Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Can you ACTUALLY trust Mrwhosetheboss?”.
Can you trust a youtube reviewer? What’S to stop us just taking money from companies to say nice things about them? It’S a genuine concern that a lot of you have told me you have so this is how it works. Every youtuber providing they meet. The minimum requirements earns some money from adverts, so every time you see those double unskippable ads as annoying as i know they can be. That is you supporting that creator, but the problem with ad revenue is that the youtube is only getting paid according to a how many views they get b.
How long each of those viewers is watching for and see what their audience’s demographics are, but they have almost no control over those things and to show you just how much variance this can mean. A thousand views from the maldives could pay a creator. 15.
A thousand views from jamaica, 0.03, 500 times less. That’S the difference between the wage of the president of the united states and the wage of a 15 year old kid who decides to do an hour of tutoring a week and add to that because a lot of these companies want to advertise around christmas diwali new Year when customers are actually following through and buying things from those adverts, ad revenue for creators is good in those months, but literally the second. That january rolls around. Even if all your views, your watch times, are all the same you’re earning half as much. So all i’m really trying to establish here is that most youtubers they need to make some sponsored content every now and again they may have full-time employees with salaries they may have rent or families they need to support. They may need to replace equipment or buy products to make the videos about, so they need some sort of income that they can at least control. Okay. With that out the way then, given that you know a youtuber, is being sponsored for a certain video, can you trust the words that are coming out their mouth? Well, the way it works with paid content on youtube is there’s two types of sponsorships.
You will either get companies who just want to be a part of an existing video that you were going to make anyways to be mentioned for 30 to 60 seconds, or you will get companies who want their product to be the entire video like. You might remember that day when it felt like the entire tech community was testing dyson vacuum cleaners, but, broadly speaking, this is what a sponsor agreement looks like. The company will come to a creator with deliverables. What format of content they want.
They’Ll, give you talking points key things: they want you to highlight a time frame and how much they’ll be willing to offer you for it, and the final thing with a paid video is that the brand gets to have a look at it before it goes. Live just to make sure they’re, okay with it. So with all that in mind, i’m not about to tell you that you can trust every single sponsored review you see because clearly there is scope for a youtuber who just wants money to say to the company. Yes, it doesn’t matter what brand you are doesn’t matter what the product is. I will say exactly what you want me to say this exists, but this is not me, so i just want to show you the extent that i go to to make sure that when you’re watching a video here, you’re getting my thoughts, not a company’s thoughts. So the first thing is that i will not take on a sponsorship if i don’t think it’s relevant look.
This is a tech channel, you’re interested in tech. Maybe lifestyle, maybe health, but what i’m not going to do is start promoting credit cards or energy drinks or vapes. It doesn’t matter how much i’m offered for it.
The second thing is obviously the product itself. It’S really dawned on me in the last few years that not to blow my own trumpet, but if i recommend a product on this channel, there’s a good chance that at least some of you are going to go through and buy it. I’Ve met some of you at launch events or just generally on the streets, and you told me i’m using this phone because you recommended it or i bought the xeon smooth x, 2 axis stabilized gimbal, because it was featured in that one episode of smartphone gadgets on The 27th of july 2020., or that one tablet from wish.com, okay, fine, no one asked me about that, but you get the point and so now before any contracts are signed with any companies, i ask for the product.
I’Ve got an upcoming sponsored video for a really cool smartphone gadget, but instead of signing the agreement first, which is the typical way of working, i insisted that i have the gadget in hand. I’Ve tested it myself. I’Ve made sure it’s good enough. Before going back to the company and saying i love it, let’s do this, and this is true for anything sponsored on this channel, whether it’s a vpn service or a healthy meal alternative. I have tested it and i’ve tasted it and i genuinely am recommending it.
It’S very easy to look at a youtuber, making a sponsored video and to think well, obviously they’re just saying that, because they’re paid to but if they’re, actually people you trust, then it’s more likely that they’ve only taken on that sponsorship because they actually do like the Product, for example, you might know that i do a lot of sponsorships with surfsharkvpn. That is not because they pay me the most. I’Ve actually gone out of my way to earn less, to make sure that i’m a promoting something that i actually think is better value for you and b insisting that, instead of doing the sponsored piece during the middle of the video which would generate more income, i Keep it right at the end so that if you do decide that it’s not interesting to you, it’s not going to waste your time, and that brings me on to the next thing. Like i said, brands do have a say for a sponsored, video or a sponsored segment. They will give creators recommended talking points, but this is where the ball is in.
The youtube is caught because, while yes, you could just be like sure i’ll take your money and say those things, that’s not what you need to do, and that’s not what i do. My response to these talking points is always. This is what i want to say. Take it or leave it because, let’s be honest, a sponsored video script, it should be the same as if you were making that video and you weren’t being paid for it right, like sure it might mean you cover a product that you wouldn’t have otherwise covered sure It might mean you have a slightly different angle, a slightly different thing that you’re looking at because it’s sponsored, but it shouldn’t change how you feel about it. I even had this one time i was gon na do a collaboration with a really big phone brand.
I sent them my draft script and they were just two sentences that we couldn’t agree on. They wanted me to say them one way and they wouldn’t budge when i told them that that didn’t quite capture how i actually felt about the device – and that was enough for me to say fine, i’m not making this video with you and then i proceeded to Make the exact same video myself without getting paid just so i could say those two sentences. The way that i wanted to say them – and i think most accountants would probably be screaming at me for that, and that brings me onto the money itself, because this is often the biggest criticism thrown around about youtubers doing things for money is like the first thing.
You’Ll get labelled with if you make an unpopular opinion, but the truth of it is i’m not a money-focused person like i have every physical good i could possibly need, but even when i didn’t in every list of goals, i ever made myself for the channel or Even just me personally, money was never a factor. This is why i don’t have a patreon where you can donate to me. This is why i didn’t set up youtube channel memberships, where you can pay monthly to support me, even though it would take like 10 minutes. This is why i don’t have an only fans account.
Okay, there are other reasons for that. The point is, i want my content to be free, all of it. What do i want? I want to make videos where you guys watch for longer, because that’s a sign to me that i’m providing enjoyment i want to keep learning and improving, because those things are fun to me.
It’S why i spend so much of my effort trying to make this setup just more interesting and more fun. Just keep it evolving. I want to hit 10 million subscribers so badly. These are things that i do find rewarding, and so, if i ever feel like money or sponsorships are going to compromise them or compromise the trust, which is the reason you watch my videos in the first place, i’m not gon na. Do them! That’S it even though i try as hard as i can to make sure i do sponsorships in what i think is the right way.
You still have a right to know when you’re watching sponsored content now because being an influencer is such a new field. The regulations are kind of evolving as we go and i’m still learning them, but what i can tell you for 100 certain is that in the uk, where i’m from, even if i wanted to, i couldn’t make a sponsored video and not tell you. It’S a sponsored video and even if i went further and tried to find some sort of legal loophole, the brand that was doing the sponsoring would insist that i disclose it anyways because they’d be in trouble too.
If i didn’t so for the last year and going forward, especially i’m going to be as clear as i can possibly be, i will verbally tell you when a video is sponsored, it will be in the video description and if the entire video is sponsored you’ll see This marker in the bottom corner, so if a video does not have those things, no payment has been made simple as that – and this brings me onto the other thing that i feel like i need to address. I never have, and i never will make a sponsored review. The way i see it, a review is a very specific type of video, where you expect the creator to have used a device for a period of time and to be giving you their completely unfiltered conclusive thoughts about whether or not you should buy it it just It wouldn’t feel right for that to be sponsored, even if i am saying what i think like for last year’s me 10 t phone xiaomi did sponsor me to make some twitter content.
They wanted me to make a teaser about this new feature that was coming to it, and it was quite a fun and quirky thing. So i said yes and, as part of this xiaomi sent me this mi ten t well before launch so far before launch that, if i wanted to, i could have made a full review and released it. The second the phone actually got announced to the world. It could have been like the most in-depth video on the internet at the time it could have done amazing, but i didn’t i just felt like, because i’d been sponsored to make those twitter teasers, even though they would have had nothing to do with any youtube content. I would have made it still wouldn’t feel quite right to make a full review of a phone that i was technically paid to promote, and on that note i feel like there’s a slight misconception that i need to address linked to this smartphone brands. Don’T sponsor channels, i’m generalizing a little bit, but in the entire last 10 years that i’ve been making tech videos, i haven’t had a single company like xiaomi or huawei or oneplus, saying we want to sponsor you.
It’S always. We want to sponsor that one video and so just because a youtuber makes a sponsored video for a brand. It doesn’t make that brand a channel sponsor brands, don’t just silently pay youtubers for each nice sentence. They say about you, it’s very much.
A black and white case of this is a sponsored video where the brand has approved it to go live, and this is not a sponsored video where the brand has absolutely zero say at all in it. Okay, there is one thing, though, that i would say is a gray area and it’s something that was on my mind when i used to watch tech videos before i made them myself review samples. So it’s probably not a surprise to you that sometimes i and every other tech youtuber we get sent some of the devices that we review by the companies themselves. It’S the only way we’re able to drop videos of those devices, the second they get announced to the world.
But this creates an obvious question, because if youtubers and creators and writers are relying on manufacturers to send them, devices then does that create an incentive for us to just say nice things about them so that we can carry on getting those samples kind of yes to Be perfectly blunt with you when i started getting samples like seven or so years ago, some part of me was nervous about criticizing that brand. As far as i’m aware, i did still say what i thought, but it’s perfectly possible that somewhere subconsciously. My opinion was affected by the fact that one i didn’t pay for the item and two i was trying to build good brand relationships, but very soon i started to see this a different way. I realized that there’s like a hundred tech channels out there they’re all bigger than me, they’re all growing faster than me, we’re all covering the same products, and so the only thing that i could offer was to be useful, even if it means getting kicked off a Company’S list of reviewers in my eyes, that’s worth it if i’m kicked off because i feel like i’m telling the truth because long term, hopefully the viewers, you guys, would realize that and you would be happy to wait an extra two weeks or so for me to Buy my own version of that device and review it myself, this whole idea of trying to be useful.
This is why i spend so much of my time trying to make my videos concise. This is why i don’t spend 40 seconds introducing the topic of the video when i think the title and thumbnail are enough for you to figure it out. It’S the reason why i don’t spend much time on relatively niche products unless i think they have a really interesting story behind them and, most importantly, it’s the reason why i try to make sure that i give you good information, at least according to my experiences and My preferences am, i biased.
Yes, i prefer products that are blue and white, as you can probably tell. I don’t use wireless charging, i put more weight on battery life and cameras than most because those things are important to me. Everybody has biases, but the crucial thing for me is that those biases are not affected by brand relationships. I’Ll give you an example. A couple of weeks ago i made a video titled: do not buy this smartphone, that was using a review sample.
They sent the phone, they even offered to send money with it, which i refused and after testing it. It became very clear that it just wasn’t worth it. So in no uncertain terms. That’S what i said if this company wants to send me their next phone for review they’re welcome to, but i don’t think they will and that’s okay now, this doesn’t mean that i’m just gon na openly criticize everything smartphone companies do. For the most part, tech is good now, but it does mean that if apple and samsung are going to be disingenuous about eco-friendly packaging, i’m gon na say it. If some xiaomi products look like carbon copies of apple ones, i’m gon na say it and if oneplus truly screws up with a feature on its phone, i’m going to say it, and so far at least no major brand has had a problem with that. Don’T get me wrong, i have had smaller companies saying. How could you say that about our device or we’re going to sue you because you damaged our sales but for the most part, the big companies they get it reviewers are going to review i’ve had times when i completely tore a brand to shreds in a video.
Only for them to then email me later that evening and say that was really useful feedback. I made a video about xiaomi recently, where i openly criticized their terrible product naming schemes and their alarming similarities to iphones, but they actually went as far as to share that video on their official main xiaomi twitter account companies don’t mind authentic content, and so the point Is that ever since i got serious about reviewing, i have not worried at all about offending brands. The final thing that i want to quickly address is that i hear a lot of people say that i’ve got a ghostwriter, someone who writes my script for me and then i just take that come on camera and perform. This is not how we do things like.
We try to make the videos fun, but i’m very aware that the primary purpose of them is to inform so every rating every recommendation every word on the script is from me. I spend like 60 of my time, scripting. Okay, if i had to leave you with one takeaway from this video, it’s that, instead of deciding what to trust, decide who to trust. I think that if you trust a creator, then you can trust that even with their sponsored content, they’ll a only be doing it.
If they believe in that product b only agreeing to it if they can say what they want to and c they’ll make it very clear when they are being sponsored because, even though you do trust them, it’s good to know the process. That’S gone behind that video! Yes, i realized i’ve spent the last 10 minutes reviewing myself, but i hope this was useful. I’M going to be working with some companies in march on some sponsored content, and i hope you find it the enjoyable and informative to watch. Okay, thanks for watching and i’ll catch you in the next one you .