> because almost all YouTube sponsors are scams
Anything advertising on youtube or podcasts is a negative indicator for me as these platforms have followed the path of talk radio in having a very high ratio of the products that advertise on them being dodgy if not outright scams.
I'm sure there are exceptions that are totally fine, but the pattern follows often enough that if I don't have a pre-existing relationship with a brand before seeing/hearing a youtube or podcast ad for it, it goes into the scam bucket in my head just through the negative advertising platform connection.
I saw something a while back about how to start a watch company. Essentially source some junk, use highly targeted social media ads to look like a real brand, then profit.
https://imgur.com/a/how-to-create-unique-successful-minimali...