egeexyz
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Weird Sponsorships
🕑 Added 2020-02-10 21:16:24 +0000 UTCSomething not often talked about in YouTube-land is sponsorships.
Even YouTubers rarely talk about sponsors and deals with other YouTubers. Not sure why - probably because discussing money is kind of taboo.
I sometimes get really odd sponsorship requests and I thought you guys might find it entertaining to see what's happening behind the scenes.
I briefly discussed sponsorships in the previous post but one reason why I've decided to put a hold on doing sponsored videos is that many sponsorships are predatory, especially to smaller YouTubers.
Let's take Hostinger's deal as an example.
Their marketing person contacted me in September about doing a rather complex video with super unrealistic deadlines.
We went back and forth before settling on the video about their website builder. The offer was some cash along with a bunch of credit for their platform, including any costs related to the video.
You already know where this is going - they rejected my invoice and didn't credit me anything. To date, I still haven't received any credits. They kept dodging me and claiming my invoice was invalid. It was a dumpster fire:
I know that I'm kind of "outing" them right now but, you guys are my Patrons and I feel like you guys & I have a more special relationship than I do with my followers on Twitter.
So Hostinger eventually paid the invoice and I published the video. They never did credit me on their services but I never paid them for anything either.
Anyway, you get the idea - sponsorships can be super sketchy. Check out some of these sponsorship requests:
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Linode, on the other hand, has been a phenomenal sponsor. They don't really ask for much and they always follow through without needing me to message them. Linode is just really great to work with.
Like I said in the previous post, I don't plan to do any more sponsorships in the near future. I even turned Linode down in January because I just want to focus on Distro Delves and I can't reasonably shoe-horn in footage of Linode without it looking really disingenuous.
I care about my reputation & making sure you guys enjoy my content without feeling like I'm trying to sell you something.
I hope you enjoy this somewhat candid post!
Comments
Egee
I followed through with the Hostinger video because I told them I would. I definitely don't plan to do any more with them haha. And you are right - the Linode guys are real cool
hack13
I have met some Linode employees at RedHat Summit and SouthEast Linux Fest before. They seem like really awesome guys. I was kinda worried when you did the Hostingr ad because they did seem a little odd to me and reviews of them online haven't looked the best. However, I don't think it's bad to have sponsorships. I have to say though, I don't mind sponsorships. Just as long as some investigation is done, I know that no one is perfect, and I appreciate the honesty.
Egee
Honestly, they are just cold calling. And they are doing it because it works. Lots of people have this idea that you can make tons of money on YouTube and are happy to accept any sponsorship that lands in their email.
ihazdarkness
It's interesting to see what you, as a content creator, sees regarding sponsorships. I've often wondered why some creators have oddly placed, and often seeming, irrelevant sponsorships. I had a chuckle at the though of a jewelry sponsorship in the middle of a Distro Delve lol.
