At CNET, we don’t charge a subscription fee. All of our excellent, independent journalism is available free of charge for everyone. We pursue a variety of revenue sources to support our work, including selling space on our site to advertisers, licensing our content to partners and more.
We adhere to the strict standards of editorial integrity that have earned your trust throughout our 35-year history. In the spirit of transparency, here’s a guide to how we identify sources of revenue related to our content.
Key principles
CNET writers and editors follow a few core tenets that guide how we label our work. These are non-negotiable and spelled out below.
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- Independence: Editorial coverage, including stories, videos, product reviews, recommendations, and advice, is determined solely by our editorial organization for the benefit of the audience, without any advertising, marketing, or other business considerations.
- Transparency: Disclosures are always clear, conspicuous, and unambiguous to ensure that our audience understands when content is paid for by an advertiser, when independent content is made possible by an advertiser or when CNET earns a commission.
- Clear distinction: We maintain a clear boundary between independent editorial content and paid and/or branded content. When independent editorial content is made possible by a partner, we tell you.
Revenue sources and disclosures
The list below covers revenue sources disclosed on our site and platforms using specific language.
Affiliate links
CNET prides itself on independent, expert reviews and recommendations. Our writers and editors use their years of experience, along with lab-based testing, to recommend the best products and services available to our audience, along with the best deals on those products. We may earn a commission when you buy a product or service through a link on our platforms (e.g., in product reviews, “best lists,” or writing about deals).
Disclosure: We include a prominent disclosure before or in sight of the first link. Standard disclosure language includes: “If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.”
‘Made Possible By’
CNET creates content using an organic process of ideation, collaboration and response to tech industry trends. Partners and advertisers can choose to support editorial production within a category or package in order to increase the breadth and depth of CNET’s independent, human-authored journalism.
In these cases, partners and advertisers do not have editorial control or pre-publishing approval, nor can they mandate inclusion of specific products or information not already chosen or planned by the editorial team. At no point do advertisers view this content before it is published. Advertisers or partners may provide support to broad topics, specific categories of coverage, or story types.
Disclosure: If a brand chooses to support our content on our site or on social media, we include a clear, visible disclosure near the content or pieces of content in a category with language explaining that the content was made possible by a partner.
Sponsored best list and gift guide placements, aka Featured Deals
Some sponsors would like their product or service to be included in our best lists and gift guides, which gather our editors’ expert recommendations into lists. If the sponsor’s product is already independently recommended by our journalists, sponsors may pay a fee to be featured higher in that list or in a more visible spot. Such cases will be clearly labeled with a disclosure.
If the sponsor’s product is not already recommended by our journalists but aligns with our standards, sponsored placements sold by business teams appear outside the list itself on the same page. These are clearly labeled with a disclosure to prevent implication of editorial endorsement.
Disclosure: These entries are clearly marked as “sponsored” or “featured deal,” and a “What is This?” icon displays our editorial ethics disclaimer and links to this page.
Partner offers
CNET rigorously evaluates which deals bring the most value to our readers. Sometimes an advertiser will pay to have a deal considered by the editorial team. Our team vets these deals and chooses to write about them only if they meet our standards for a good value. Writers and editors evaluating these deals do not know that partners have submitted deals through this program.
Disclosure: These articles are marked “Partner Offer” and include an on-page disclosure: “An advertiser paid for editorial consideration of this deal. Our editorial experts vetted the deal based on our independent expertise. Because we determined that the deal will save money for our readers, we wrote the content.”
Paid content (branded content, custom content, native advertising)
Brand X, CNET Group’s in-house paid content studio, creates work on behalf of advertisers. It publishes content that is informed by the brand or advertiser and delivered in a tone that aligns with CNET Group brands and audience interests. Advertisers pay a premium for creative control over production, product inclusion, point of view, visual design and final prepublishing approval.
Disclosure: We clearly label any paid content using FTC-compliant terms, including “Advertisement,” “Ad Content,” “Sponsored Ad,” or “Special Advertising Content from [Brand].” The standard on-page disclosure is: “This is ad content, written and produced by CNET BrandX in collaboration with the sponsor. If you buy a product featured here, we may earn a commission.” We always include a Brand X byline.
