let’s say you go to a movie theatre, they sell food in the concessions on the way in. is that an ad? or are they just selling shit and also you’re gonna go watch a movie. maybe you want popcorn. maybe you want a mug.
if they were to play an ad roll for all the merch before the video, sure, that’s an ad. but that’s not happening, op just went to a users youtube page and saw that there is a section for the users merch.