What is a brand deal?

In short: A paid agreement where a company pays you to feature its product in your content.

Brand deals (sponsorships) are often the biggest income source for short-form creators, well ahead of platform payouts. A deal can be a flat fee, a fee per video, free product, an affiliate commission, or a mix.

Most platforms require you to label paid content, for example with TikTok's content disclosure setting or YouTube's paid promotion checkbox. Agree in writing on deliverables, usage rights and payment dates before you post.

Example

Say a brand offers $600 for one TikTok, and your last ten videos average 40,000 views (hypothetical numbers). Modash's published TikTok range of $7 to $25 per 1,000 views gives $280 to $1,000, so $600 sits in the middle. Before you accept, ask whether they can run your video as an ad, for how long, and whether there is exclusivity. Those aren't part of the range and are worth charging extra for. When you post, turn on TikTok's content disclosure setting.

Tips for creators

• Put deliverables in writing: format, length, platforms, posting date, how long the post stays up, review rounds, and whether the brand can reuse your video in ads.
• Say the sponsorship out loud near the start as well as using the platform label. Viewers should know it's paid before the pitch, not at the end.
• Report results with the dates they cover, such as views, clicks and sign-ups. Don't present estimates as guaranteed, and flag anything unusual, like a post held back by the platform.

Common questions

How do I mark a video as sponsored on YouTube?

When you upload in YouTube Studio, open Show more and, under Paid promotion, choose that your video includes branded content. For an existing video, open it under Content and tick the branded content checkbox. YouTube then shows a disclosure label at the start of the video.

How should I price a brand deal?

Start from your recent average views, not your follower count. Multiply them by a per-1,000-view range for your platform, then charge extra for things outside a single post, such as letting the brand run your video as an ad, exclusivity or extra revision rounds. Our sponsorship rate calculator does the first step with published ranges.

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