How does a video get sponsored?

As a growing Youtuber, are you wondering how to get sponsored on YouTube?

It’s a million-dollar question that doesn’t necessarily have a simple answer. 

Most content creators rely solely on sponsorships to make money from YouTube these days. The good news is that even if you have a small channel, this is still an option that’s available to you! 

In this article, we’ll tell you exactly how to get sponsored on YouTube. You’ll also learn more about how you can earn real cash from your content. 

• Requirements to get sponsored on YouTube
  • Create quality content
  • Build your channel 
  • Follow Youtube’s content rules 
• Types of sponsorships on YouTube
  • Paid sponsorships 
  • Product sponsorships 
  • Affiliate sponsorships 
• How to get sponsorships
  • Leave your business email 
  • Reach out to brands directly 
  • Use influencer marketing platforms, like inzpire.me
• How many subscribers do you need to make money?
• Final thoughts on getting sponsored on YouTube

Sponsorship deals are made directly between brands and influencers, so there aren’t any official requirements from YouTube regarding who can get sponsored. 

Brands will have their own requirements for the influencers they partner with. Generally, the more professional and successful your channel is, the easier it’ll be to land lucrative sponsors. 

Below, you’ll find tips you should follow if you’re looking to score some sponsorships. 

Create quality content

When brands sponsor influencers, they’re looking for channels that’ll offer them a return on their investment. This means they’ll want to partner with influencers who know how to produce quality content that engages their subscribers. 

So you’ll need to ensure that all of your content is high quality, entertaining, and relevant to the brand you’re looking to partner with. 

If your videos are badly edited and unprofessional, or they have nothing to do with the brands that you’re reaching out to, then you’ll find it a lot harder to land sponsorships. 

Spend some time making sure that your channel is in tip-top shape before reaching out to any brands. 

Build your channel 

Brands will decide whether you’re a fit for sponsorships by looking at your channel’s metrics.

This means you should try your best to build your channel so that it has a real community following. Encourage viewers to like your videos and comment, and don’t forget to ask them to subscribe. 

Although the number of subscribers you have isn’t always the most important thing for brands, it still helps to have a healthy number of them. 

So try to nurture your community and engage with your subscribers. Brands will see this as evidence that you can influence them to make purchases, or take action based on your recommendations.

But whatever you do, don’t pay for fake subscribers!

Although it may give you a rapid boost in subscribers, it won’t reflect in your views and engagement. It won’t be hard for potential sponsors to notice the inconsistencies. 

Follow Youtube’s content rules 

Finally, if you want to be get sponsored on YouTube, follow their content rules to the letter. YouTube, and the brands that you want to work with, take abusive, inappropriate content very seriously. 

Breaking the rules could result in your account being suspended. Your sponsorship partners will also likely drop out of sponsorship agreements to disassociate from your channel. 

Whatever type of channel you have, always be respectful, and follow the rules. Building a reputation for being a responsible content creator will help you score great sponsorships both now and in the future.

Sponsorships come in many shapes and sizes, and some are easier to land than others. Here’s a rundown of the main types of sponsorships you’ll come across and how they work. 

Paid sponsorships are the most lucrative and sought after sponsorship deals available to YouTubers. With paid sponsorships, a brand pays an influencer a flat fee to advertise their products or services in their videos. 

Brands may also ask influencers to create, or be featured in, videos on their channel.

Sponsorships can be as simple as a mention of a certain brand or product. For a higher fee, influencers may create full videos around brands or devote a section of their videos talking about them. 

Channels with 10K+ subscribers will find it a lot easier than smaller channels to get paid sponsorships. As a general rule, the number of paid offers you receive will increase as your subscribers grow. 

With product sponsorships, brands provide free products to influencers in exchange for their promotions. Influencers will feature the products in unboxing videos, product reviews, or tutorials on their channels.

It’s much easier to land product sponsorships if you’re a small influencer. Brands are much more willing to provide influencers in relevant niches with free products, regardless of their audience size. 

When searching for product sponsorships, be sure to focus on brands that are relevant to your niche. Don’t try to promote products you know will be of no interest to your subscribers. 

For example, if you’re a makeup channel, try reaching out to brands that sell skincare products. They’ll likely resonate with your audience.

This will not only ensure your sponsorships are more beneficial to the brands you work with. It’ll also reduce the chances of your subscribers becoming irritated by you promoting irrelevant products.

Affiliate sponsorships are another type of collaboration that’s also very easy to get. Influencers can make quite a lot of money if they find the right affiliate programs. 

By signing up to affiliate programs, brands will give you an affiliate link or discount codes, which you can place in the descriptions of your videos. Every time one of your viewers clicks the link and makes a purchase, you’ll receive a percentage of the sale. 

How much you make per sale varies based on the brand you’re promoting. Oftentimes, it can increase if you make many sales for a particular brand. 

You can join as many affiliate programs as you like, and advertise any products that you think your viewers may be interested in. Although some programs have a minimum subscriber limit, most are open to small and big channels alike. 

There are a few different ways to go about getting sponsored on YouTube. Below are some of the easiest ways to find great brands to work with.

Leave your business email 

If you’re a busy content creator, and you’re happy to wait for brands to come to you, be sure to leave your contact information in the About section of your YouTube channel. 

Create a specific business email. It’ll keep potential sponsorship emails separate from any communications you may get from subscribers and viewers. 

If you have a medium to large channel, you may find that you get a lot of offers for sponsorships via email. Be sure to vet them all carefully and only respond to the ones that seem legitimate and reasonable.

Reach out to brands directly 

If you want to get the ball rolling and you have some specific brands in mind, then you can reach out to them directly. You can usually find contact information for the marketing departments of brands on their website. 

While this can be an effective way to get sponsorships, there may be many influencers doing the same thing. To avoid getting lost, you should try and make your email stand out from the crowd. Do this by using attention-grabbing subject lines. Be sure to also make you email polite, professional, and to the point. 

To get brands interested in your channel, do your research and provide them with metrics about your channel that you think will be of interest to them. You should try to only pick brands that have strong links to your content. In your email, focus on what makes your channel and content a good fit for their brand. 

It’s also a good idea to create an easy to read influencer media kit that you can send out to brands to provide them with all your relevant information. Check out this blog on how to create a winning influencer media kit.

Use influencer marketing platforms, like inzpire.me

To connect with brands that are actively searching for influencers, it’s a good idea to use influencer marketing platforms. There are a few to choose from, including inzpire.me. 

If you have at least 1,000 subscribers, all you need to do is sign up and connect your YouTube channel to your profile. If you’re looking for sponsorships on other channels, such as Instagram or your blog, you can connect them too. Once you do, your profile will be visible to thousands of registered brands on the platform. 

Creating an account is free – you’ll only be charged a 10% service fee when you complete a collaboration. 

Click here to sign up

How many subscribers do you need to make money?

To become a YouTube partner and utilize Google AdSense, you need 1,000+ subscribers and 4,000+ valid public watch hours on your channel. 

For affiliate marketing, you’ll be able to start joining affiliate programs once you have 1,000+ subscribers. 

For most other types of sponsorships, having 5,000+ subscribers will make it much easier to land good offers. 

You may find some niche brands that are willing to work with smaller channels that have a very targeted subscriber base, but they often won’t pay that much. 

Basically, the more subscribers you have, the more opportunities there will be to make money from YouTube.

For growing YouTube channels, sponsorships are a great way to boost your income and help your channel continue to thrive. 

Now that you know how to get sponsored on YouTube, get out there, do some research, and start making some real money from YouTube sponsorships. Good luck!