YouTube sponsorships are one of the most effective forms of revenue for YouTubers.
They offer more money than ads and are not affected by demonetization.
In this post, we cover what YouTube sponsorships are as well as how to get started with them.
What are YouTube sponsorships?
YouTube sponsorships are paid collaborations brands make with YouTubers in order to be featured on those creators’ channels.
A YouTube sponsorship is part of a newer form of marketing called influencer marketing. Instead of advertising to a broad audience that may be interested in their products, brands can now market their products through YouTubers whose audiences match their target markets.
With so many people on social media these days, it’s a highly effective form of advertising.
Types of YouTube sponsorships
- Product reviews
- Sponsor spots
- Affiliate sponsorships
- Sponsored videos
- Sponsored partnerships
Product reviews
In this type of sponsorship, YouTubers are given a free sample of a product to review on their YouTube channels instead of money.
Some brands ask for the products to be returned, especially if the YouTuber is also being paid money.
Sponsor spots
This is one of the most popular types of paid YouTube sponsorships.
For around 15 seconds to two minutes, the video will feature a “sponsor spot” that will showcase the sponsor’s product.
You’ve probably heard the phrase “this video is sponsored by” quite often on YouTube.
Some YouTubers try to add a sponsor spot to every video. This form of sponsorship allows them to do so even if the video in question has nothing to do with the sponsor’s product.
Affiliate sponsorships
While most sponsorship deals are paid as a lump sum that’s based on the number of views the YouTuber receives, affiliate sponsorships are special affiliate rates brands offer YouTubers.
This could be in the form of a higher commission rate, a special discount code the YouTuber can offer their audience or both.
Sponsored videos
A sponsored video is a video that isn’t necessarily about the brand the YouTuber is being sponsored by but instead features them quite heavily.
This often means using the brand’s products throughout the video.
Sponsored partnership
This is a deal every YouTuber hopes to land: a special collaboration in which a brand’s products feature the YouTuber’s branding.
Sponsors in this category often offer special commission rates for affiliate links.
How many YouTube subscribers do you need to get sponsored?
There’s no one answer to this, unfortunately.
This is mostly because sponsors aren’t necessarily interested in the number of subscribers you have. They’re more interested in the number of views you receive since this is the number of people your videos could potentially expose their product to.
And while you’re more likely to receive more views if you have more subscribers, there’s no clear cut rule or trend that says “you receive X number of views for Y number of subscribers.”
Fortunately, this means smaller YouTubers can obtain sponsorship deals much quicker than they realize. They just need to find a sponsor that’s willing to work with smaller creators.
What brands sponsor YouTubers?
If you’ve watched YouTube videos over the last decade, you’re probably familiar with the following sponsors:
- Squarespace – Website builder and host.
- Skillshare – Online course platform.
- Dollar Shave Club – Subscription box service for men’s shaving products.
- G FUEL – Energy drink company.
- NordVPN – VPN provider.
- BetterHelp – Mental health platform.
Each of these brands owe their popularity, or at least a good chunk of it, to the YouTubers they’ve sponsored.
G FUEL, in particular, even collaborates with YouTubers by making special flavors YouTubers choose themselves and by including the YouTuber’s branding on G FUEL canisters and bottles.
Besides G FUEL, which is mostly promoted by gamers, these sponsors have no specific niche they cater to. And so, they sponsor a wide variety of creators on YouTube.
How much money do sponsors pay YouTubers?
Each negotiation a YouTuber makes with a potential sponsor is different.
A brand may offer one figure, and a YouTuber may counter offer with a different one.
However, we can tell you that sponsors base their rates based on 1,000 views, such as $2.50 per 1,000 views.
In our post on the amount of revenue YouTubers receive, we uncovered the following figures reported by Statista:
“The average minimum rate for videos with over 1 million views was $2,500, or $0.0025 per view. The average minimum rate for videos with 500,000 to 1 million views was $1,105, or $0.00221 to $0.001105 per view.”
How to get sponsored on YouTube
This is not a step-by-step tutorial, but you should complete each one of these sections in order to improve your odds of getting sponsored on YouTube:
- Find your audience on YouTube.
- Become a YouTube partner.
- Increase your views and engagements.
- Become an affiliate marketer.
- Place a “for business inquiries” email address in your bio.
- Grow your influence on social media.
- Create a “sponsor me” PDF or web page.
- Create examples and video packages for brands to choose from.
- Join an influencer marketing platform.
- Reach out to brands directly.
1. Find your audience on YouTube
If you’re producing a lot of video content but aren’t receiving very many views or subscribers, consider the possibility that you just haven’t found your audience, yet.
YouTube has niches, just as the blogging world does. However, unlike the blogging world, a lot of influencers on the platform grow a following simply because they create YouTube content other users find entertaining.
So, while they don’t have a particular niche, they have found their audience.
If you’re struggling with this step, try this: go through your videos, make note of videos that received more views, likes and subscribes than others.
Then, study those videos to determine what’s different about them.
You should also study your competitors’ content. What aren’t they covering? What don’t you like about their videos?
Try to fill in the missing pieces with your own content.
2. Become a YouTube partner
We’ve discussed this before on the blog, particularly in our post on how YouTube views translate into earned revenue.
Technically speaking, you don’t need to be a YouTube partner in order to get sponsored since YouTube is not the one who will be sponsoring your content.
Even so, being a YouTube partner looks better to potential sponsors.
Not to mention, the requirements for becoming a YouTube partner will help you achieve certain metrics sponsors look for much faster.
Those requirements are:
- 1,000 subscribers
- 4,000 watch hours
- No recent community guideline strikes.
Work on this milestone first before worrying about sponsorship deals.
3. Increase your views and engagements
Sponsors aren’t interested in how many subscribers you have, at least not completely. They’re more worried about the number of views, watch time, likes and comments your videos receive.
These are engagement metrics.
They tell a sponsor how many viewers your content can expose the sponsor’s product to as well as how likely your viewers are to click on any links you promote in brand deals.
The easiest way to increase your views is by improving your content, producing more content and improving your use of YouTube SEO.
You can increase your watch time by creating longer videos and creating quality YouTube videos that attract an engaged audience.
To increase likes and comments, ask your subscribers to “like and subscribe.”
You can also ask them to answer a question by adding it as a comment to the video.
4. Become an affiliate marketer
This strategy may seem weird in a post about how to get sponsored on YouTube, but it’s worth it.
Affiliate marketing is one of the earliest monetization strategies small channels have access to. Most affiliate programs are free to join and have little to no requirements for joining.
When you join an affiliate program, you promote your affiliate link and earn commissions when your viewer clicks the link and makes a purchase.
Therein lies the point we’re trying to make.
Sponsorship deals, although paid upfront, involve you creating content for or featuring a brand’s product. You then have to encourage your viewers to click the affiliate link you’ve chosen for this particular campaign.
The more viewers who click on your link, the higher your click-through rate for that campaign will be.
If your click-through rates for affiliate campaigns are high, you can add these metrics to your “sponsor me” kit as a way to showcase your ability to get your audience to engage with sponsored content.
5. Place a “for business inquiries” email address in your bio
This is a tactic used by many influencers. It’s simple yet effective.
By placing your business email address in your bio or YouTube video descriptions, you ensure potential sponsors have an easy way to get in touch with you.
This email address should be different from your account email address, which should be kept private.
Create a separate email address with Gmail or Outlook instead, or use a branded email address.
6. Grow your influence on social media
Some sponsors may be willing to pay more to be featured on additional social media platforms.
Plus, when you’re negotiating with potential sponsors, it looks better to say “I have X number of subscribers on YouTube, X followers on Instagram and X followers on TikTok.”
Take short clips from your YouTube videos, and upload them to TikTok and Instagram to get started. You should also take pictures as you create videos, and share those to Instagram.
Instagram and TikTok are very different from YouTube, so it may take you a while to learn the ins and outs of how to grow a following on each.
7. Create a “sponsor me” PDF or web page
The previous tips are for laying the groundwork for landing your first sponsorship deal: growing your YouTube channel and influence.
The remaining tips are all about putting in the work to make that deal a reality.
So, what is a “Sponsor Me” PDF or web page? It’s a media kit that outlines exactly why a potential sponsor should trust you to bring in sales with your content.
Your kit should do the following:
- Explain what your content is about.
- Provide details on your channel’s performance, including the total number of views your YouTube channel has received and the average number of views you receive per video.
- Showcase the demographics that make up your YouTube audience.
- Showcase analytics from previous paid sponsorships or affiliate marketing campaigns.
Everything should be framed in a way that benefits your sponsor. Don’t simply hype up your channel and how “awesome” you think it is. Explain why you receiving “X” number of views per video on average benefits your sponsor.
8. Create examples and video packages for brands to choose from
If you’ve never gotten sponsored on YouTube, you have nothing to show to brands as an example of what a sponsorship looks like on your channel.
You can easily rectify this by creating examples of sponsored content using other products as stand ins.
Create an example for these types of YouTube sponsorships:
- Product Review – If you already create product reviews on your channel, don’t worry about creating an example of one.
- Sponsor Spot – Create a 15-second to two-minute clip of you advertising a product.
- Sponsored Videos – Create a full-length video but only use one brand in it to represent the video’s “sponsor.” For example, if you’re a cooking YouTube channel, create a baking video with only KitchenAid products. Be sure to still include a 15-second to two-minute sponsor spot.
As for video packages, come up with different ways to bundle each type of sponsorship so a potential sponsor has options when it comes to choosing how they’ll be featured on your channel.
Follow the power of three used by SaaS companies: increasing sales by offering three packages to choose from. For SaaS companies, most customers end up seeing the second package as the best deal.
Here’s a simple example of what you could potentially offer in your video packages:
- Package 1
- Sponsor Spot
- Package 2
- Sponsor Spot
- Product Review
- Package 3
- Sponsored Spot
- Product Review
- Sponsored Video
9. Join an influencer marketing platform
So, you’re a YouTube partner and consistently receive a decent number of views on your channel. Your subscriber count is also growing. What do you do now?
Use your newfound success to promote yourself on an influencer marketing platform.
An influencer marketing platform acts as a middleman for brands and influencers. It provides a safe and effective way for these two groups to find and negotiate with one another.
YouTube has a built-in tool for this called YouTube BrandConnect. To be eligible for this tool, you need to be at least 18 years old, be a YouTube partner, live in the United States or India, and have no community guideline violations.
You’ll know you’re eligible if there’s a BrandConnect tab in the Earn section of YouTube Studio.
Other platforms include Artbrief, Scrunch and Klear.
10. Reach out to sponsors directly
If you have a specific brand you’d love to be sponsored by, reach out to them directly. They should have a media or marketing person you can connect with.
If not, send them DMs on whatever social media platform they’re active on.
Do not mention your video packages or prices in your original email. You can add your packages to your media kit, which you should include in your email, but don’t whip ’em out just yet.
Say “I have several video packages to choose from if you’d like to hear more” instead.
Basically, you should be able to summarize your original email with “I’m interested. Let’s discuss our options.”
If you really want to be sponsored by a particular company, don’t make the mistake of featuring them in your videos frequently. A brand has no reason to pay for advertising they already receive for free.
As for the negotiation process, be cautious when opening files from potential sponsors. Tech channel LinusTechTips nearly lost multiple channels when an employee opened a malicious file from a fake sponsor on the same computer they were signed into the channel with.
This is another reason why it’s important to conduct business with a different email address than the one you use to sign into YouTube with.
If you believe the sponsor is legitimate, don’t be afraid to counter offer if you feel their original offer is too low.
Final thoughts
YouTube sponsorships are one of the most effective forms of revenue for YouTubers.
They allow YouTubers to receive large lump sums of revenue per video. Plus, if a video gets demonetized, which means ads have been removed, the YouTuber still at least received some form of revenue from that video.
Sponsored content also signals to brands, viewers and other YouTubers that a YouTuber has become an authoritative voice in their respective niche.
Sponsorships are a powerful form of revenue, but they’re hard for smaller YouTube creators to obtain and should not be your only source of revenue.
Alternatives to YouTube sponsorships include affiliate marketing, ads, channel memberships, livestream donations and your own products.
We highly recommend starting with affiliate marketing, especially if you’re not eligible for the YouTube partner program, yet.
Most affiliate programs are free to join and do not have strict requirements. This means you can generate revenue even if you only receive a few hundred views per video.
Once you’re eligible for the YouTube partner program, you should absolutely enable ads for your videos. If you make evergreen content, you can receive passive income in the form of YouTube ads.
Be sure to read our money making guide for YouTube for more tips.
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