Creator guide · Data insights
The best YouTube sponsorship sites and platforms in 2026, by channel size
Marketplaces, YouTube's own program, agencies, affiliate networks and sponsor databases compared by requirements, cost, and which channel sizes they work for.
By DiscoverSponsors · 5 min read
There is no single best YouTube sponsorship website. There are five kinds of service, and which one works depends almost entirely on your channel size. This guide sorts them by kind, says what each needs from you, and matches them to the sponsorship data from our index of 562K sponsored videos. Requirements and fees change often; treat the specifics below as what each service stated at the time of writing and check its current terms before you apply.
First, what the data says about size
In our index, 53.5% of channels with 10K–50K subscribers and 63.9% with 50K–100K had at least one sponsor in the last 14 months, against 27.5% under 10K. Most of those deals did not come through a platform; they came from brands that sponsor many channels of a given size, found and pitched directly. Platforms are a supplement at every size and the main route at none. With that in mind:
1. YouTube's own program
YouTube BrandConnect (now presented as Creator Partnerships inside YouTube Studio) matches eligible channels with brand campaigns without leaving YouTube. It has required a minimum channel size (10K subscribers at the time of writing) and is limited to a handful of countries, with YouTube taking its fee from the brand side. Worth switching on if you qualify: it costs nothing and campaigns arrive without outreach. Its limits are the same as any marketplace's: you wait for briefs, and rates are often below what a direct deal pays.
2. Marketplaces where brands post campaigns
Grapevine Village, Aspire, Creator.co and IZEA's creator marketplace work the same way: brands publish campaigns, creators apply. They are free for creators, minimums range from about 1K to 10K subscribers depending on the platform and campaign, and many briefs, especially in lifestyle and beauty, are product-only rather than paid. Best for channels of 10K–250K that want a first deal and a track record. Weakest under 10K, where few campaigns accept applications, and above 250K, where agencies outperform.
3. Storefront marketplaces
Collabstr and Passionfroot flip the model: you list what you offer (a dedicated integration, a mention, a shorts package) at a price, and brands book it. They suit creators who already get inbound interest and want to handle it in one place. Expect a listing to do little on its own until you send brands to it.
4. Affiliate and performance networks
impact.com, LTK and the YouTube Shopping affiliate program pay per sale rather than per placement. They are the easiest to join (YouTube Shopping opened to channels at 500 subscribers in 2026) and the wrong answer if you want a sponsorship fee: a promo code in your description is an affiliate arrangement until a brand pays for the placement itself. They are, however, how many creators under 10K earn their first brand money, and a strong affiliate result is a good line in a later sponsorship pitch.
5. Agencies and creator networks
Talent agencies and vertical networks (gaming, tech, family) sell your inventory to brands for a commission, typically 10–25%, and generally take creators from around 25K subscribers upward, more often above 100K. Above 250K they usually beat marketplaces on rates and deal size; below that, most will not reply.
6. Sponsor databases and direct outreach
The route that produces most deals in our data is direct: find the brands that sponsored channels like yours, verify the deal from their sponsored videos, and pitch a specific video. A sponsor database does the finding. DiscoverSponsors is one (it indexes sponsored videos through the official YouTube Data API and ranks brands by how often they sponsored creators of your size, language and niche, with the videos as evidence); there are others, and a spreadsheet of five comparable channels' sponsor lines works at a smaller scale. The method is in how to find sponsors for YouTube in 2026.
Which to use, by channel size
| Your size | Use | Skip for now |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10K | Direct outreach to brands with a low floor (see the brands that sponsor the most small channels), affiliate programs for first income | Agencies; most campaign marketplaces |
| 10K–50K | Direct outreach as the main route; YouTube's program if eligible; one campaign marketplace | Agencies |
| 50K–250K | Direct outreach plus marketplaces and YouTube's program; a storefront if inbound starts | — |
| 250K+ | An agency or network for larger deals; direct outreach for the brands you want most | Low-rate marketplace briefs |
About the data
Sponsorship rates come from the DiscoverSponsors index of public video information retrieved through the official YouTube Data API, videos published from July 2025 to September 2026. Channels with sponsors are easier to discover than channels without, so the rates are upper bounds. Platform requirements and fees are as stated by each service at the time of writing and change; check current terms before applying.