Rather than purchasing banner ads or television spots, gun manufacturers and retailers embed themselves directly into the content itself, sponsoring guntubers who showcase, test, and enthusiastically endorse their products, with a successful channel pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year through a mix of ad revenue and direct industry sponsorships. This influencer marketing model allows the industry to sidestep the advertising restrictions that apply to traditional media: Major broadcasters, including ABC and CBS, do not accept firearms advertisements, and Google, Meta, and YouTube itself all prohibit paid gun ads, which in turn pushes manufacturers to sponsorships as a primary marketing outlet. According to estimates by Oregon State University marketing researchers, social media influencers drove between 1 and 1.5 million firearm sales in 2025 alone, worth up to $825 million in retail revenue. This figure is especially notable for an industry that spends less than one percent of its revenue on conventional advertising.