That's what I do, I think I provide a great product/service but also still want to get the word out.

A marketing agency who will sell a bag of shit as long as they get paid is definitely a net negative.

Overall reddit has been going down hill for a decade at this point and it only makes sense that it will/has been captured by companies trying to profit off it.

Do you have any pointers for learning more about this space? I've personally been pretty skeptical of sponsored products on YouTube, though I find myself getting tempted to / actually trying them out anyway, but haven't thought too hard about small Redditors or Tiktokers getting paid to shill products.

Curious what companies do this / how companies are going about conducting these unpublicized marketing campaigns?

The top comment on that clip scores home that point. While there's no way to verify that, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a lot more than we realize. That being said and to play devils advocate - if all of them are already astroturfed with some people discovering that, then how much do most people care about it?