Guys, I need to get something off my chest.
Since the beginning of my channel I've always been honest to you guys which videos are sponsored and which not. Basically I always told that in the video itself.
A lot of things changed amongst YouTubers. I see that every YouTuber right now does NOT include in the video if it's sponsored and this is something I really have difficulties with. Not with the other YouTubers but how people look at it. I know that all these YouTubers get paid for doing all or almost all the ICO reviews they do. There are even channels that only do ICO reviews and you can be sure that close to 100% of their reviews are paid for.
Am I the fool here? I mean, I really lose subscribers on videos where I mention that it's sponsored because of the fact that I mention that. Do people want to know that? Or do they not want to know it and are totally okay with it then? I'm really wondering and considering to stop mentioning this in videos that are sponsored.
What I also want to say about this is that it's not the YouTubers fault, but it's simple: if you want to do an ICO review, it can be paid for, whatever ICO review you want to do. 95% of the ICOs around are reaching out to YouTubers, so you can simply choose the best ones and get paid for reviewing them.
Also it speaks for itself that YouTubers accept the payments. If you can choose whatever ICO you want and have the option to do it for free or get paid, who would NOT take the payment?
So, I don't think YouTubers that do sponsored videos are dishonest, not at all. I think it's better for everyone not to mention it, like all the other YouTubers do. People somehow lose trust in you and even unsubscribe. The days I make a sponsored video I see the amount of unsubscribtions spike. This happens every single time... Coincidence? I don't think so.
We, as YouTubers, receive 100 or more request every month from ICOs wanting us to cover them. We can simply choose which ICOs we want to review and which ones we like the most. Does making a (sponsored) review about that ICO change a thing about the honesty of the YouTuber? Not really. The other YouTubers still pick the ones they like the most and the ones they truely believe in and they get paid for it, without telling it to their audience.
What should I do? This is such a hard thing which really bothers me a lot lately. Seeing that I got punished for saying when it's sponsored is really hard, especially when I see that other YouTubers are paid for their ICO reviews as well, but don't tell it, and their audience is totally fine and don't even ask questions about it.