NordVPN, Squarespace, and HelloFresh: Why These Brands Dominate YouTube Sponsorships

If you’ve watched more than a few YouTube videos in the last five years, you already know the brands. “This video is brought to you by NordVPN.” “Squarespace — build it beautiful.” “HelloFresh — use my code for 60% off.”

These three companies have become so synonymous with YouTube sponsorships that they’re practically a meme. But behind the jokes is something worth studying: three very different businesses, each spending millions of dollars per year on creator partnerships, each with a distinct strategy that keeps working.

I dug into our SponsorRadar database to pull the real numbers and figure out what makes these brands tick. Whether you’re a creator trying to land a deal with one of them or a brand trying to learn from their playbook, here’s what the data actually shows.

Live data from SponsorRadar’s database. Updated daily.

Why These Three? The Common Thread

There are thousands of brands sponsoring YouTube creators. So why do NordVPN, Squarespace, and HelloFresh consistently dominate the conversation?

It comes down to three things they all share. First, they sell subscription products with high lifetime value, which means they can afford to pay more per acquisition than a brand selling a one-time $20 product. Second, their products work across virtually every audience demographic — everyone needs internet security, websites, and food. Third, they all figured out early that YouTube sponsorships convert better than almost any other paid channel.

While most brands dip a toe into creator marketing and pull back after a quarter, these three went all-in years ago and never stopped scaling. That consistency is what makes them worth studying.

NordVPN: The Brand That Wrote the YouTube Sponsorship Playbook

NordVPN didn’t just adopt YouTube sponsorships early. They essentially defined what a modern YouTube sponsor integration looks like. The mid-roll ad read, the unique promo code, the landing page with a special offer — NordVPN was doing all of this before most brands even had a creator partnerships team.

The Numbers Behind NordVPN’s YouTube Strategy

NordVPN has worked with over 3,000 unique YouTubers across their sponsorship history, running more than 100 new collaborations per month during peak periods (Source: SponsorRadar historical tracking data). In 2022 alone, the brand reportedly spent $12.2 million on YouTube influencer marketing, generating an estimated 4.4 billion views across sponsored content (Source: industry reports via NeoReach/Influencer Marketing Hub, 2022).

Our database currently tracks 886 creators and 5,897 total sponsorships for NordVPN (Source: SponsorRadar database). Those numbers grow every week.

Who Does NordVPN Sponsor?

The short answer: almost everyone. NordVPN is famously niche-agnostic. Tech channels were their original bread and butter, but they expanded aggressively into gaming, education, entertainment commentary, true crime, history, science, and even comedy. If you have an engaged audience of adults aged 18 to 44, you fit their profile.

What’s particularly smart about NordVPN’s approach is their rotation strategy. They don’t lock themselves into long-term exclusive deals with a handful of mega creators. Instead, they sponsor a wide range of channels, measure performance, and double down on the ones that convert. Creators who deliver strong results get repeat bookings. Those who don’t get quietly rotated out of the lineup.

This test-and-scale approach lets them continuously discover undervalued creators — channels with small subscriber counts but outsized engagement. It’s why you see NordVPN on 80K-subscriber channels right alongside creators with 10 million subs.

NordVPN’s Secret Weapon: The Promo Code Funnel

Every NordVPN sponsorship comes with a unique URL and promo code. This isn’t just a branding play — it gives them granular attribution data on exactly which creator drives which conversions. They know, down to the individual video, what their cost-per-acquisition is. That data feedback loop is why they can scale so confidently. Most brands are guessing at ROI. NordVPN is measuring it precisely.

Squarespace: The Quiet Giant of Creator Sponsorships

Squarespace doesn’t generate the same meme energy as NordVPN, but their sponsorship program is just as massive. In many ways, it’s more sophisticated.

Squarespace by the Numbers

Squarespace sponsors roughly 350 channels per year and has built relationships with over 3,000 thought leaders and creators across their sponsorship history (Source: industry analyses via Marketing Brew, Sponsorship data aggregators). Some of those relationships run deep — Linus Tech Tips, for example, has featured Squarespace sponsorships over 100 times across their various channels (Source: SponsorRadar tracking data).

In our database, Squarespace shows 384 creators with 7,027 total sponsorships tracked (Source: SponsorRadar database).

Squarespace’s Creator Selection Strategy

Where NordVPN casts a wide net, Squarespace is more deliberate about brand alignment. They historically favored creators in design, technology, photography, and entrepreneurship — audiences that are likely to actually need a website builder. A photographer watching a Peter McKinnon video is much more likely to need a portfolio site than a random gaming viewer.

But that’s been shifting. Over the past two years, Squarespace has expanded into business, travel, fitness, and lifestyle content. The realization was that almost everyone can use a website. Side-hustle creators, small business owners, artists, musicians — all of them sit in audiences that have nothing to do with web design but everything to do with Squarespace’s target customer.

Long-Term Relationships Over One-Off Deals

The most distinctive thing about Squarespace’s strategy is their emphasis on recurring partnerships. While NordVPN constantly tests new creators, Squarespace tends to build deep, long-running relationships with creators they trust. Many of their top partners have featured Squarespace dozens of times over multiple years.

This creates a compounding effect. When a creator mentions Squarespace in their 50th video, it feels more like a genuine endorsement than an ad read. The audience has heard it so many times that it becomes associated with the creator’s brand itself. That level of trust is almost impossible to buy with a single sponsorship.

For creators, this also means predictable income. If Squarespace books you for a quarterly deal, that’s four guaranteed paychecks. It’s the kind of stability most creators dream about.

HelloFresh: The Micro-Influencer Machine

HelloFresh takes yet another approach. While NordVPN goes broad and Squarespace goes deep, HelloFresh goes wide and fast, with a particular focus on mid-size and smaller creators.

HelloFresh’s Sponsorship Volume

In 2022, HelloFresh worked with 303 unique creators on YouTube (Source: SponsorRadar tracking data, 2022). That was a single year. Their total footprint is much larger when you look across their full history, with our database tracking 600 creators and 1,504 total sponsorships (Source: SponsorRadar database).

What makes HelloFresh different is the emphasis on volume over star power. They’ll happily work with a creator who has 30,000 subscribers if the audience demographics are right. Their model is about reaching as many potential meal-kit customers as possible, even if it means doing 50 small deals instead of 5 big ones.

Why Meal Kits Work So Well on YouTube

HelloFresh has a natural advantage that most sponsors envy: their product is inherently visual and experiential. A creator unboxing a HelloFresh delivery, cooking a meal, and eating it on camera is genuinely entertaining content. It doesn’t feel like an interruption the way a VPN ad read sometimes can.

This is why HelloFresh sponsorships tend to be longer segments — often 90 seconds to two minutes — compared to the typical 60-second mid-roll. Creators have something to show, not just talk about. And viewers stick around because watching someone cook is just more engaging than hearing about encryption protocols.

HelloFresh’s Target Creator Profile

HelloFresh leans heavily into lifestyle, family, vlogs, and cooking content. But they’re not limited to food channels. Any creator whose audience includes adults aged 25 to 45 — the core meal-kit demographic — is a potential partner. They’ve sponsored gaming channels, comedy creators, and even educational content when the audience skews right.

The promo code structure is aggressive too. “Use my code for 16 free meals plus free shipping” is a hard offer to ignore, and it gives HelloFresh the same kind of attribution clarity that NordVPN has. They know exactly which creator drove which sign-ups, and they optimize relentlessly based on that data.

What Creators Can Learn From These Three Brands

Studying these three companies reveals patterns that apply to any brand sponsorship, not just the big three. Here are the takeaways.

Subscription Products Spend the Most on Sponsorships

NordVPN, Squarespace, and HelloFresh are all subscription businesses. That’s not a coincidence. When a customer signs up and stays for 12 months, the lifetime value can easily justify paying a creator $5,000 to $50,000 for a single integration. Brands selling one-time products rarely have the margins to compete.

If you’re a creator looking for sponsorships, prioritize subscription-based companies. They have the budget, the tracking infrastructure, and the incentive to invest in creator marketing long-term. Check our top 25 YouTube sponsors list and you’ll notice subscription brands dominate it.

Consistency Beats Virality

None of these brands are chasing viral moments. They’re running systematic, data-driven sponsorship programs week after week, month after month. The lesson for creators: brands want partners they can rely on. Consistent upload schedules, predictable view counts, and stable audience demographics matter more than one-off viral hits.

Your Audience Matters More Than Your Niche

All three brands sponsor channels outside their “obvious” category. NordVPN sponsors comedy channels. Squarespace sponsors travel vloggers. HelloFresh sponsors gaming creators. They care about who’s watching, not what the content is about. If your audience is 25-to-40-year-old adults with disposable income, you’re a candidate for all three.

How to Get Noticed by NordVPN, Squarespace, or HelloFresh

Landing a deal with one of these brands is competitive but absolutely achievable. Here’s what actually works.

1. Study Their Existing Partnerships

Before you send a single email, research who they’re already working with. You can see every tracked sponsorship for NordVPN, Squarespace, and HelloFresh on their SponsorRadar brand pages. Look at the channel sizes, content types, and integration formats they favor.

If you notice they’re sponsoring creators similar to you — same niche, similar subscriber count, comparable view counts — that’s your green light to reach out.

2. Come With Data, Not Just Enthusiasm

These brands receive hundreds of inbound pitches every week. “I love your product and would love to collab” gets deleted instantly. What gets a response is a pitch that includes your audience demographics, average view count over the last 30 days, engagement rate, and a specific idea for how you’d integrate the product into your content.

Our guide on how to contact brands for YouTube sponsorships includes email templates that actually get replies.

3. Start Small and Prove Your Value

Your first deal with any major brand will almost certainly be a one-off, lower-budget test. That’s fine. It’s actually how these brands evaluate new creators. They run a single sponsorship, measure the conversion data from your promo code, and decide whether to rebook you.

The creators who turn a single NordVPN deal into a recurring partnership are the ones who nail the integration. Be authentic, mention the product naturally, and drive your audience to actually click. If your promo code performs well, you’ll hear from them again.

4. Don’t Overlook Agencies

All three brands work with talent agencies and influencer marketing platforms. NordVPN and HelloFresh in particular route much of their outreach through agencies rather than doing it all in-house. If you’re signed with an MCN or talent manager, let them know these brands are on your target list. If you’re not, applying directly through the brand’s website or reaching out to their known agency partners can be effective.

5. Be Patient and Professional

Brand deal timelines are long. From initial outreach to a signed contract to the actual sponsored video going live, expect 4 to 8 weeks minimum. Don’t follow up aggressively after two days. Send your pitch, wait a week, send one polite follow-up, and then move on to other brands. If they’re interested, they’ll come back to you — sometimes months later when a campaign slot opens up.

The Big Picture: These Brands Aren’t Slowing Down

YouTube sponsorships are a growing market, and NordVPN, Squarespace, and HelloFresh are all increasing their creator marketing budgets year over year. The broader trend we’re tracking in our 2026 sponsorship trends report confirms this: more brands are entering the space, and the brands already in it are spending more.

For creators, that means opportunity. These three brands alone represent thousands of sponsorship slots per year. And they’re just the most visible names. There are hundreds of other companies running similar programs at slightly smaller scale.

The creators who will capture the most value are the ones who treat sponsorships like a business. Study the brands. Understand their strategies. Come to the table with data. And build the kind of channel that makes it easy for a brand to say yes.

That’s what SponsorRadar is for. We track which brands are spending, who they’re sponsoring, and how the landscape is shifting — so you don’t have to guess.