The ultimate guide to YouTube sponsorships and brand deals

How do you get brand deals as a creator? How should you price your first spot? What can you do to raise your sponsor rates? In this mega-interview, I ask my agent, Nebula CEO Dave Wiskus, all these questions and more.

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⏱ Timestamps:
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00:00 - Intro
03:34 - Conversation starts
05:44 - The relationship between views and sponsor rates
09:10 - "Logical-Next-Step" sponsors
11:55 - Maintaining the integrity of your content
17:33 - Dave's history as a CEO and Creator
19:53 - At what point can you work with brands?
23:54 - What YouTube Studio metrics should a creator track?
28:24 - Broad-appeal vs. content-specific sponsors
32:34 - Channel trajectories: Growing channels vs stagnant channels
38:45 - Why your audience is constantly changing
41:49 - The best metric: Views from Subscribers
43:13 - Why was Thomas's rate consistent for years?
49:45 - If you can't price perfectly, price too low
53:58 - Pricing from the brand's perspective
55:35 - CPA/KPI definitions
1:02:50 - Additional factors brands care about
1:06:39 - Does brand association matter?
01:09:44 - Don't put ads at the beginning of your video
01:10:29 - Don't let sponsors take your video for their ads
01:13:30 - Should you ever let brands use your likeness?
01:16:32 - Agencies and "magnet creators"
01:28:13 - Pitfalls of YouTube managers
01:31:58 - Thomas's rules on who he works with
01:46:05 - How an MCN can take advantage of you
01:47:58 - Nebula and content ownership
01:48:44 - Criteria for evaluating an agency
02:02:11 - How to get performance data from brands
02:09:40 - Brand deals must be win-win-win
02:21:32 - Growing your network
02:23:50 - What to ask an agency when they pitch you
02:26:12 - Should agencies publish their entire rosters?
02:28:04 - Agencies should go to bat for you
02:32:33 - How to price your first spot
02:38:16 - Should Patreon be a stepping stone toward brand deals?
02:41:00 - Using affiliate marketing to get performance data
02:50:39 - Thomas's relationship with Skillshare
03:00:05 - CPM or CPA - which is more important?
03:01:00 - Should I give a brand my analytics?
03:01:43 - How should you get paid?
03:03:12 - Pre-roll, mid-roll, or end-roll?
03:04:51 - How many revisions should you do for your ad?
03:07:30 - Should you place time limits for how long ads stay up?
03:08:22 - How do you make more money from your sponsorships?
03:09:37 - What are common mistakes creators make?
03:17:50 - Where to follow Dave
03:18:34 - Business 101 for Creators

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[viktorfromsales]

Probably the most valuable video I’ve watched this year so far. Thanks for recording this, guys!

[AmritaBhortake]

Hi Tom, I see that many people have mixed reactions on this video and just wanted to say that I am huge fan of both your channels and this was one of the best videos that I have found online talking about brand deal advice. It is honest and I am so thankful you decide to post it. Thank you!

[Khormologia]

ONE OF THE BEST COURSES EVER! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S HERE FOR FREE !!! THANK YOU THOMAS

[alexander_becker]

This is really high value! Thanks a lot Thomas, for interviewing genius Dave Wiskus about this.

[circlesthesun]

A lot of tenaciousness Tom. One of your admirable traits. I'm proud of you.

[AntiParallali]

Thanks for this Tom! I'm watching this as I'm thinking about signing on with an agency that reached out and now I know what questions I need to be asking!

[mjhudson]

I just started creating on YouTube and this video is immensely valuable to a new creator in terms of guiding my channel and obstacles to look forward to as I continue scaling my channel up.

[elvispaul]

I own an Influencer management agency called NewYuth, and it's my full-time job to help Creators scale and build a career that lasts. This video has been very insightful for me, I watched it all the way through and took notes. Thank you so much Tom for posting this!

[apolace]

This is such a great video. Hearing what goes on down the line is really cool.

[NomadOverNormal]

glad this exists. My first sponsor deal was $400. Estimated to get about 1-5k views ish at the time. That particular video got 20k views. They won cause they got a hit video, I won cause I got someone to give me $400.

[PathLessPedaledTV]

Thanks for the great conversation! Learned so much.

[theuberman]

Would Love to know More of your YouTube Secrets (From G.o.a.t of Self improvement Niche 🙏)
Thanks For Posting this Bro 👊

[Nusoa-hrpk]

bro came back and disapeared again haha

[klaratulicic]

Amazing business lessons, not just for creators! 💯

[DavidH_Scott]

Dang, I sometimes forget that Dave the agent isn’t just a Patrick H Willems character/actor 😅

[imhimthehonored]

Am I the only one who's watching this 3 hour long video despite not being a creator just because this look productive to do

[BryanKofsky]

It blows my mind (but not at all surprising) how short term the thinking is for an agency not to look out for you if you're performing well for them.

[carlosreyesf]

33:15 hey Thomas, I feel that my channel used to be like the first one, but now I stuck on the second type of channel: stagnant.

Do you know how could I fix that? I would really like to get my channel out of stagnation. I know there is probably no 1 single solution, but I don't know where to start. I'm trying topics that should be interesting, with decent thumbanils and good editing. Yet I'm not seeing growth as I used to.

I started the channel inspired by you, so I'm really thankful for that.

[ifbut_then]

Where have you gone bro?? You were having a good going..You come and disappear

[Verenaaschulz]

Looking forward to watch your video ☺️🌸