Natural Sponsored Video Disclosure Script Examples

A natural sponsored-video disclosure says the relationship plainly, identifies the sponsor when needed, and appears where viewers will notice it before or as the endorsement begins. Examples can help with delivery, but no script is a universal safe harbor. Placement, format, audience, platform, and jurisdiction still matter.

Use direct language for paid sponsorships

For a video centered on a paid brand relationship, simple language is usually easier to understand than marketing shorthand.

Examples:

• “This video is sponsored by Northstar.”
• “Northstar paid me to create this video.”
• “Paid partnership with Northstar.”
• “Before we start, this is an ad for Northstar.”

Put the disclosure before or at the beginning of the endorsement, not after viewers have already heard the recommendation. The FTC's Endorsement Guides Q&A says disclosures should be hard to miss and notes that the effectiveness of platform tools depends on context.

The FTC does not mandate one exact phrase. “Partner” by itself can be ambiguous; the sponsor and paid nature should be understandable to ordinary viewers.

Match the words to the actual connection

Do not call a paid sponsorship merely “gifted.” Use language that accurately describes what you received.

Free product only:

• “Glow Labs gave me this product for free to try.”
• “Gifted by Glow Labs.”

Affiliate commission:

• “I earn a commission if you buy through my link.”
• “This is an affiliate link, so I may earn from qualifying purchases.”

Sponsored trip or event:

• “Harbor Hotel paid for this stay and sponsored today's video.”
• “My travel and event access were provided by Harbor Hotel.”

Employment or ownership:

• “I work for Northstar, the company that makes this product.”
• “I am an investor in Northstar.”

FTC Disclosures 101 describes financial, employment, personal, family, and free-product relationships as possible material connections. Whether a particular connection needs disclosure is contextual.

Adapt the disclosure to the video structure

For a brief vertical video, integrate the disclosure into the opening sentence and add readable on-screen text. For a long video with a sponsored segment, place it immediately before or at the start of that segment. For live content, repeat clear disclosure periodically because viewers join at different times; there is no universal minute interval.

For example:

“Quick pause before the tutorial: this section is sponsored by Northstar, which paid me to demonstrate its editing tool.”

For a gifted-product review:

“Glow Labs sent me this serum for free. They did not tell me what to say, and these are my own views.”

The second sentence does not replace the first. Honest-opinion language cannot substitute for disclosing the material connection.

The competitor-logo decision guide shows how surrounding visuals can change what an ad communicates. Disclosure should be reviewed in the complete cut too.

Check audio, visual treatment, and placement

Match the disclosure mode to the endorsement. The FTC says that when an endorsement is made visually, the disclosure should be at least visual; when it is made audibly, the disclosure should be at least audible; and when it is made through both visual and audible means, the disclosure should be both visual and audible. This is a format-specific rule, not a claim that every video universally requires both modes.

Check that on-screen text:

• Uses a readable size and contrast
• Remains visible long enough to read
• Is not covered by platform interface elements
• Appears with the endorsement
• Survives crops and cutdowns
• Uses the same language as the endorsement audience

Do not bury the disclosure in a long caption, comments, profile, or hashtag block. A platform's paid-partnership label can be useful, but the FTC says it is not automatically sufficient by itself.

Avoid scripts that hide the relationship

Phrases such as “thanks to the team,” “collab,” “ambassador,” “partner,” or “I got to try” can leave viewers unsure whether money, free product, or another benefit was involved.

Rewrite for clarity:

| Ambiguous | Clearer | |---|---| | “Thanks Northstar!” | “Northstar sponsored this video.” | | “In partnership with Northstar” | “Paid partnership with Northstar.” | | “They sent this over” | “Northstar gave me this product for free.” | | “Use my code” | “I earn a commission when you use my code.” |

A true statement can still be incomplete if it hides the information viewers need to evaluate the endorsement.

Review every cut independently

A disclosure in the master may disappear from a shorter hook, Story segment, silent version, or brand-owned ad. Check each file, caption, and placement.

Use the first-try approval guide for the full self-review, and read what to do if a brand asks you to skip disclosure if a stakeholder pressures you to weaken it.

U.S. FTC guidance is not a worldwide rulebook. Recheck the laws, regulator guidance, and platform terms that apply to the campaign and audience.