In realist or pseudo-realist genres, brand is a symbol of time and place and class. Many authors choose to dance around it or invent fictional brands because d

In realist or pseudo-realist genres, brand is a symbol of time and place and class. Many authors choose to dance around it or invent fictional brands because doing so can make a work timeless, but many authors and audiences are specifically interested in fixing a work into a place or time. Others just don’t see a reason to bother with all the dancing around. There’s almost no market/value established for advertising brands in a novel in general, and there’s vanishingly small value in doing so for a ubiquitous brand like YouTube. In your example, it’s definitely not sponsored. It’s just a stylistic choice.