How much is a YouTube sponsorship worth? Views and rates by channel size (2026)

Most sponsorship price guides are tables of subscriber counts and dollar amounts. Brands don't pay for subscribers, though; they pay for the views a sponsored video gets. So we looked at the views on paid sponsored videos from the last year across the DiscoverSponsors index, by channel size and niche, and turned them into a realistic price range.

The short version: a sponsored video typically gets views equal to about 12% of the channel's subscribers on small channels, falling to about 5% for channels with more than a million. That gap is why two channels with the same subscriber count can charge very different prices.

Typical views and rates by channel size

Typical means the median sponsored video. The estimated price is those typical views at $15 to $35 per 1K views, the usual range for a 60–90 second integration; a dedicated video is usually about 1.5 times that, and a short mention about half. The spread inside each band is wide: a channel in the upper quarter of its band gets several times the views of one in the lower quarter, and should price accordingly.

Views matter more than subscribers

The ratio of views to subscribers drops steadily as channels grow: around 14% for channels under 10K, 10% between 50K and 250K, and under 5% above a million. Big channels carry many subscribers who no longer watch every video. For a brand, a 60K-subscriber channel that reliably gets 15K views is worth more than a 200K channel that gets 8K.

That's why the first number a brand asks for is average views on recent videos, not the subscriber count. Use the average of your last ten long videos, leave out unusual hits, and quote from that.

Some niches get far more views per sponsored video

For channels with 100K–500K subscribers, the typical sponsored video's views vary a lot by niche:

The estimate uses a niche rate per 1K views, from about $10 for entertainment to $30 for finance. Finance and tech audiences are worth more to advertisers per view, so a finance channel with fewer views can charge as much as an entertainment channel with twice as many. True crime stands out because long episodes keep large audiences watching to the sponsor segment.

How to set your own price

• Start from your average views, not your subscribers. Multiply by a niche rate per 1K views, then adjust.
• Charge more for a dedicated video, for usage rights (the brand reusing your footage in ads), and for exclusivity.
• Expect lower cash offers, or product-only deals, on a first sponsorship, and raise your price once you can show results.
• Check what similar channels already do. A brand that sponsors channels your size knows the going rate, and so should you.

Our free sponsorship rate calculator does this math for your channel, shows the typical views for channels like yours, and lists the brands sponsoring them. For the pitch itself, see how to pitch a YouTube sponsor.

About the data

Views are current view counts of paid sponsored videos at least 60 seconds long, published between 12 months and 30 days ago, from public video information retrieved through the official YouTube Data API. Affiliate-only links are excluded. Channel size is the current subscriber count. Prices are estimates from views and typical market rates per 1K views, not reported deal values; actual prices depend on audience country, engagement, usage rights and negotiation.