What a sponsorship is
A sponsorship is a deal where a brand pays a creator to feature its product. On YouTube it usually takes one of two shapes. In an integrated sponsorship the creator pauses a video about something else to talk about the sponsor, then goes back to the video. In a dedicated video, the whole video is about the product.
Integrated reads are everywhere: on the channels Claritea tracks, 64% of a typical channel's videos carry one.
The sponsor read
The read is the part of the video where the creator talks about the sponsor. It usually says what the product is, why the creator uses it and how viewers can get it, often with a promo code or a link. The typical read runs about 1:10, and the most common length is 1:00 to 1:29.
Where the read goes
Reads are named for where they sit in the video: pre-roll near the start, mid-roll in the middle and post-roll near the end. 56% of reads sit mid-roll and 35% pre-roll; only 9% wait for the end.
| Where | Share of reads |
|---|---|
| Pre-roll · first 15% of the video | 35% |
| Mid-roll · between the two | 56% |
| Post-roll · last 15% of the video | 9% |
How deals are priced
Most deals are priced in one of three ways: a flat fee for the read, a CPM (a price for every thousand views the video gets) or a commission on the sales that come through the creator's code or link. Some deals mix them, for example a flat fee plus a commission.
What a deal pays depends on the channel's views, its audience and the brand. Claritea does not see what deals pay, so this page gives no rates.
How brands measure results
Brands judge a read by what it led to: views on the video, clicks on the tracking link and sales through the promo code. Many also look at engagement, and at how viewers reacted to the read in the comments.
Repeat deals are common. In 51% of brand and channel pairings, the brand ran in more than one video.
Disclosing a sponsorship
When a video includes a sponsorship, YouTube asks the creator to tick the paid promotion box in YouTube Studio, and viewers then see an "Includes paid promotion" label. Advertising rules in many countries ask for a clear disclosure in the video too, such as saying out loud that the video is sponsored.
What brands ask for
Before a deal, brands usually ask for a channel's typical views per video, its engagement rate, who watches and how past sponsored videos did. After the read runs, they ask how it performed.
Claritea keeps those numbers in one place: every sponsor read on your channel, the reaction in your comments and a report you can send a sponsor.