What is YouTube's policy on paid product placement?

YouTube's paid product placement rules sit on top of FTC requirements, and both must be satisfied. Two specific actions are required:

1. YouTube checkbox. During upload, under Advanced Settings, check the "Includes paid promotion" box. This adds a yellow "Includes paid promotion" banner at the start of the video.

2. In-video disclosure. The checkbox alone isn't enough — FTC rules require the disclosure be clear and conspicuous. In practice that means either: • Verbal disclosure ("Today's video is sponsored by [business]") within the first 30 seconds • On-screen text overlay ("Sponsored" / "Paid partnership") visible in the first 30 seconds • Both, for maximum safety

The checkbox + first-30-seconds rule reflects how viewers consume YouTube: many drop off before the description loads, and a disclosure buried in the description doesn't satisfy the "conspicuous" standard.

Prohibited content categories overlap with TikTok and Instagram: no paid product placement for alcohol (some markets), tobacco, drugs, weapons, gambling, or political content. Election ads have their own separate rules and require additional verification.

Special cases for small businesses: • Shorts follow the same rules as regular videos despite being under 60 seconds. Disclose within the first ~10 seconds for Shorts. • Live streams can disclose verbally at the start; the checkbox still applies to the saved VOD. • Members-only content still requires disclosure even though viewership is restricted.

For small-business perk-for-video campaigns, the campaign brief should explicitly require both the checkbox AND on-screen text. A single missed disclosure can result in monetization being pulled from the video by YouTube, which makes the creator unhappy and won't be repeated.