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How to Land Big Brand Sponsorships — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

How I Got Sponsored by a $200 Billion Company

0h 12m video Published Oct 30, 2023 Transcribed Aug 8, 2026 Nate Curtiss Nate Curtiss
Beginner 5 min read For: Aspiring YouTubers and content creators looking to secure brand sponsorships.
AI Trust Score 70/100
⚠️ Average / Some Fluff

"Delivers on the promise with a detailed, actionable breakdown of the sponsorship process, though some parts are self-promotional."

AI Summary

A 17-year-old YouTuber explains how he secured a five-figure sponsorship deal with CapCut, a company worth over $200 billion. He details the strategies he used to attract sponsors, how he negotiated the deal, and the challenges he faced along the way.

[00:02]
Sponsors reached out first

The creator emphasizes that having sponsors reach out to you first is easier than pitching them. He shares a checklist to make your channel appealing to brands.

[00:51]
Audience size and views

Brands typically require at least 10,000 views per video, and 99% of sponsored integrations are in long-form videos, not shorts.

[01:20]
Buying power of audience

Audiences from industrialized regions like the US, Canada, Scandinavia, and Western Europe have higher buying power, making them prime targets for sponsors.

[02:11]
Audience loyalty

Consistent views and a solid upload schedule signal loyalty. Loyal customers spend 43% more on average, making your channel a better investment for sponsors.

[03:05]
Showing your face

Showing your face increases trust; people are 83% more likely to trust word-of-mouth recommendations from a human. A logo that looks like a face can help if you don't show your face.

[03:45]
Niche alignment

Brands care about alignment with your niche. A channel niched down to a space with many brands (e.g., YouTube analytics) is more attractive than a general audience.

[04:13]
Reputation matters

Avoid tarnishing your reputation or associating with controversial topics, as this makes it harder to get sponsors.

[04:28]
Verifying sponsor emails

Use a 'patented test' to verify sponsor emails: check the sender's email domain and look for agency signatures with links to company websites and LinkedIn pages.

[05:57]
Types of sponsorships

Two main types: ad reads (60-90 second shoutouts) and dedicated videos (entire video integration). Ad read CPMs range from $15-$30; dedicated video CPMs range from $40-$80.

[06:25]
Calculating ad read rates

Formula: average views on last 3-6 videos / 1000 * 15-30. Example: 50,000 views gives $750-$1,500 for an ad read.

[07:10]
Dedicated video rates

For dedicated videos, with 50,000 average views, expect $2,000-$4,000. These work best when the brand aligns with your niche.

[08:03]
Email response strategy

Respond concisely to sponsor emails. Wait 2-3 days before following up, and avoid sending on Fridays. Best times are Tuesday/Thursday around 9 AM EST.

[08:45]
Negotiation leverage

When a sponsor reaches out, you have leverage. Start with a higher rate and negotiate down. 86% of people who negotiate earn more money.

[09:53]
Using VidIQ for concepts

Used VidIQ's AI chatbot to generate video concepts related to CapCut that would go viral on his channel.

[10:30]
Deadline challenges

Faced a power outage and missing thumbnail designer, but stayed calm and posted just in time. Emphasizes giving yourself ample time for deadlines.

[11:36]
Invoicing and payment terms

After submitting the video, send an invoice with bank details for wire transfer. Payment terms are typically net 30, net 90, or net 15.

Securing a high-value sponsorship requires building an appealing channel, verifying legitimacy, negotiating strategically, and managing deadlines carefully. The creator's experience shows that with the right approach, even young creators can land significant brand deals.

Mentioned in this Video

Tutorial Checklist

1 00:51 Ensure your channel gets at least 10,000 views per video, focusing on long-form content.
2 01:20 Build an audience with buying power (e.g., from industrialized regions) and loyalty through consistent uploads.
3 03:05 Show your face or use a face-like logo to increase trust.
4 04:28 Verify sponsor emails by checking the sender's domain and agency signatures.
5 06:25 Calculate ad read rates: average views / 1000 * 15-30.
6 08:03 Respond concisely to sponsor emails and follow up after 2-3 days, avoiding Fridays.
7 08:45 Start with a higher rate and negotiate down.
8 09:53 Use tools like VidIQ to generate video concepts aligned with the sponsor's brand.
9 11:36 Submit an invoice with bank details after posting the video.

Study Flashcards (9)

What is the minimum view count per video that most brands look for?

easy Click to reveal answer

At least 10,000 views per video.

00:51

What percentage of sponsored integrations are found in long-form videos?

easy Click to reveal answer

99%.

00:51

What is 'buying power' in the context of YouTube audiences?

medium Click to reveal answer

The ability of an audience to buy things, often associated with older audiences from industrialized regions.

01:20

How much more do loyal customers spend on average compared to unloyal customers?

medium Click to reveal answer

43% more.

02:23

What is the formula for calculating an ad read rate?

hard Click to reveal answer

Average views on last 3-6 videos / 1000 * 15-30.

06:25

What is the typical CPM range for ad reads?

medium Click to reveal answer

$15 to $30.

06:39

What is the typical CPM range for dedicated videos?

medium Click to reveal answer

$40 to $80.

07:10

What percentage of people who negotiate earn more money?

easy Click to reveal answer

86%.

09:25

What are the best days and times to send follow-up emails to sponsors?

medium Click to reveal answer

Tuesday and Thursday at around 9:00 AM EST.

08:31

💡 Key Takeaways

💡

Sponsors reaching out first

Highlights the advantage of being approached by sponsors rather than pitching them, a key strategy for higher-value deals.

00:02
📊

Loyal customers spend 43% more

Provides a concrete statistic that underscores the value of audience loyalty to sponsors.

02:23
⚖️

Trust in human recommendations

Explains why showing your face increases trust, a psychological principle that creators can leverage.

03:19
🔧

Ad read rate formula

Offers a practical, actionable formula for creators to price their sponsorships.

06:25
💡

Negotiation leverage

Emphasizes the importance of negotiating, backed by a statistic that most negotiators earn more.

09:25

[00:02] to get sponsors and yet here I am at only 17 years old securing brand deals with a company worth over $200 billion but I'll get back to that because first I need to walk you through exactly how I made them want to work with me how a

[00:14] power outage almost ruined everything and how I finally closed the deal to secure a five fig sponsorship deal let's go all the way back to when they first contacted me and yes they were the ones to reach out first I've reached out to

[00:27] sponsors before and been successful but it's much easier for you to get high dollar brand deals If instead of you putting in the work to find them they find you so here's a checklist for you to run through with your channel to make

[00:39] yourself more appealing to Brands first you'll need to understand that it's not worth it for a company to pay for exposure to like 100 viewers so obviously you'll need a somewhat large audience that is pulling in at least

[00:51] 10,000 views per video and I'm not talking about shorts either most brands because it's just very difficult to ask advertised within a 60-second vertical video 99% of sponsored Integrations are found in long form videos so get your

[01:07] views up in that department before doing anything else however the views on your long form videos have to also make up an audience that Brands can sell something to certain audiences on YouTube have what we call buying power which is quite

[01:20] literally the ability to buy things audiences that are older from more industrialized regions like the US Canada Scandinavia and Western Europe involve spending money are all prime

[01:32] because they are more likely to buy that Brand's product or service Americans in particular are a big Target for sponsors because Americans just tend to have more money to spend on things than less industrialized countries like India or

[01:46] industrialized countries like India or hey are you saying that all Indians are poor no no no I'm not hating on any particular countries or regions I love all my viewers just the reality of advertising on social media is that for

[01:59] have to advertise to the richest countries with the highest gdps to actually make the most money possible that's all and another part of an appealing audience for a sponsor is loyalty which is usually reflected in a

[02:11] consistent view count across most of your videos and a solid upload schedule sponsors like audience loyalty for a couple reasons first as a Creator getting sponsored you're getting paid to advertise a brand to your audience

[02:23] something off of your recommendation because they like you and trust you in fact one study found that loyal customers spend 43% more on average than unloyal customers consistent views and uploads are both signs of a loyal

[02:38] which helps a sponsor see your channel as a better investment with potentially higher conversions than advertising a different way also with consistent views and a solid upload schedule a sponsor can be confident that you'll meet their

[02:51] the brand in a sponsored video on the topic of viewer loyalty having yourself as the main focus of your channel is another really appealing characteristic to sponsors especially if you show your face but I mean I didn't show my face

[03:05] and still made tens of thousands of dollars off of sponsors so it's not 100% necessary but it definitely helps the reason showing your face is so important is because naturally people are 83% more likely to trust other people when it

[03:19] comes to Word of Mouth and product recommendations and so sponsors will that are based on a human rather than something like a corporation at the very least if you're not going to show your face have a logo that looks like a face

[03:32] human connection there to help increase your chances of getting reached out to want to consider that certain brands care about their alignment with your niche in the sense that a YouTube Analytics tool like vid IQ is going to

[03:45] have a much easier time selling to an audience of YouTubers like mine versus a lot more people in it if your channel is niched down to a space where there are lots of brands that want to advertise to a target audience you'll often have an

[03:58] the on the flip side if your content appeals to a more General audience you still have Brands available that just care about advertising to a more General niches can provide and before we finish

[04:13] sure you don't do anything stupid on the internet to tarnish your reputation or associate with because you'll have a really hard time getting sponsors in both of these cases now back to the company that reached out to me I get a

[04:28] lot of fake sponsor ships in my email that are really just scammers using fake emails to try to get something from me and you probably will too so when you sponsor it's important that you run it through my patented test first

[04:42] check the email of the sender usually it's from the company's website like for example a vid IQ sponsor would have an email like johnsmith vid iq.com however for some Brands especially larger ones it's not uncommon for them to work with

[04:55] influencer marketing agencies that basically handle all aspects of sponsoring creators on social media and sometimes even managing the company's own socials usually just because these agencies are a lot better at growing on

[05:07] social media and are more well connected with creators than whatever company this you'll often get messages from these agencies instead of from the brand directly which means that when I got an email ending with the name of an agency

[05:19] and not the name of the company I wasn't shocked or scared and I had never heard of this agency before so how did I know it was legit in an actual sponsor's agency reaching out well the guy who sent me the email introduced himself and

[05:31] information in the email signature which would lead me to the company website and the LinkedIn pages of the agency rep so I knew it was safe to respond to the email in the email he introduced himself

[05:44] editing company he didn't reveal the brand upfront because it was a very tentative offer at the time but he did mention that they wanted a dedicated two main types of sponsorships that

[05:57] other is an ad read if you watch YouTube at all which I assume you do if you're watching this video then you'll definitely have run into ad reads before ad reads are usually just 60 to 90 second shout outs of a brand like you

[06:10] to just take a minute to thank the sponsor of this video generic VPN calculating your rate for these is easy just find the average view count on your last 3 to six videos or so divide by a th000 then multiply by 15 to 30 this

[06:25] little equation comes from the fact that advertisers on YouTube and other places pay based on a metric called CPM which is just a dollar amount per 1,000 Impressions on an ad from my experience and when speaking with other YouTubers a

[06:39] CPM between $15 and $30 is normal-ish in the case of an adre here's a quick example let's say you average 50,000 views over your last six videos dividing that number by a th000 gets you 50 which multiplied by 15 to3 gets you around 750

[06:55] to 1,500 which means that you should look for a rate in the realm of $750 to $1,500 for that specific sponsorship deal dedicated videos on the other hand are just sponsored Integrations that usually last an entire video for example

[07:10] using a company's product or service throughout an entire video like I did with my Fiverr video which was sponsored by none other than Fiverr cpms on dedicated videos range anywhere from $40 to $80 from my experience so you're

[07:24] fact that you have to promote a product for a whole video versus only 60 to 90 seconds dedicated videos usually only work if the brand you're working with aligns directly with your Niche because for example a dedicated video with a VPN

[07:38] nobody in my audience of YouTubers whereas this particular case with a video editing tool probably is so if we video with an average view count of

[07:50] around 50,000 views on the last six videos you can expect between $2,000 and $4,000 for this kind of integration but anyway I responded to his email with with a very short and concise message saying I was interested which is what

[08:03] condensed and to the point as possible so you aren't wasting anybody's time and get the response you need as fast as possible I did this on a Wednesday and 2 response I usually like to wait 2 to 3 days or so before sending a follow-up

[08:18] message to a sponsor but at that point I was better off waiting until Monday because messages sent on Friday get buried in people's inboxes on the checking their email and if you really want to optimize your strategy the

[08:31] company co- schedule ran an analysis of their data and found that across tens of send an email and get one back in a timely matter was on Tuesday and Thursday at around 9:00 a.m. EST on Monday I sent a short follow-up message

[08:45] informing me that the brand was cap cut and asked for my rates cap cut is owned actually owns Tik Tok as well and is worth over $200 billion which meant this

[08:57] opportunity for me I initially came in with a rate that was higher than I knew knew they would negotiate me down and we'd eventually be able to meet in the made me more money than any other way I would have done it because in a

[09:11] situation where a sponsor is reaching out to you you have a bit of Leverage interested so unless you say something absolutely absurd like $100,000 for a 200 subscribers then they're not going

[09:25] just try to negotiate you down and also studies show that 86% of people who negotiate earn more money so it's definitely in your best interest to do something lower and we were able to

[09:38] rate that I was initially looking for after that we locked in the details of the integration signed a contract set the deadline for the last Wednesday think was the 25th or something and landed on a video concept using vid IQ

[09:53] vid IQ is my personal favorite YouTube Analytics tool and for my video with capcut I use vid iq's AI chat bot to come up with a few different concepts that it said would go viral on my channel and were related to capcut hate

[10:05] to spoil things for you but the one I went with ended up blowing up to make this yourself you can get a month of vid IQ boost for only a dollar using my Link IQ boost for only a dollar using my Link at vid iq.com Nate wealth or with this

[10:18] QR code on screen after landing on a concept though I soon realized that to make this video I need a little bit more time because I'd actually have to edit something with cap cut to get content for the video we ini Al agreed to

[10:30] publish a video on July 25th so I just asked them if they could push it back to the Wednesday after which was August 1st ideally I wanted to stick to my upload schedule of posting weekly on Wednesdays however the rep came back and told me

[10:42] that cap Cut's budget was only set for July so this wasn't possible So eventually I conceded and said that I'd post it on Tuesday July 30th the day would still work out and I would get as

[10:55] possible little did I know though that my my editor maro's electricity would die right as he was exporting the video one of my thumbnail designers wouldn't respond to me for a while and I wouldn't have a thumbnail and by 11:54 p.m. on

[11:09] July 30th just minutes before cap Cut's budget for July would disappear I would have no video I was panicking maricio was panicking our computers electricity houses everything was just in crisis but we stayed calm and composed and managed

[11:22] to work against the clock to post in time with although very little wiggle yourself ample time to meet deadlines because you just never know what's going versus the clock once I submitted everything they ask for an invoice which

[11:36] is just a financial document that tells the company or person that owes you money your bank deals and personal information for a wire transfer or get paid and if you want my invoice template for completely free head to

[11:50] where do they go go to nw.com or use this QR code on screen and it'll get delivered straight to your inbox for completely free no catch most companies that I've worked with are either net30 net 90 or sometimes even net 15 which

[12:05] just means that you'll either get paid 30 90 or 15 days after you submit the and speaking of getting paid make sure you follow my Twitter and my Instagram you follow my Twitter and my Instagram and my friend

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