[FAQ]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been noticing that small, semi-transparent logo or image in the bottom-right corner of a lot of YouTube videos. I know it’s the “branding watermark” feature in YouTube Studio.

I’m wondering if adding one to my own videos is still considered a good practice in 2025. What are the actual benefits of having it? Is it mainly for branding and getting more subscribers, or does it also help prevent people from re-uploading or stealing your videos? Are there any downsides I should be aware of?

Thanks for any thoughts on this!

[Jeff Bullas]

Using the built-in “Branding watermark” feature on YouTube is generally a recommended practice, though it is important to understand its primary function and its limitations.

First, it is crucial to clarify what this feature is. It is not a traditional watermark that is permanently burned into your video file. Instead, it is a small, customisable image that YouTube overlays in the bottom-right corner of the video player, primarily when viewed on a desktop computer.

The single most significant benefit of this feature is that when a viewer on a desktop hovers their mouse over the watermark image, it expands to show a clickable “Subscribe” button. This provides a persistent and convenient opportunity for viewers to subscribe to your channel directly from within the video player itself, without having to navigate away from what they are watching. This can help to increase your subscriber conversion rate.

Second, it does contribute to consistent channel branding. Using your channel logo or another recognisable icon helps to reinforce your brand’s identity across all of your videos.

Third, regarding content protection, the branding watermark offers very minimal defence against video theft. Because it is an overlay added by YouTube and does not always appear on all devices or in all viewing contexts (its functionality is most prominent on desktop), it is not a robust anti-piracy tool. Someone could easily screen-record your video, and the watermark might not be visible or could be cropped out. Its main purpose is not content protection.

There are very few downsides to using it. The main consideration is to ensure the image you use for the watermark is simple, not visually distracting, and does not obscure any important on-screen information that might appear in the bottom-right corner of your videos.

You can set this feature up in YouTube Studio, under the “Customisation” tab, and then “Branding.” YouTube gives you the option to have it display for the entire video, only at the end, or at a custom start time. Setting it to display for the “Entire video” is generally the most effective choice to maximise its utility as a subscribe button.

In summary, the key benefit of the YouTube branding watermark is that it acts as an ever-present subscribe button for your desktop viewers. It is a simple and recommended feature to enable for channel branding and to potentially help grow your subscriber base.

Cheers,

Jeff

[Author]

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