What YouTube sponsors actually pay in 2026, by channel size
Median sponsorship CPMs from 9,002 booked integrations, what creators agreed to at each size, and how niche and placement change the price.
From the Creator Comps desk. Every number here comes from the published datasets behind our free sponsorship rate calculator, linked where they are used.
The short answer
Most YouTube sponsorships are priced per 1,000 views (CPM). In 9,002 integrations booked through ThoughtLeaders between August 2024 and August 2026, the median price per 1,000 views fell steadily as channels got bigger:
| Subscribers | Median CPM | Booked integrations | At 10,000 views |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 100K | $36 | 1,060 | $360 |
| 100K to 500K | $26 | 3,047 | $260 |
| 500K to 1M | $21 | 1,575 | $210 |
| 1M to 5M | $19 | 1,369 | $190 |
| 5M and up | $17 | 164 | $170 |
Small channels earn the most per view. Big channels earn more per video only because they get more views.
What creators agreed to, in dollars
Kolect publishes agreed fees from its own campaigns (August 2025 to October 2026). For YouTube, mostly integrations:
| Subscribers | Median fee | Middle half of deals |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10K | $300 | $150 to $500 |
| 10K to 100K | $500 | $300 to $800 |
| 100K to 500K | $800 | $488 to $1,430 |
| 500K to 1M | $1,100 | $633 to $1,994 |
| 1M and up | $1,800 | $1,175 to $4,000 |
Kolect's campaigns lean toward consumer tech, home, DIY and lifestyle brands, so treat these as one market's prices, not the whole market.
Niche matters more than size
SponsorRadar's typical integration ranges run from $40 to $80 CPM for finance and business down to $8 to $18 for music. Technology sits at $30 to $60, health and fitness at $25 to $45, gaming at $10 to $25. A finance channel can out-earn a gaming channel twice its size. The full list is on the YouTube rates page.
Four worked examples
From the calculator, for one 60 to 90 second integration:
- Education, 8K subscribers, 1,500 average views: about $60 (range $30 to $60).
- Health and fitness, 40K subscribers, 6,000 views: about $270 (range $150 to $270). A dedicated video on the same channel: about $680.
- Technology, 150K subscribers, 25,000 views: about $1,050 (range $750 to $1,500).
- Gaming, 150K subscribers, 25,000 views: about $410 (range $250 to $630).
What changes the price
- Placement. A dedicated video costs 2 to 3 times an integration (InfluencerFee).
- Usage rights. If the brand wants to run your video as an ad, published guides put that at 20% to 50% of the base fee for 30 days.
- Exclusivity. Agreeing not to work with competitors adds 20% to 100%, depending on how long.
- The view-count change. YouTube changed how it counts views on Aug 24, 2026. Public counts now run higher than the basis these rates were set on, so if your views jumped after that date, expect brands to price you nearer the low end.
How to use this
Take the average views of your last 10 to 15 videos after 30 days, not your best one. Divide by 1,000 and multiply by the CPM for your size and niche. Quote that for the integration, then list extras as separate lines. Or put your numbers into the calculator and it shows the arithmetic and sources.