube-specific disclosure: “Paid Promotion” notification:

Currently YouTube requires creators who have received “anything of value” to check a box that adds a disclosure overlay to YouTube’s video player that the video contains “paid promotion”. Personally, I feel that this is a clumsy disclosure statement at best and misleading at worst. That said, I will adhere to this requirement in addition to the additional steps outlined below:

#ReviewUnit

For videos in which I have been sent a review unit of a game, accessory, or other product, the video description will include #ReviewUnit, which will also be displayed in blue under the video itself. I will also explain during the video what was received. In these instances, no money has exchanged hands and senders of the review units in question will not have editorial input. Sometimes there will be stipulations about timelines and embargo dates, but otherwise the nature of the content is up to my own discretion.

#PaidSponsorship

For videos in which money has exchanged hands for including a message from a sponsor. In the description for these videos, I will include #PaidSponsorship, which will also be displayed in blue under the video itself. During the video I will disclose that the video is sponsored, which company is providing the sponsorship, or otherwise disclose the ad prior to the ad read. The included ad will be truthful to the best of my knowledge and research and will most often be subject to review by the sponsor prior to publication. The sponsoring company will not have editorial control over the content of the video itself outside of the ad spot.

#PaidShowcase

For videos in which money has exchanged hands to commission an entire video. In the description for these videos, I will include #PaidShowcase, which will also be displayed in blue under the video itself. During the video I will disclose that the video is sponsored, which company is providing the sponsorship at the start of the video. The video will be truthful to the best of my knowledge and research and will most often be subject to review by the sponsor prior to publication. The sponsoring company has direct editorial control over what is and is not said during the video.

This list of disclosures and sponsorship types may change over time as new opportunities are presented, however I will always commit to providing clear disclosure during the videos, within the descriptions, and will not provide intentionally misleading information.

Additional Disclosures

Sponsoring companies may have their own disclosure requirements for content creators to adhere to including using their own custom hashtags such as #ad or #sponsored, and many others. These are often blanket requirements that may not actually apply to the video in question. An example of this was Square Enix requiring me to use #sponsored for a video in which I received a review copy. If you see a hashtag not listed on this page, it is most likely one required by the company I am working with.