---
title: 'How Sponsorships Work On YouTube // What you need to know about paid sponsorships (beginner''s guide)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=7LFJEWXf1qE'
video_id: '7LFJEWXf1qE'
date: 2026-06-18
duration_sec: 0
---

# How Sponsorships Work On YouTube // What you need to know about paid sponsorships (beginner's guide)

> Source: [How Sponsorships Work On YouTube // What you need to know about paid sponsorships (beginner's guide)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=7LFJEWXf1qE)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive overview of how YouTube sponsorships work, from initial outreach and negotiation to content creation, review, and final payment. The creator explains the process using her own experience, emphasizing the importance of planning and timelines.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Sponsorships** [0:00] — The video begins with a welcome and a teaser for a previous video about management teams. The creator states that today's focus is on the timeline and process of setting up a sponsorship, specifically for YouTube videos.
- **What is a Sponsorship?** [1:14] — A sponsorship is a flat-rate payment from a company for an ad slot within your content. This is distinct from affiliate marketing, which is commission-based.
- **How Sponsorships Start** [2:01] — Sponsorships can begin with a company or manager reaching out to you, or you reaching out to them. Having a brand reach out is preferable as they already have a budget and are looking for influencers.
- **The Negotiation Phase** [2:27] — Before a contract is signed, there is significant negotiation about price, deliverables (e.g., YouTube video, Instagram stories), and what is included. The creator highlights the value of a management team in handling this process.
- **Contract Review and Signing** [3:30] — After negotiation, a contract is reviewed and signed by both parties. The creator personally reviews all contracts, but management can also do this. Changes are discussed before finalization.
- **Content Creation: Concept and Approval** [4:29] — The first step in creating content is developing a concept and getting it approved by the brand. This involves proposing a title, outline, and how the sponsorship will be integrated into the video.
- **Determining Ad Format and Length** [5:47] — For YouTube, you decide the length of the ad (e.g., 30-second shout-out, 4-minute clip). Brands provide talking points and things to mention or avoid.
- **Creating the Ad (Sponsored Segment)** [6:20] — The creator demonstrates a sponsored ad for Epidemic Sound, a platform for royalty-free music and sound effects. She explains its features, including mood-based searching and a 'find similar' option.
- **The Review Process and Timeline** [8:29] — After creating the content, it goes through a review process. The creator emphasizes the need to plan ahead, as sponsored videos often require filming two weeks in advance to allow time for edits and approvals.
- **Final Steps: Upload and Scheduling** [9:36] — The creator uploads the final video to YouTube as unlisted, adds the appropriate title, description, and FTC disclaimer, and sends it to the brand for approval. Once approved, it is scheduled to go live.
- **Payment Process** [10:48] — Payment typically occurs after the content goes live, with terms like net 30, net 60, or net 90. The creator notes that her management team handles invoicing and payment collection.

## Transcript

hello you guys what is up welcome back
to my channel
we've got a matcha i hope that you loved
last week's video
i was so excited to create it editing it
was a heck of a process but like the
final product i was so incredibly proud
i felt like it was such helpful
information
and if you guys did not watch that video
i really recommend that you watch that
first because that talks about
management teams why i have a manager
the benefits of having a manager
how payment works like how do they get
paid and then how do i get paid with
sponsorships it's just so incredibly
good it's definitely long so if you got
some patience
stick with it but it is so so incredibly
informative so today
let me take a sip today we are going to
be talking about
how sponsorships work in terms of the
timeline
setting up a sponsorship actually
creating the content getting it reviewed
and just like the whole entire process
until we get the finished product
of you guys actually seeing the video or
the instagram photo instagram story
whatever it is that is sponsored
specifically in this video i'm gonna
talk about youtube videos because that's
what i have experience on
and that's mainly my audience here is
filled with a lot of youtubers so let's
just go ahead and get into it
[Music]
sponsorships i feel like they are just
this giant
mystery that not a lot of people talk
about and full transparency guys with
every sponsorship that i do
i do sign a contract and within there it
does say what i can and can't talk about
and there are certain areas that i can't
discuss such as how much i get paid per
sponsorship
not going to be talking about that in
this video and if you have no idea what
a sponsorship is a company will pay you
a flat rate to have an ad slot within
your content and this is totally
different from affiliate marketing so if
you've ever heard me talk about that
before
with affiliate marketing you will get a
custom trackable link if someone clicks
on that link and completes a successful
sale then you will get paid it is
commission based compared to with
sponsorships yes it can
include affiliate marketing but you get
paid a flat rate to have a specific ad
slot within your content
just from an upper level how the heck do
sponsorships work so from the very
beginning either a company is going to
reach out to you or your manager or you
are going to reach out to a company
about doing a possible sponsorship now
we talked about this in the management
video so definitely watch that but
having a brand reach out to you is
really preference because they already
have a budget and they're already
looking for influencers to sponsor so
that's a really great way to get started
with sponsorships and also get good
sponsorships
and from there guys there's a lot of
negotiating there's a lot of talking
before a contract is even signed so
you're going to talk about the price
what is included in the price so like
what are you actually going to deliver
the deliverables
youtube video instagram stories
instagram posts tick tock whatever it is
you need to figure out what is going to
be created how much is going to be
charged for that as well as what is then
going to go in the contract
no contract is signed until all of the
negotiation and that whole entire
process is done
and this is one of the reasons why i
love having a management team so much
because
they do all of the negotiating they will
come to me with what a brand is willing
to pay or what
they are trying to work out with a
company and i will say yep that sounds
good it fits into my content calendar or
no i think we should actually be
charging more or maybe we could also
throw in this i
am yes in the know of what is going on
but i
am not sending all of those emails back
and forth and managers are just so
incredibly great i am so thankful for
mine
i just i appreciate them and all of the
planning that they have to do to make
sponsorships even happen but
once the negotiating is done everything
is decided upon
then we get a contract now during the
negotiation phase
you will see a contract ahead of time to
know if there is anything that you want
to change so i review all of my
contracts myself
and this is just personal preference for
me you guys can have your management
team do it just to cover my own butt
guys like i like to look over all of my
own contracts so
i will review the contract if my
management team or i have something that
we want to change or even if the brand
has something that they want to change
we will discuss it before the final
contract is given out and then it is
signed by both parties so
i will sign it as well as the company
that i am working with and
i feel like that beginning part is not
the most fun
and if you are setting up your
sponsorships and your brand deals all on
your own
it is a decent amount of work that
you're probably not used to if you've
never done it before and it can take
weeks it can take
months to actually agree upon the terms
of a sponsorship before it actually
happens so
that whole process is a lot
and can't be ignored but i feel like
what you guys probably want to know more
about
is actually the creating content side of
things now you're probably so excited to
start creating this content get that
sponsored post so you can get
paid in reality the first step is you
need to come up with your concept your
post idea
and get it approved by the brand so
depending on the brand they may ask for
several different concepts and then they
get to choose the one that they want to
move forward with but most of the time
what i do is i will come up with a
general title or
kind of like a rough draft of what i
think the title is going to be and then
some bullet points of what the video is
going to be and how i'm going to include
that sponsorship because you guys may
notice with the sponsorships that i do
all of them relate to the video it's not
like i'm creating a video like this and
then i'm talking about my skincare you
know like that doesn't
really flow it doesn't make sense so i
try to
come up with video ideas that are very
specific to the sponsorships that it
flows really well together
and it just makes a lot of sense for not
only you guys my audience
and the brand that i'm working with it's
going to be most powerful for them
if i do that so i will send over the
concept idea rough title
outline some brands ask for a couple
different options so i will do that and
then once it is approved or
we kind of work through like the final
draft of what the video is going to be
then it is finally time to start
creating content but if we back it up a
little bit
when you decide what kind of content you
are creating for the sponsored post so
whether
it's on instagram an instagram story
real igtv you guys know all of the
options available
with youtube typically you decide on the
length of time that the ad is going to
be so is it going to be a 30 second
shout out or is it going to be
a four minute clip within your youtube
video and that's really important for
you to know
typically brands will give you a list of
talking points or certain things that
they would like you to mention during
the ad
possibly things that they don't want you
to mention during the ad and that is
also helpful when you are coming up with
what you are going to say
i feel like you guys should have seen
this coming but it's time to create the
ad
so this section of the video is
sponsored by epidemic sound
if you guys haven't heard me talk about
epidemic sound before i honestly don't
know where you've been i've been using
this platform for
well over a year to find all of my
copyright free music as well as sound
effects that i include within my youtube
videos so if you are new to epidemic
sound basically what it is it's a
platform where you can find royalty-free
music because we are not about getting
copyrighted over here and
their library is so easy to use and
navigate if you know a general
vibe that you want to go for for your
piece of content so let's say it's
sad or happy you can search based off of
mood you can also search based off of
genre
and my favorite feature that i know i've
shared before if you find a song that
you like there's actually an option
where you can click on just one little
button
and it's going to populate other similar
songs so if you're like oh i like this
song but it's not perfect you can click
on the
find similar option and it's going to
generate a whole list
of other songs you can check out so you
can find the perfect perfect song for
your piece of content but i know a lot
of you guys are youtubers you have your
own youtube channel and you would
probably only need the personal plan
which if you use the link included in
the description bar down below you get a
one month free trial so you can try it
out
if you like it then you can sign up for
their personal plan which is just 15
a month it's really not that much and
you can cancel at any time if you get to
a point where you do need to cancel that
is an option for you and one of the
questions i've gotten asked before is
well what happens if i cancel am i then
going to get copyrighted and the answer
is
no during that time when you were a
member the pieces of content that you
created those are considered white
listed and they will not
get copyright strikes it's just if you
continue to use their music in the
future then you may run into problems
but if there are any of you out there
that are freelancers or if you are
creators that create content for clients
the commercial plan may actually be more
beneficial for you because you can get
clearance based off of the content that
you are creating for clients so when
they
upload it they are not getting copyright
strikes so thank you so much to epidemic
sound for sponsoring this video if you
guys want to try it out for yourself
definitely click the link in the
description bar down below and get
started with a one month free trial you
can cancel at any time so you might as
well
give it a shot try it out thank me later
with your piece of sponsored content
created
it's time for it to go in the review
process and guys the timeline of
sponsorships
may be longer than you think and you may
have actually heard of other youtubers
sharing that like they had to miss an
upload because the sponsored video was
supposed to go live but it didn't get
approval or something else
you need to plan out your content ahead
of time
with sponsorships to make sure that you
have enough time to go through that
review process and if there
are edits or corrections that you need
to make and then get it reviewed again
you need to make sure that you have that
time there so typically i film my
youtube videos one week in advance of
them going live but with sponsored
videos i typically have to film them two
weeks ahead of time or even more
depending on the agreed-upon timeline
with the brand and this is something
that you need to figure out ahead of
time because you do not want to be at a
point where
you're scrambling to get the final edits
done and have them reviewed
so that the video can go live on your
uploading schedule that's just not
something you want to deal with so
have a timeline figured out ahead of
time create your content way in advance
and what you're going to do is get it
reviewed by the brand
and depending on what platform or what
kind of content it is the review process
is going to be different but
specifically for youtube videos what i
do
is i will take the edited video and
upload it to youtube like i normally do
when i want to schedule a youtube video
to go live so i will add the appropriate
title
the final draft of what the title is
going to be i will add in the
description the things that i need to
add so
within the top fold is there anything
that i need to include for that
sponsorship such as a link or
specific wording that the brand wants
there i also need to include the ftc
disclaimer because guys you need to
disclose that your videos are sponsored
within what you
are saying but also in your description
and you also need to check the box that
says that your video includes a paid
promotion so with all of that
done i will then make the video unlisted
i will send it over to my management
team my management team will send it
over to the brand the brand will
come back with if it is approved and
it's good to go or if there are some
corrections that need to be made
there are corrections that need to be
made i then go back to final cut pro
make the corrections upload it to
youtube do the exact same thing make it
unlisted send it back to the brand and
if you
go through that process a couple of
times guys that is why you need to
create your content ahead of time and
you need to know that schedule so that
you don't miss an upload because of a
sponsored video
not being approved in time so at that
point i
am done i will schedule the youtube
video for the day that it is meant to go
live
and that's really it if you guys watch
the video with my management team you
would know that they actually send out
all of my invoices collect
payment and then i get paid through them
the payment process doesn't happen until
after the piece of content goes live and
something you guys should know
is that within your contract it is going
to say how payment works and if it is
net 30
net 16 net 90 whatever it is you should
know that because
it could be a month two months three
months before you actually get paid for
your sponsorship so you think oh i'm
gonna create a sponsored video and i'm
gonna get paid that day or that week
it's in your contract so you need to pay
attention to that but that is it
in terms of the timeline and just how
sponsorships work in general obviously
there's so much more that goes into
sponsorships with pitching brands and
the negotiating and even looking into
contracts guys like there is a lot that
goes into it but just in terms of the
timeline
and just like kind of bird's eye view
i guess you could say of how
sponsorships work that's it so i hope
you guys like this video if you did make
sure you give it a thumbs up and
subscribe to my channel down below let
me know what other topics you guys want
me to talk about in terms of the
business side of youtube getting paid on
youtube whatever it is let me know and
i'll create those for you guys but
otherwise i'm out of here
bye guys
[Music]
you