How sponsorship on YouTube works, what a sponsored video pays by channel size and niche, which brands buy the most placements, and how to get one. Every number on this page comes from 1.6M sponsorship deals SponsorRadar has detected in the videos themselves, not from surveys.
Updated Oct 12. CPM benchmarks reviewed July 2026.
What a sponsored video pays, by channel size
Median views of sponsored videos over three minutes in the last 12 months, priced at a $15–$50 CPM.
Niche moves the CPM. See the rate table by niche or run the rate calculator for your channel.
Sponsorship deals per month
Sponsored videos detected across YouTube, by publish month. The latest month is still filling in.
The most active YouTube sponsors right now
The deal, the formats, and the rules, in plain terms.
A brand pays a creator to feature its product in a video. The creator writes and delivers the segment in their own voice, the brand approves the script or the cut, and the creator publishes with a paid-promotion disclosure. The brand usually gets a tracking link or a promo code so it can measure signups, which is what it uses to decide whether to book the creator again.
Money changes hands directly or through an agency. Prices are quoted per 1,000 expected views (a CPM) or as a flat fee, and the fee depends on the channel's median views, its niche, and whether the placement is an integration or a dedicated video. Payment is normally net 30 after publishing, with a deposit on bigger deals.
Sponsorship sits alongside YouTube's own ads, affiliate links and memberships. For most channels above 50K subscribers it is the largest single income line, because the creator sets the price and keeps all of it. It is also the line brands scale fastest: 947 brands ran deals across twenty or more channels in the last 12 months.
The three formats
Disclosure is not optional. The FTC requires a clear statement that the segment is paid, and YouTube requires the paid-promotion checkbox, which shows a label in the first seconds of the video. Creators who skip it risk their channel; brands who ask them to skip it risk a regulator. Every deal SponsorRadar counts is one the creator disclosed in the video or the description.
Priced per 1,000 views, so the same channel earns very different money in different niches.
By channel size, last 12 months
Deals, channels and brands per tier, the median views a sponsored long-form video gets at that size, and what that is worth at a $15–$50 CPM.
| Channel size | Deals | Channels | Brands | Median views | Per video at $15 to $50 CPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10K subs | 3,454 | 387 | 601 | 991 | $15 to $50 |
| 10K to 50K subs | 8,326 | 605 | 1,633 | 4,282 | $64 to $214 |
| 50K to 250K subs | 398,862 | 14,307 | 28,368 | 8,148 | $122 to $407 |
| 250K to 1M subs | 297,915 | 10,503 | 21,207 | 26,564 | $398 to $1,328 |
| Over 1M subs | 167,681 | 5,748 | 11,323 | 93,395 | $1,401 to $4,670 |
By niche
CPM ranges SponsorRadar uses for the rate calculator, reviewed July 2026. Finance and tech audiences convert on expensive products, so brands pay the most for them; music and entertainment pay the least. The per-video column prices a channel at 8.1K views, the median for 50K to 250K subscribers.
| Niche | CPM (per 1,000 views) | Per video at 8.1K views |
|---|---|---|
| Finance & Business | $40–$80 | $326–$652 |
| Technology | $30–$60 | $244–$489 |
| Automotive | $25–$50 | $204–$407 |
| Health & Fitness | $25–$45 | $204–$367 |
| Beauty & Fashion | $20–$40 | $163–$326 |
| Travel | $20–$40 | $163–$326 |
| Education | $20–$40 | $163–$326 |
| Science | $20–$40 | $163–$326 |
| Food & Cooking | $18–$35 | $147–$285 |
| AI | $15–$30 | $122–$244 |
| Lifestyle & Vlog | $15–$30 | $122–$244 |
| DIY & Crafts | $15–$30 | $122–$244 |
| News & Politics | $12–$25 | $98–$204 |
| Sports | $12–$25 | $98–$204 |
| Gaming | $10–$25 | $81–$204 |
| Pets & Animals | $12–$25 | $98–$204 |
| Entertainment | $10–$20 | $81–$163 |
| Music | $8–$18 | $65–$147 |
Three things move a quote off the benchmark. Views on the last ten long-form videos matter more than subscribers. A niche where the audience buys what the sponsor sells earns the top of the range. And a dedicated video, exclusivity, usage rights or a rushed deadline each add to the fee. The full breakdown, with observed view distributions per niche, is on sponsorship rates by niche.
Ranked by placements detected in videos. Every brand links to the creators it sponsors and its recent deals.
| # | Brand | Category | Creators sponsored | Deals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Gamersupps | Gaming | 442 | 23,559 |
| 2 |  Streamyard | Education | 1,094 | 14,069 |
| 3 |  Prizepicks | Sports | 261 | 11,496 |
| 4 |  Squarespace | Lifestyle & Vlog | 479 | 9,861 |
| 5 |  Gfuel | Gaming | 147 | 9,308 |
| 6 |  BetterHelp | Entertainment | 1,668 | 8,783 |
| 7 |  NordVPN | Gaming | 928 | 8,675 |
| 8 |  Eneba | Gaming | 192 | 6,934 |
| 9 |  Whatnot | Entertainment | 494 | 6,610 |
| 10 |  Instant Gaming | Gaming | 149 | 6,158 |
| 11 |  EpicGames | Gaming | 245 | 5,465 |
| 12 |  Seatgeek | Sports | 311 | 5,091 |
| 13 |  Kontrolfreek | Gaming | 59 | 4,984 |
| 14 |  Surfshark | Lifestyle & Vlog | 1,187 | 4,592 |
| 15 |  Underdog Fantasy | Sports | 104 | 4,158 |
| 16 |  Carvertical | Automotive | 169 | 4,100 |
| 17 |  Factor | Entertainment | 1,352 | 4,003 |
| 18 |  Unacademy | Education | 70 | 3,997 |
| 19 |  Incogni | Education | 1,164 | 3,786 |
| 20 |  Amazon | Entertainment | 511 | 3,661 |
The full ranking, 84,535 with a tracked deal, is on the YouTube sponsors list.
How many channels a sponsor works with in a year
Brands by distinct channels sponsored in the last 12 months. 24% of brands came back for a second channel.
Where the deals go, by channel size
Channels over 1M subscribers took 19% of deals in the last 12 months. Coverage is thinner under 50K subscribers, so those tiers understate the real count.
Sponsors by niche
Budgets follow niches. Each page lists the brands active in one, with the creators they sponsor.
505 brands paid a channel under 10K subscribers in the last 12 months. 14,130 paid one under 100K.
Brands that sponsored the most channels under 50K subscribers
Distinct channels under 50K with a detected deal, last 12 months. The better first pitch for a small channel than the biggest spenders.
Recent deals on channels under 50K subscribers
One video per brand, newest first. The brand is buying now, at this size.
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Channels under 50K subscribers landed 11,780 detected deals in the last 12 months. The money per deal is smaller and product-only offers are common, but the brands are real and most of them have a pattern of buying at that size. The full list, by niche, is on sponsors for small channels, and the brands that hand every creator a code are on brand ambassador programs.
Five steps. The guides linked under each one carry the data and the templates.
The same data, read from the other side of the deal.
SponsorRadar reads YouTube videos, descriptions and captions and records a deal when a creator discloses a sponsor. Deals are dated by the video's publish date, so the last month or two is always still filling in. Channel size is the subscriber count at the time of the read. CPM ranges are benchmarks from published deals and agency rate cards, not measured fees, because creators do not publish what they were paid. Full detail on the methodology page.
Connect your channel and SponsorRadar lists the brands active in your niche and size range, with their latest deals and what to charge.
