Why do LMG channels no longer disclose "sponsored" or "showcase" in the title?

[Ashleyyyy]

5 minutes ago, tkitch said:

So, Trying to make LTT Look bad because YT made a change is disingenuous at best, so....

 

that's not what i said. i mentioned it becuase clear titles are more important than ever now. 

[Ashleyyyy]

2 minutes ago, Neroon said:

LMG absolutely needs to listen to their audience, and I do believe they are, but that's not the same as doing what they audience wants, because if they audience gets to decide, they don't make jack shit..

what? 

[Alvin853]

18 minutes ago, tkitch said:

This is factually untrue.  100%.

 

@LinusTechhas addressed this before.  I believe it was something to the effect of "They give us talking points, but we go hands on with the product directly and say what we think."  A Sponsored video or showcase is absolutely NOT written by the product manuf.  ( @CPotteror @JonoTcould probably address this as well.)  

I mean you can just watch the video and check for yourself, Linus is pretty clear about it.

[Ashleyyyy]

3 minutes ago, Alvin853 said:

<snip>

@tkitchsee? "i am reading off their marketing material". that's it. 

 

"factually untrue 100%" yeah right lol

[saintlouisbagels]

27 minutes ago, tkitch said:

This is factually untrue.  100%.

 

@LinusTechhas addressed this before.  I believe it was something to the effect of "They give us talking points, but we go hands on with the product directly and say what we think."  A Sponsored video or showcase is absolutely NOT written by the product manuf.  ( @CPotteror @JonoTcould probably address this as well.)  

 

22 minutes ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

false. 

 

prove it. look at the wan show i linked in the OP. Linus explained it very clearly. 

7 minutes ago, Alvin853 said:

I mean you can just watch the video and check for yourself, Linus is pretty clear about it.

So I watched the entire segment neither of you are 100% false..

- Reviews are not sponsored by the product in review due to obvious conflicts of interest.

- Sponsored Showcases are not Reviews. No editorialized opinions for the most part.

- Sponsored Showcases are just a list of talking points from the brand/manufacturer.

- Negative points are allowed, but it’s a discussion between both parties.

- Influencer clout has a impact on ratio of manufacturer talking points vs opinions

[Alvin853]

Also 

is a very good quote a little bit later in the same video. Though Linus does state sometimes the disagreements are too big and the video never gets published.

[Ashleyyyy]

1 minute ago, saint_louis_bagels said:

- Negative points are allowed, but it’s a discussion between both parties.

huh? that's not what he said. some sponsors don't want that, so it doesn't happen. it's not a given he'll be able to mention negative things. 

[saintlouisbagels]

3 minutes ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

huh? that's not what he said. some sponsors don't want that, so it doesn't happen. it's not a given he'll be able to mention negative things. 

Exactly. Some sponsors don’t want that.  I don’t understand your confusion.

[Ashleyyyy]

16 minutes ago, saint_louis_bagels said:

Exactly. Some sponsors don’t want that.  I don’t understand your confusion.

you stated negative comments are allowed. that's not true. negative comments are sometimes allowed. that's a big difference. 

[Neroon]

54 minutes ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

what? 

What don't you understand?

 

You are here wanting to reduce their income. People complain about certain sponsors, plenty use addons to block their sponsors, we have people complaining about pricing of lttstore.

So yeah, if they were to give these people what they want, they would have almost no income. And yes you are 1 of those people.

[Ashleyyyy]

4 minutes ago, Neroon said:

What don't you understand?

 

You are here wanting to reduce their income. People complain about certain sponsors, plenty use addons to block their sponsors, we have people complaining about pricing of lttstore.

So yeah, if they were to give these people what they want, they would have almost no income. And yes you are 1 of those people.

i don't complain about LTT store pricing. i don't complain about certain sponsors. i'm complaining about the way it's communicated that a video is sponsored. 

[ToboRobot]

3 minutes ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

i don't complain about LTT store pricing. i don't complain about certain sponsors. i'm complaining about the way it's communicated that a video is sponsored. 

I think as long as it is clearly communicated that it is sponsored content that is about all we are going to get from free content. 

 

It's pretty easy to stop watching videos you aren't interested in which is an excellent solution to this problem.

[Ashleyyyy]

1 minute ago, ToboRobot said:

I think as long as it is clearly communicated that it is sponsored content that is about all we are going to get from free content. 

 

It's pretty easy to stop watching videos you aren't interested in which is an excellent solution to this problem.

it's not "free content". most youtube ads are 20 seconds long these days, many unskippable. before i find out a video is sponsored i've spent 20 seconds giving LMG money. 

[ToboRobot]

2 minutes ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

it's not "free content". most youtube ads are 20 seconds long these days, many unskippable. before i find out a video is sponsored i've spent 20 seconds giving LMG money. 

How much money did you pay for the content?

Great, you have supported LMG and all of it's employees with a small indirect financial contribution for the content you watch, some of which you presumably enjoy.  Someone has paid to make these videos (Thanks Yvonne) and someone paid for the servers to distribute the content...

Maybe you can subscribe to Floatplane for more ad free content if it bothers you?

What is the problem with giving LMG (thanks to LMG for hosting this forum) money?  

[lewdicrous]

I just checked the video that was used as an example.

The description already states that the video is sponsored and, as seen on the example in the OP, it clearly states that it's sponsored within the first second of the video.

The fact that the video is sponsored is not hidden from the viewer.

[Spotty]

@Ashley MLP Fangirl Have other videos included "Sponsored" in the title of the video? I searched the term on the Linus Tech Tips channel and from the results I looked through I couldn't see any that had "(Sponsored)" in the title of the video. There were plenty that disclosed in the description of the video, and there were some that were labelled as "Showcase" like you also mentioned, however I don't believe all were. I know that on Floatplane they flag sponsored videos as "(Sponsored)" in the title; if you've been a Floatplane subscriber perhaps that is where the expectation for it to say Sponsored in the video title comes from?

My point is, is there an expectation for LMG to flag the videos on Youtube as sponsored in the title? If it's something they've always done and there's one or two videos that don't have it, then I would think that is worth complaining about because there is that expectation as a viewer that video titles will disclose it. If they normally don't do it, and from what I can see they don't, then I don't think there is that expectation as a viewer for it to be flagged as sponsored in the video title.

 

As for why they don't include "Sponsored"/"Showcase" in the tittle of videos, my guess it just comes down to "This keyboard has all the RGB - Razer keyboard showcase" performing worse in terms of viewer metrics than just "This keyboard has all the RGB". As long as it is adequately disclosed in the video description and on the video, and from the sponsored videos I've seen from them it always has been, I personally don't think it's a problem if it's omitted from the video title. Realistically when Youtube displays a video in the feed the end of a long title will be cut off, so you might not see the "Sponsored" part at the end until you open the video anyway.

I can understand if you aren't interested in watching sponsored videos. I notice from your screenshot you already have Sponsorblock installed which flags if a video is sponsored content. While a 3rd party tool isn't a perfect solution (and is not a substitute for adequate disclosure) it does mean that you can easily see which videos are sponsored while LTT can maintain Youtube-friendly titles for other people who don't object to watching sponsored videos. You get the notice you want, LTT gets the titles that attract viewers. Everybody is happy.

I haven't watched the Short Circuit video you posted but just because a video is sponsored doesn't mean it isn't worth watching. I'm personally not interested in a lot of the sponsored/showcase videos but there are some that I've been enjoying such as the ongoing Intel extreme upgrade series which have been quite entertaining with minimal advertisement.

[Ashleyyyy]

31 minutes ago, Spotty said:

@Ashley MLP Fangirl Have other videos included "Sponsored" in the title of the video? I searched the term on the Linus Tech Tips channel and from the results I looked through I couldn't see any that had "(Sponsored)" in the title of the video. There were plenty that disclosed in the description of the video, and there were some that were labelled as "Showcase" like you also mentioned, however I don't believe all were. I know that on Floatplane they flag sponsored videos as "(Sponsored)" in the title; if you've been a Floatplane subscriber perhaps that is where the expectation for it to say Sponsored in the video title comes from?

that was indeed an oopsie, i meant showcase.

 

31 minutes ago, Spotty said:

I can understand if you aren't interested in watching sponsored videos. I notice from your screenshot you already have Sponsorblock installed which flags if a video is sponsored content. 

but it only does it after i already clicked it, and the youtube ad already loads. 

 

32 minutes ago, Spotty said:

I haven't watched the Short Circuit video you posted but just because a video is sponsored doesn't mean it isn't worth watching.

to me it is not worth watching. if i wanted to watch 5 minutes of ads i'd turn on the TV. 

 

33 minutes ago, Spotty said:

My point is, is there an expectation for LMG to flag the videos on Youtube as sponsored in the title? If it's something they've always done and there's one or two videos that don't have it, then I would think that is worth complaining about because there is that expectation as a viewer that video titles will disclose it. If they normally don't do it, and from what I can see they don't, then I don't think there is that expectation as a viewer for it to be flagged as sponsored in the video title.

previously if something is sponsored, aka a showcase which is what they called it in the old titles, it used to be in the title. the video i showed in my OP would qualify as a showcase. 

[Imbadatnames]

5 hours ago, saint_louis_bagels said:

They also use to be a smaller business, but ambitions unfortunately cost money.

They’re running VERY far into the black though, there’s no need for this 

[Avocado Diaboli]

I personally would like to see titles marked as sponsored content. That way it would also better abide by Ad Standards Canada Guidelines for Influencer Marketing

 

 

"Disclose before the viewer needs to click for more" can also mean "before clicking on the video itself". 

[ToboRobot]

49 minutes ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

I personally would like to see titles marked as sponsored content. That way it would also better abide by Ad Standards Canada Guidelines for Influencer Marketing

 

 

"Disclose before the viewer needs to click for more" can also mean "before clicking on the video itself". 

That is an interesting interpretation.

If the disclosure is in the first couple lines of the post (from that example), that would imply you have clicked on the video and scrolled down to the video description and click "read more" for addition description.

Where in the ad standards does it say the title of a video should say it is sponsored content?

Page 29 is the platform specific best practices, and it does not state that the video needs to include any mention it is sponsored.  Funny you didn't post a picture of that page...

[Avocado Diaboli]

2 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

That is an interesting interpretation.

If the disclosure is in the first couple lines of the post (from that example), that would imply you have clicked on the video and scrolled down to the video description and click "read more" for addition description.

Where in the ad standards does it say the title of a video should say it is sponsored content?

Page 29 is the platform specific best practices, and it does not state that the video needs to include any mention it is sponsored.  Funny you didn't post a picture of that page...

Funny you haven't read my post

57 minutes ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

I personally

58 minutes ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

can also mean

 

[tkitch]

1 hour ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

I personally would like to see titles marked as sponsored content. That way it would also better abide by Ad Standards Canada Guidelines for Influencer Marketing

 

 

"Disclose before the viewer needs to click for more" can also mean "before clicking on the video itself". 

To quote your own image:  "i.e. in the first couple lines of the post"

So, in the past few months the only "Sponsored / Showcased" videos I could find were the Intel Upgrade videos.  

 

And those say it right at the top of the text description of the video.  (And they're not really an intel showcase video, cuz of what they are.)

 

And I imagine linus / his team is fully aware of the legal requirements in canada and are following them perfectly.  

[tkitch]

4 hours ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

false. 

 

prove it. look at the wan show i linked in the OP. Linus explained it very clearly. 

Okay I'll cop, I was wrong about the Showcased videos.

 

But, my question is, how many videos does this affect?  (Very nearly) Every single LTT Video is sponsored, only by a company that was not who made the product, except when Linus is looking to make a point about something, and doesn't want to have it lessened by having a sponsor.  

 

Showcased videos are different, and at least on the main channel, are exceptionally rare.  I just scrolled through several months of videos, and didn't see any "Showcase" videos on the main channel other than the "Intel Extreme Upgrades!" which are a very different kind of video.  

 

Ahh, I see that's on Short Circuit.  So, a quick search shows that "Sponsored" returns 0 videos with that in the title, and "Showcase" returns 1 video (and at least for me, wasn't even the top hit.)  So, I'm guessing that has never been the prevailing process on SC?  IDK.

[Ashleyyyy]

5 minutes ago, tkitch said:

Showcased videos are different, and at least on the main channel, are exceptionally rare.  I just scrolled through several months of videos, and didn't see any "Showcase" videos on the main channel other than the "Intel Extreme Upgrades!" which are a very different kind of video.  

 

Ahh, I see that's on Short Circuit.  So, a quick search shows that "Sponsored" returns 0 videos with that in the title, and "Showcase" returns 1 video (and at least for me, wasn't even the top hit.)  So, I'm guessing that has never been the prevailing process on SC?  IDK.

notice how i specified "LMG Channels" in the OP. that means LTT, SC, MA, TQ, TL, all of them. i'm not saying all channels are affected, but to avoid stuff like this i kept it broad. 

[ToboRobot]

38 minutes ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

Funny you haven't read my post

 

I read it.

You wrote, "I personally would like to see titles marked as sponsored content."

Your interpretation of the document was incorrect, and I hope you have learned what that the image you posted refers to.  Selectively quoting parts of sentences doesn't make you right.

Again, funny that you ignored the ad standards pages about YouTube, notably absent is sponsored in the title, or any rules to dictate the titles of videos.