A warning for brands: Be careful when 'clipping'

• Brands need to be careful when "clipping."
• Viral short-form clips are the latest content marketing tool.
• There's an FTC-shaped question looming overhead, though.

Hey, brands, let's get one thing out of the way before you go all in on "clipping."

If it's an ad, it needs a disclosure.

Clipping, where creators edit longer videos (like podcasts or livestreams) into short-form snippets and flood social media platforms, has become the marketing hack du jour.

The music industry has already tapped in — splicing up content from concert performances (like Coachella), interviews, or music videos to promote artists and their records.

It's grown into a cottage industry in the creator economy, too, with clippers raking in hundreds to thousands of dollars per campaign promoting podcasters and livestreamers.

All those viral podcast clips aren't likely to — and haven't — prompted a Federal Trade Commission crackdown, legal experts said. Brands, however, face higher risks.

Promoting media or "expressive works" is a different ballgame than promoting "commercial messages" with the intent to ultimately sell something, said Amanda Schreyer, a lawyer who works closely with brands.

Some brands, like AI companies, are already running clipping campaigns promoting the content created on their platforms. Other brands want to see their logos in clips. And it's not hard to imagine a brand seeking out clippers to promote videos featuring its products.

While the rules are clear that clipped ads need disclosures, the FTC hasn't started cracking down yet on rule-breakers.

It's a matter of "when and not if" the FTC starts enforcing clipping disclosures, attorney Philip Racusin said.

"Fundamentally, what is it when you are putting up a clip?" Racusin added. "It's actually an advertisement. It's an endorsement."

The FTC started cracking down on undisclosed social media advertisements nearly a decade ago, and since then, influencers (as well as brands and social media platforms) have gotten accustomed to including the infamous #ad or other obvious indications that the content in front of you is a paid endorsement.

If anyone, including influencers, is signing up for a paid clipping campaign for a brand, there's a "necessity to disclose to the public," Schreyer said.

Will the FTC take action against clipping?

"There's potential exposure, in terms of risk, of contravening FTC guidelines and potentially having the FTC take a look at these practices or investigate a clipping operation or whoever's paying for it," said Robert Freund, a lawyer who specializes in the creator economy and e-commerce.

However, the FTC has not given much public indication that it cares about this form of advertising — yet.

"Right now, the stakes are not that high," Freund said. "There have been no enforcement actions about it."

Regardless, three lawyers who spoke with Business Insider said that anyone getting into the business of clipping should take the FTC's previous crackdowns on deceptive advertising seriously and be proactive.

"The FTC not doing anything about it to date is not any sort of indication that they won't do so in the future," Freund said.

Brands are boarding the clipping train

Marketers are already getting in on the trend.

There's a growing crop of clipping agencies that brands are turning to, while others (as well as podcasters or creators themselves) are managing clipping campaigns on platforms like Discord or Whop.

Clipping agency Clip Tech's cofounder, Max Peterson, said that brands like Sony, Fox, and the NFL are tapping into the format. Peterson added that his agency has a network of 45,000 clippers and that brands are paying those creators rates up to $5 per 1,000 views.

Higgsfield AI, for instance, listed a recent campaign on Clipping.net and is offering $100 per every 100,000 views.

Brands like Higgsfield are already considering FTC compliance.

"Our creator agreements require creators to abide by FTC influencer disclosure rules and any similar social platform-specific rules," said Matt Stratton, Higgsfield's general counsel.