Being a Youtuber is understandably a dream job for many — you get to set your own schedule, be creative, and do something you love for a living. It takes a lot of work to make videos that people love, but making videos is only part of the job. Once you’ve built a Youtube Channel and are starting to get views, the next step is figuring out how to monetize your videos by getting Youtube sponsors.
There are several ways to make money on Youtube, but getting brands to sponsor your videos is growing as a more and more popular way to support your channel. Sponsorship refers to when a company pays you or gives you products in exchange for mentioning their brand in your videos. You might be familiar with Youtubers “thanking their sponsors” at the beginning or in the middle of a video.
Getting sponsors can be a great alternative to showing ads on your channel for a couple of reasons:
- You get paid up front
- You can control the content so your viewers aren’t interrupted by irrelevant ads
- You can earn more guaranteed income
The problem is that it can be difficult to get connected with brands that want to sponsor you. In this guide, we’re going to teach you everything you need to know to get brands to sponsor you on Youtube.
Table of Contents
What Brands Want
If you want to make your Youtube channel attractive to sponsors and maximize your earnings, it’s important to think from the brand’s perspective. There are tens of thousands of channels that they could spend money on, so it’s important to know what makes your channel attractive to them.
Reach
One of the main reasons that channels like Mr.Beast and PewDiePie can charge hundreds of thousands of dollars to sponsor a single video is because they reach A LOT of people. Reach, in advertising terms, refers to the amount of unique people that see a single ad. Only a small percentage of people are going to remember who the sponsor is, nonetheless take action like making a purchase. A brand would rather have 1% of a million people remember them than 1% of a thousand.
Engagement
Simply reaching a lot of people isn’t enough though. Some creators have more influence over their viewers than others. Brands look at engagement on previous videos such as comments and likes to determine the quality of the audience.
Relevance
Last and maybe most importantly, your videos need to be relevant to what you’re sponsoring. If you have a channel reviewing men’s shoes, then it probably doesn’t make much sense to reach out to a women’s makeup company asking for sponsorship. On the other hand, if your channel was about teaching wilderness skills, it would be a good fit to have a tent or hiking boot company sponsor you. Brands usually know whether a channel is a good fit or not. You can save time and energy engaging with brands that you think make sense.
Communicate Your Value
Now that you know what brands are looking for when sponsoring a channel, it’s helpful to take some time to prepare your sales pitch on why they should sponsor yours.
Media kit
The one tool you need that is almost essential when pitching brands is a media kit. A media kit is usually a pdf document that is from 1-3 pages long that shares the most relevant information about you and your channel. This is meant to be a quick and easy way for advertisers to understand if you might be a good fit for sponsorship.
What to include in your media kit
Your media kit is often one of your first impressions with a potential sponsor, so it’s important to put your best foot forward. There are a few essential elements that every media kit needs. Unsurprisingly, every media kit needs to explain the 3 things brands are looking for: reach, engagement, and relevance.
So what are the best way to communicate these? Here are some ideas on different statistics you can include for each.
| Factor | Stat |
| Reach | Views per video Channel views per month |
| Engagement | Likes per video (as # or percentage) Total view time (per video, or across channel) |
| Relevance | Describe your niche Viewer demographics |
Including Other Info
When you’re trying to convince a brand that your channel is a good candidate for sponsorship, it can also be helpful to include some of the following:
- Testimonials from previous collaborations
- Stat based examples of previous success
- Logos of previous brands
- Info on upcoming content
- Contacts they can talk to for reference
- Pricing info on packages , for example $100 for a 15 second thank you and an instagram story
Youtube Media Kit Example
Get In Touch
Make your info available
If you already have some traction with your channel make sure it’s easy for brands to get in touch with you. This means making sure your direct messages are open on your social media accounts and that you can be contacted via email. Brands will look on your social media accounts and Youtube channel for your email address, so make it easy to find by including it in your bio!
Reach out to them directly
You can also reach out to brands directly. It’s best to do this through email since social media DMs can get crowded and most companies will just ask you to email them anyway. It helps to have a short written pitch prepared that explains who you are and what you’re looking to do. Attaching your media kit is a great way to add a bit more information as well.
Work with an agency
If you already have a decent amount of views and subscribers, it may make sense to work with an influencer or Youtube agency. These agencies will work to get you sponsors and will be motivated to maximize the rate you can charge since they will take a cut. Usually, working with an agency isn’t an option for digital creators who have smaller subscriber numbers (<1000 subs on Youtube).
A Better Option
If the process of getting in touch with brands sounds tedious and complicated, that’s because it is. We have good news though. Later this year, we’re releasing a platform that will bring you sponsors without all the manual work. Just create a profile, link your Youtube, and the brands come to you.
Join the waitlist to be notified when the platform is released:
What To Expect
You may be wondering how much money you can earn on youtube. It’s important to have reasonable expectation when you’re talking to brands about sponsoring your channel.
First, let’s consider a few different things that will influence what you can charge for any particular sponsorship.
Brand Budget
Every brand will have a different budget that they can allocate to marketing on Youtube. A small brand may not have significant resources, so they may need to be more budget conscious than large brands that have lots of money.
Channel Niche
Different niches have different advertising rates. A company that sells $40k cars, for example, is able to spend a lot more money to drive a single sale than a company $20 t-shirts. Check out this article on the highest earning Youtube niches to see how different types of content compare.
So what can you actually charge? Well, it’s hard to tell since there really isn’t much pricing transparency with Youtube sponsorship. This is something our platform will fix. In the meantime, it’s important to think from the advertisers perspective again. Here’s a chart of some rough estimates on what advertisers pay to reach 1,000 people (known as CPM) with different types of ads. Please note that there are exceptions to all of these. Some advertisers get <$10 CPMs on Facebook. A Billboard in Time Square is far more expensive than one along a highway in North Dakota.
- Billboard – $3+
- Radio – $5-10
- FB typically $10-20
- High Quality Podcast $25-30 (some higher)
With all that considered, channels that are just starting out and getting under 1000 views per video should often be happy trading product in exchange for sponsorships. If you’re convinced you can drive sales for the brand and believe this should earn you money, then you should ask the brand if they have an affiliate program.
If you already have more views and subscribers, then it’s reasonable to ask for paid sponsorship opportunities. Just consider some of the comparative CPMs above. Youtube can be a high quality touchpoint for brands, so it’s fair to charge more similarly to podcasts than billboards.
In general, it’s smart to ask for a bit more money and be open to negotiating to find a price that works for both parties.
Make More Money On Youtube
Now that you know how to get sponsorships and earn money on Youtube, let’s talk about how you can earn MORE.
Continue to focus on consistently producing quality content. This has two benefits. First, your channel will continue to grow and you’ll be able to reach more people. This allows you to charge more for sponsoring an individual video. Second, your viewers will become more engaged and trust you more. When you build a track record of delivering great marketing results for your sponsors, they will be willing to advertise more with you and pay more per video.
Getting sponsors can be difficult but it can also be a great way to make money on Youtube. We believe that you should spend your time focusing on creating content that your viewers love, and leave the headache of finding sponsors to us. If you want to be one of the first creators on our platform and get discovered by thousands of brands, join the waitlist here:
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