# Sponsor a Creator > Sponsor a Creator is an independent site that helps brands pay creators to feature their product. Free, unsponsored guides on rates, contracts, and disclosure, plus a managed service that runs the deal. Sponsor a Creator publishes free, sourced guides for brands on paying creators (YouTubers, TikTokers, Instagram creators, podcasters, newsletter writers, and streamers) to feature a product: pricing, finding and vetting creators, briefs, contracts, FTC and international disclosure rules, measurement, and plans by channel and type of business. It also runs sponsorships for brands as a managed service. Each guide below has a Markdown copy; the HTML page is the canonical URL. Independence: Sponsor a Creator is independent. It is not owned by, funded by, or affiliated with any social platform, creator marketplace, agency, or software company it writes about. No guide is sponsored, no company pays to be mentioned or ranked, and there are no affiliate links. All research is unpaid and done in-house, and every guide is fact-checked against primary sources. The only service these pages promote is our own, and we label it wherever it appears. ## Start here - [How to sponsor a creator: a step-by-step guide for brands](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/how-to-sponsor-a-creator.md): To sponsor a creator, set one goal and a budget, pick the channel your buyers use, then find creators and vet their audience location, age, engagement, comments, and past sponsors. Reach out, send a brief, agree on price and rights in a written contract, require clear disclosure, review the draft, then measure results before deciding to rebook. - [How much does it cost to sponsor a creator?](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/creator-sponsorship-cost.md): Sponsoring a creator costs from under $100 for a small creator's post to $50,000 or more for a top YouTuber. Most deals are priced per deliverable or per 1,000 views. Influencer Marketing Hub says YouTube sponsorships frequently cost $15 to $30 per 1,000 views in 2026, and Libsyn Ads lists podcast host reads at $18 to $26 per 1,000 downloads. - [The best ways to advertise a brand, compared](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/best-ways-to-advertise-your-brand.md): The best way to advertise a brand is the channel where your buyers already look, at a cost you can measure. For most small businesses that means email to your own list, a free Google Business Profile, and search ads first, then creator sponsorships to reach new people. Large brands add connected TV, out-of-home, and creator programs at scale. - [Best creator sponsorship platforms in 2026, compared](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/best-creator-sponsorship-platforms.md): The best creator sponsorship platform depends on budget and how much work you want to do yourself. Platform-run tools like YouTube Creator Partnerships, TikTok One, and Meta Creator Marketing Hub suit brands that already buy ads there. Self-serve marketplaces suit small first deals. Influencer software suits brands managing dozens of creators. Managed services suit brands with budget but no time. - [Micro vs. macro creators: which should you sponsor?](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/micro-vs-macro-creators.md): Micro creators, usually defined as 10,000 to 100,000 followers, cost less per post and tend to have higher engagement than larger accounts. Macro creators, usually 100,000 or 500,000 to 1 million followers depending on the source, deliver more reach per deal with less coordination. Most brands new to creators should start with several micro creators and move up once they know what sells. ## Running the deal - [How to find creators to sponsor, and how to vet them](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/how-to-find-creators.md): To find creators to sponsor, start with people who already use or follow your brand, then search each platform directly, look at who sponsors creators in nearby niches, and use marketplaces or discovery databases when you need volume. Before you pay anyone, vet each creator with their own analytics screenshots, a read of their comments, a review of past content and sponsors, and a check of how they disclose ads. - [How to reach out to a creator, with 4 email templates](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/how-to-pitch-a-creator.md): To pitch a creator, email the business address on their channel or profile rather than sending a DM. In under 150 words, say who you are, why you picked them, what you want made, when it should go live, and what you will pay. Follow up once after about a week. Creators skip vague messages, unpaid asks, and emails that never mention money. - [How to write a creator brief, with a free template](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/creator-sponsorship-brief.md): A creator brief is a one- or two-page document that tells a creator what to make for a sponsorship. It covers the goal, the audience, the product, three to five talking points, mandatory items such as disclosure, links, and claims to avoid, the deliverables and dates, and how review works. Give the creator talking points, not a script, and leave the delivery to them. - [What to put in a creator sponsorship contract](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/creator-sponsorship-contract.md): A creator sponsorship contract should name the parties, list each deliverable with specs and dates, cap revision rounds, set approval rights, and fix the fee, schedule, and payment method. It should also cover usage rights, exclusivity, paid amplification, disclosure duties, a conduct clause, cancellation and kill fees, how long posts stay up, footage ownership, metric reporting, and confidentiality. - [Sponsored content disclosure rules: FTC, UK, and EU](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/sponsored-content-disclosure-rules.md): Sponsored content must carry a clear label that viewers see before they engage with it. In the US, the FTC's Endorsement Guides require disclosure of any material connection, including free products and affiliate commissions, and brands share the liability. The UK's ASA and CMA expect an upfront 'Ad' label. EU law bans paid content that hides its commercial intent. - [Usage rights, whitelisting, and Spark Ads explained](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/usage-rights-and-whitelisting.md): Usage rights let a brand reuse a creator's content on its own channels for a set time. Whitelisting lets the brand run that content as ads from the creator's own handle. Meta calls this partnership ads, TikTok calls it Spark Ads, and Google Ads calls it creator partnerships boost for YouTube. Each needs written terms, platform permission from the creator, and a fee on top of the post. - [How to measure the ROI of a creator sponsorship](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/measure-sponsorship-roi.md): To measure the ROI of a creator sponsorship, give each creator a unique tracking link and promo code, ask buyers how they heard about you, and collect the creator's own analytics after the post. Then subtract the total cost from the gross profit the sponsorship produced, divide by the total cost, and multiply by 100 to get ROI as a percentage. - [Product seeding: when free product beats a paid deal](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/product-seeding.md): Product seeding means sending free product to creators with no obligation to post, in the hope that some share it because they like it. It costs product, packaging, shipping, and staff time, and many packages produce nothing. It works best for products people like to show off, sent to creators who already fit. Free product is still a material connection, so any resulting post needs a clear disclosure. ## By channel - [How to sponsor a YouTuber](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/youtube-sponsorships.md): To sponsor a YouTuber, pick a format, usually a paid segment inside a regular video, and price it from the creator's recent views. Find creators directly or through YouTube Creator Partnerships inside Google Ads. The creator must turn on YouTube's paid promotion setting, and you can later run the video as an ad through creator partnerships boost. - [How to sponsor a TikTok creator](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/tiktok-sponsorships.md): To sponsor a TikTok creator, pay for a native video the creator films in their own style, then run it as a Spark Ad using an authorization code from the creator. Brands can find, brief, and pay creators through TikTok One, which absorbed Creator Marketplace in 2025. The creator must switch on TikTok's commercial content disclosure setting, which adds a Paid partnership label. - [How to sponsor an Instagram creator](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/instagram-sponsorships.md): To sponsor an Instagram creator, buy a Reel for reach and a few Stories with a link sticker for clicks, priced from the creator's recent views. Find creators in Meta Creator Marketing Hub, which merged Instagram's creator marketplace with the Partnership Ads Hub in September 2026. The creator must tag you with the paid partnership label, and you can then run the post as a partnership ad. - [How to sponsor a podcast](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/podcast-sponsorships.md): To sponsor a podcast, pick shows whose listeners match your buyer, buy host-read mid-roll ads priced per thousand downloads, and track sales with a promo code and a vanity URL. Libsyn Ads' 2026 rate card lists 60-second baked-in host reads at $24 to $26 CPM and programmatic spots at $12 to $15. Buy direct from small shows and through networks or marketplaces for reach. - [How to sponsor a newsletter](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/newsletter-sponsorships.md): To sponsor a newsletter, buy a placement, usually the primary slot near the top of an issue, for a flat fee, a cost per click, or a CPM. Judge the newsletter by unique clicks rather than opens, because Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates. Paved suggests publishers start a primary slot at 2.5% to 5% of their subscriber count, or $250 to $500 for 10,000 subscribers. - [How to sponsor a Twitch streamer](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/twitch-sponsorships.md): To sponsor a Twitch streamer, book a package of live reads, an on-screen overlay, a channel panel, and a chat command, priced per stream or per hour. Judge streamers by average concurrent viewers rather than followers. Twitch requires creators to disclose paid content with its Branded Content tool, and since August 2026 brands can invite Affiliates as well as Partners to sponsorships. ## By type of business - [How restaurants can advertise with food creators](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/restaurants.md): Restaurants advertise with food creators by hiring local creators whose followers live within driving distance, either paying a fee or hosting a meal in exchange for a video. Tie every post to a trackable offer, like a code your point-of-sale system counts. A free or comped meal is still a material connection, so the creator must disclose it in the video. - [Creator marketing for clothing brands](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/clothing-brands.md): Clothing brands get the best results from creators by sending product to people whose style, size, and audience match the customer, then paying the ones whose content sells. Try-on hauls and styling videos sell fit better than polished photos. Track sales with codes and affiliate links, time posts to drops and seasons, and pay commission on sales that aren't returned. - [Creator marketing for local businesses](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/local-businesses.md): Local businesses like salons, gyms, dentists, contractors, and shops get results from creators whose followers live in the same city, confirmed with the creator's audience location data. Send viewers to a Google Business Profile or booking page, track calls and direction requests, and never trade free services for reviews, which Google bans and FTC rules restrict. - [Creator sponsorships for e-commerce brands](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/ecommerce-brands.md): E-commerce brands should run creator sponsorships as a performance channel. Pair modest flat fees with affiliate commission, run the best creator videos as paid ads with the creator's permission, send traffic to a page built for that video, and judge each deal on customer acquisition cost and payback period. Amazon and TikTok Shop sellers can also use those platforms' creator commission programs. - [How apps and software companies sponsor creators](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/apps-and-software.md): Apps and software companies get the best results from creators who use the product on camera: niche YouTubers doing integrations, TikTok creators filming quick demos, and newsletter writers for business tools. Give each creator a tracked link, a unique offer code, and a longer free trial than your default, then judge the deal on paid conversions and retention, not installs. - [Creator marketing for beauty and skincare brands](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/beauty-brands.md): Beauty brands get the most from creators who use the product on their own face, hair, or skin: tutorials, honest reviews, wear tests, and get-ready-with-me videos. Cast creators across the shades and skin types you sell, seed products before paying anyone, ban filters on product areas, and keep claims to what you can prove. A claim to change skin structure makes a cosmetic a drug. - [Creator marketing for fitness and wellness brands](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/fitness-brands.md): Fitness and wellness brands should sponsor creators who train on camera and whose audience matches the buyer, then pay them to use the product for weeks, not mention it once. Health, weight, and performance claims need scientific proof under FTC rules, supplement claims must avoid disease language, and results shown must be real. A standout result needs a clear statement of what buyers can generally expect. - [B2B creator sponsorships](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/b2b-companies.md): B2B creator sponsorships pay trusted experts on LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasts, and trade newsletters to put a product in front of a small audience of likely buyers. Measure them on pipeline influence and self-reported attribution, not clicks, because B2B deals take months to close. LinkedIn's Thought Leader Ads let a brand promote a creator's post with the author's approval. - [How large companies run creator programs](https://sponsoracreator.com/guides/large-brands.md): Large companies run creator programs best as an always-on system: a standing roster under one master services agreement, a short statement of work per campaign, a claims library and fast approval rules, central payment, and measurement through lift studies and marketing mix models. Most waste comes from rebuilding rosters every campaign, slow approvals, opaque agency fees, and reporting impressions instead of business results. ## Service - [How it works](https://sponsoracreator.com/how-it-works/): The managed service, step by step: brief, shortlist with rates, contract, draft review, and report. Brands approve every creator and cost before booking. - [Send a brief](https://sponsoracreator.com/brief/): Form for brands that want a shortlist of matched creators. Free. - [For creators](https://sponsoracreator.com/creators/): How creators apply to be matched with brand briefs. Creators never pay. ## Optional - [Sponsorship cost calculator](https://sponsoracreator.com/calculator/): Estimates a creator's price from average views and public CPM ranges, with sources. - [Glossary](https://sponsoracreator.com/glossary/): Plain definitions of creator sponsorship terms such as CPM, usage rights, whitelisting, and kill fee. - [FAQ](https://sponsoracreator.com/faq/): Short answers about costs, platforms, disclosure, timelines, and the service. - [Independence](https://sponsoracreator.com/about/#independence): Not owned by, funded by, or affiliated with any platform or vendor it covers. Nothing sponsored, no affiliate links. - [Editorial standards](https://sponsoracreator.com/about/#editorial-standards): Primary sources, no paid placement, no invented numbers, real dates. - [Full text of every guide](https://sponsoracreator.com/llms-full.txt)