Hi, no, this video is not sponsored by Nord VPN even though they offered to. We'll get into that anyway. if you haven't heard it happened like in lust. Well, the revelations came out in the last week that Nord V P.m.

one of the biggest VPNs out there was actually hacked and it actually happened a year and a half ago back in that March 2018 in a server in Finland and they didn't realize for about seven months that their server was hacked and the private keys were actually compromised. They didn't tell anyone about this at the time because they claimed now that they've had like over five, they've got over five thousand servers and they needed time to check them all and all sorts of stuff like that. And they've got a video here which I'll link in and we won't play the whole thing. I'll just play a little bit he trying to spin doctor that you know downplay what's going on here.

So I'm not sure who this poor schmuck II as they got to do this. they're trying to cover this up, but the big deal about this and why it's relevant to this channel. as I said I'm Nord VPN our one of the countless companies who contact influences like me groan, they contact us I get probably about half a dozen a week and I turn them all down as a matter of course. I've been getting these things since I started this gig almost a decade ago and I've turned down every single sponsorship.

So we talked briefly about the hack and then I'll show you are some examples of some of these promotions sponsorship deals that I actually I get and why I don't take them and where I make my money from but I've done a video where I make my money from before LinkedIn down below but we'll briefly go through it again. Let's go. So the big deal about this is that so many Youtubers have been shilling or promoting Nord VPN and other VPNs you'll see it integrated into videos and we'll go into what kind of things that these companies want but why it's a big deal and a lot of Youtubers are now having to come out and they're having to, you know, say oh, look if I cancel in their association with them or whatever. So what actually happen is they found a breach or a hack, a vulnerability in a third party data center server.

Because a company like Nord VPN they don't own data centers all around the world, Thousands of them they do. They can't do that, so they just rent server space, rent a rack of computers, which then they configure themselves to provide the VPN type services. So the hack happened in 2018. Apparently the private keys were stolen and those private keys expired like seven months later or something.

and only then did they realize that the server was hacked then. Since that time, they still hadn't told anyone until some White Hat hacker group sort of brought this to public light. It is exposed on a couple of major websites and they had to finally admit it. Try and downplay everything in this video, but it was.

It was potentially much worse. But I'll just play you this one little bit here because that it says a lot. Even though the intruder could not use this vulnerability to access user credentials, we took this incident extremely seriously. among other means.

We now encrypt the hard disk of each new server that we build and we're significantly improving the security of our infrastructure. And what can we now encrypt the drive of every single server we use so they didn't even encrypt their hard drives. This is supposed to be one of the world's biggest and best and most secure VPNs The server provider left a management tool on there, which then of course that's like leaving your keys in your front door and of course you can just get in and we won't go into the details cuz I'm not. You know, up on I'm not hip on all that sort of stuff.

But as I said is that when you get a big enough channel like mine, you just get flooded with these commercial and sponsorship opportunities. And here it is: Um, Nord VPN hi, I represent Nord VPN and they actually have their own employees that do this often as I'll show in a minute, you get contacted by a talent agency or some other marketing group that works for the company. But no, they actually have people who try and go out and find influences in Youtubers like myself to shell their products. So I don't know how much how many of those people they're got.

There must have a lot because you see like tons of youtubers are doing this and they get paid well and we'll get into how much I you might typically get paid. We're proud to have the best ratings blah blah well not anymore. Oh, they're just spamming me because they haven't said like hello Dave or hi Dave or something. They haven't personalized it and but they do specifically target influences of or youtubers with a certain channel size.

Would you be interested? No. What are your requirements for making a sponsored video? Do not hesitate, blah blah blah blah blah. Anyway, so I turned down Nord VPN Like I turned down every single other sponsorship opportunity. Let's take a look at some other offers you might recognize from other Youtubers that you are follow paid promotion Viking War of Clans My name is blah part of Hype Factory Agency team.

Here we go, let's look up Hype Factory. innovative influence, a marketing agency more than just a list of bloggers. Tim Wow Let's go down too well in hype we trust. Ah, give me a break when the rational meets the creative.

A hundred thousand creators they reckon they've got on the books. I've done a video on how many Youtubers there are with over a hundred thousand subscribers I Think it was like a hundred eighty thousand or something. was it YouTube's Big wank wank wank wank wank Marketing wake more marketing wake Anyway, the company who did this game. They hire companies like this to find influencers I Sure, they take a very pretty penny as well.

Then they often just link to other YouTube influencers. They often link in a brief: how much do you usually charge? We'll get into that I thereafter stats so you might have to send them. Copy your screenshots of your stats and your demographics and things like that, see what's audience you're reaching. So if we have a look at their brief welcome to Viking War of Plans blah blah blah integrate your video Essex pick one or mix them.

download the game before you start play it. Integration instructions, integration If you don't know is how you bake it in or integrate it into your video at the editing stage as opposed to pop up as you'll see on. YouTube Companies can advertise on my channel. They can specifically target my channel using the Google AdWords program.

They can target the pop-up ads, sidebar ads, and and even pre-roll ads if they're enabled and things like that and have no say over that. I think I know I can actually block certain companies if you know some religious company or something started advertising on my videos I Don't like that I'll block them a bit. Yeah, that's like playing Whack-a-mole So generally I don't as a creator I don't have a say of what ads pop up beside my channel. Really, unless somebody notifies me of something, I wouldn't know what's popping up beside my videos.

must start at least 45 seconds after the beginning of the video. cuz they know that there's a rolloff in people's attention spans in video, so they want to capture you in the first 45 seconds. That's part of the deal. then they want you and in-store tracking links and things like that so that they can get all this data back of where it's come from, how effective it is, and then put tracking cookies on your computer or whatever it is.

We strongly recommend that you, the influencer, appear on camera for some of the talking points. Be enthusiastic because we're paying you. Please be enthusiastic. Remember, it's contagious and would result in your viewers giving the game a chance and contributing to a successful campaign.

Well, we wouldn't want an unsuccessful campaign now will we use the video. Original sound and music. Important to mention this exact phrase at the every end of every integration. Help support my channel.

Help support my channel by downloading Bla bla bla bla bla because I am so excited about this and you can get free credits down below And I Really like this game and I play it a lot thank you Anyway, They even tell you like what sort of text to put into your video and things like that anyway. so that's typical of a and integrated a sponsored integrated spot so that was a fairly old one. Here's a new one from Hype Factory. They just keep spamming me no matter, you know, like you can tell them to go away and they just won't take you off the books like pay promotion for a shadow war of shadow legends or some rubbish I don't know and then they link in.

You know it's like I look Phil DeFranco he's promoting them. Wow, I could be just like Phil Edie I can be a huge Youtuber if I only take the money to promote this ridiculous game or so. Yeah, they'll often show our other influences and stuff like that and link to them to try and get you in. and then if you do specific types of videos which in my case I've done a few on like hard with bitter crypto hardware wallets.

For example, I'm now a crypto influencer and I get targeted a lot by these crypto companies who want me in. In this case, it's a Fin affiliate program. It's not just a paid program. Sometimes I'll they'll pay you as well as offering an affiliate program.

you know I can earn 50% of the trading commissions if I promote this hardware wallet and things like that. Yeah, no thanks. I Also turned down all those affiliate opportunities as well because I'll get them from PCB companies for example: I promote our PCB service and we'll give you a cut. I'll give you a link and you can get like a 50% cut or whatever.

In all PCBs manufacturing and things like that. the only affiliate stuff that I do is my own affiliate program say on my website here where I've got Aliexpress affiliate program by the way. So if you buy anything through the link on my website on my forum for Aliexpress and I will get a cut of that in So I'm not promoting any particular product or anything like that I'm simply just anything you buy on Aliexpress So they're the only affiliate programs that I do that and Amazon as well. Now a lot of these promotions are very on target.

They will specifically Target out of my channel because they've got a product which would really appeal to my audience. this one for example, I've never heard of them, but they've got you know, learning project box or something, hands-on electronics projects, online courses and and stuff like that. and they want to know if I want to do like a promotional thing or maybe they might even be an affiliate thing. I'm not sure but anyway, um no it's the same thing I don't do pay promotions at all so I simply turn them down as well targeted as they are and I showed this one on Twitter following me on Twitter Forget to get stuff like this I Just I post these things all the time Titan This was their third email from Open Influencer Calm, another company paid by a big big energy company because obviously the company they won't name them but obviously they're in.

You can read it here. They're in trouble for some reason. They need influences to help promote and improve their public image for some reason. so you might be able to guess the company if you're in the US and deliverables one.

YouTube video that should not be should be shared on YouTube Instagram and Twitter. The program will include travel to the headquarters in mid-november to early December. So often in this case they want you to actually they'll pay. In this case, they probably would have paid for me their fly to the US wherever it is and put me up in a hotel and and film stuff on location.

but then they want the rights to use my image and my words in any way they seem fit. and oh, I can I can blog it as well but to use an influence up like me as a figurehead to try and you know, convince people that they're not a bad company. So yeah, please, let us know if you have work with the following competitors in the past: Shell BP Exxon and Valero Well, everyone knows that I'm paid for by big battery. so yeah, I don't think they'd give me the gig anyway.

but thanks for asking spamming me. So as I said, I've never ever taken a sponsorship opportunity like this. Why? Well, because it's actually good money, which we'll get into. Why? Well the reason is is that I don't need to I don't need to do this to make a living.

and I've done a video on how much money I make on a YouTube that is and where my income sources come from. And of course I do accept ads on my website, all these ads you see on my website and my forum for example all these ones except for this one which is an affiliate one. All these ones are paid for directly by the companies because they want to reach my audience and I think that's quite fair and reasonable. and really nobody has any problem with this.

But a lot of people do have problems with video integration and I don't like the fact that a lot of my video is evergreen content, which means it's there. You know it's useful in there forever. and if you baking or integrate and add into that video, it stays there forever. And I really don't like that even if you get paid handsomely for it.

So maybe for my advertisers pulled out of my website. So for example, in my forums and my I wasn't people stopped buying my products on the store and things like that then to stay alive to feed my kids I might have to take some of these sponsorship opportunities and that's why I blame Youtubers for taking these because that that's really their only main source of income. But from day one, I've diversified my income sources so that means I've never had to take these opportunities short you see and I think I probably mentioned in this video as well. You see me review test gear and stuff like that.

Yes, some of the companies do send me this test gear for free and yes they do let me keep it often, but often they're just on permanent loan and the reason I keep that stuff is so that I can do comparison reviews with other products you know, in the shoot outs and then things like that or use them in a particular might need a particular bit of kit for a particular video a couple of years down the track or something like that. But getting free gear while it's nice it's it doesn't put food on the table. So how much do these creators get paid to do these in video sponsorships and things like that? Well, it you can probably guess it varies greatly depending on who you are, the size of your audience, the reach the target of the product. So something like a VPN for example that has broad appeal to almost everyone watching things like that, but say, an oscilloscope manufacturer whom a Teske manufacturer who might come to me and they often do and say, hey, would you would you do a sponsored video Can we pay to actually feature in one of your videos The answer is no, of course, but they're specifically targeting me and my particular audience.

And generally speaking, you will charge. As a creator, you will charge more for that to a targeted product than you would to say a VPN. But you know you might have a fixed rate for exam, and generally for something a channel of my size. for example, you might get fifty to a hundred thousand views per video.

You typically might charge upwards of $50 to $100 per CPM or per thousand views for example. Basically, you wouldn't do it. You wouldn't get out of bed for under five thousand dollars. Seriously, that's for one video.

So yeah, a lot of your small creators out there are people thinking about becoming creators. For example, that's a crap ton of money, right? Five thousand dollars for one video, so you can see why they do it if you've got, or if you've got a targeted thing. For example, like an oscilloscope manufacturer wants to come in and specifically you to feature their oscilloscope and do demos with it and do projects with it. And stuff like that, you'd be looking at five digits.

You've been looking at upwards of $10,000 If you're doing it for a couple hundred bucks, you're You've even got a really small channel or you're selling yourself really short because these companies have a ton of money. and someone like Nord VPN for example has spent millions and millions of dollars to creators to arguably more than they spend on their security. That's for sure to pay to promote their products and services. There's a ton of money out there.

So generally speaking, like five grand is like a bit of a minimum benchmark. If these companies are approaching you, they already know that your channels large enough that they're interested in fire greatness? Nothing. So yes, whilst that is good money, it's not something that I have to take. and I just like value my credibility for example, because even though these these companies on my website, let's take Keysight for example.

they send me scopes and gear for free and something like that they pay to advertise on my website and my forum you'll see there and banner at the top. Even companies that pay to advertise on my website. I have exposed their products when they do something wrong. like their original.

This goes way back to like the when I was in the garage on the launch day. the oscilloscope blows up the magic smoke and I sat there. I can remember I sat there for a second going. geez, this is not a good look for him is it? you know should I actually show this scope blowing up and thought for a second Owen it's hilarious.

Yeah, I'm gonna show it like that's just my attitude. As I said, don't blame these Youtubers for taking these sponsorship opportunities because it's the only way that they can stay afloat and do this as a full-time living generates their own pretty much one of their only income sources apart from merch and donations via Patreon or subscribe star or something like that. so they wouldn't be able to do it and create that content that you like without taking these sponsorship deals. So even products that I really love and use personally I still wouldn't accept a paid sponsorship spot inside a video? It's just something that I just blanket rule.

turn them all down. doesn't matter I'm sure there's a number offer me $1,000,000 for a one-off paid paid promotional video. I'll probably do it. So anyway, there you go I hope you found that interesting insight into our sponsorships and things like that.

There you go. So let us know in the comments down below what you think about these paid sponsorship opportunities with your favorite creator. Have you stopped watching them because they decided to suddenly start shilling for companies and things like that? Or do you have no problem with it down? The comments catch you next. Oh yeah, give it a thumbs up and all that cuz I need engagement because well I don't take any sponsorship opportunities.

So I Really, you know I need to get my views up. And if you want to know how much I make on YouTube I don't thing has changed, hasn't changed things I did this video yeah 2016 Wow Yeah Three years ago that my income really hasn't changed from them, it's been pretty stagnant because I'm not a big influencer I Guess catch you next time.