Guide · Finance & crypto · Health · Self-improvement
A creator recommends a product, a course or a platform. Are they being paid for it? Here is how to find out — quickly and reliably.
An unpaid recommendation and a sponsored recommendation can look identical on screen. The difference: in the second case, the creator has a direct financial interest in you buying, signing up or clicking. That does not automatically make the recommendation bad — but it is a useful piece of information when deciding how much to trust an opinion.
Creators who build large audiences regularly receive partnership offers. In the most commercial niches — personal finance, crypto, health and wellness, product reviews, online courses — nearly every popular video has at least one paid element.
This is the most visible form. The creator announces at the start or end of the video: "This video is sponsored by [brand]" or "This content was made in partnership with [brand]." The description often includes a tag like #ad, #sponsored or #partnership.
In most countries (EU, UK, US), the law requires disclosure of commercial partnerships. A declaration buried at the bottom of the description, in small text, in a collapsed "show more" block, is still legally valid — even if few viewers read it.
An affiliate link earns the creator a commission on every purchase made through it. The commission comes from the platform (Amazon, a broker, an app), not from the buyer — the price you pay is the same. Common forms:
| Link type | How to recognise it |
|---|---|
| Amazon affiliate | URL containing tag= or an identifier like channelname-20 |
| Shortened link | bit.ly/…, amzn.to/…, go.something.com/… — the destination is hidden |
| Referral link | "Sign up through my link" for a broker, app or SaaS platform |
| UTM-tracked link | URL containing utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=…&utm_campaign=… |
"Use code CHANNEL for 10% off" or "Save 20% with code NAME." A promo code is the standard mechanism for tracking sales from a specific creator, usually paired with a commission on each use. The discount is real, but it signals that the creator earns a cut.
A paid course, membership, premium newsletter, app, book or coaching offer from the creator themselves. This is not technically an "external sponsor", but it is a direct financial interest — sometimes larger than a partnership, since the creator keeps 100% of the sale.
tag= is a strong signal.On YouTube, click the three-dot menu below the video, then "Show transcript". Then search for:
This method is thorough but takes 10 to 20 minutes per video.
Unsaid reads the description and transcript automatically and gives you exact counts: affiliate links detected, declared sponsors, promo codes, creator products.
Add to Chrome — freeUnsaid is a browser extension (Chrome and Firefox) that analyses the YouTube video you are watching in one click. Its financial interest detection rules are deterministic — no AI guesswork, exact numbers extracted from the description and transcript:
All of this is shown in a panel directly on the YouTube page, without switching browser or opening another tab.
A creator can be paid without it being automatically detectable: off-platform payment, verbal agreement, gifted product without disclosure. Automatic detection covers visible signals — it does not prove the absence of a partnership if no signal is found.
Conversely, a shortened link or a UTM link is not necessarily affiliated: some creators use them only for their own analytics. Reading the description yourself is still useful context.
No. The law requires it in the EU, UK and US, but enforcement is uneven. Some creators omit the disclosure or bury it at the bottom of a long description. Affiliate links are not always explicitly labelled as such, even though they technically should be.
Not necessarily. Many credible creators accept partnerships that align with their values and maintain editorial independence. The disclosure is information, not a verdict.
Yes. Unsaid analyses videos in both English and French. Financial interest detection works the same way in both languages.
Free plan: 3 analyses per week, no credit card required. Pro: $4.99/month or $39/year, unlimited analyses.