Free · no signup · buyer-ready estimate
Estimate a YouTube sponsorship budget before you reach out.
Paste a channel, pick the sponsorship format you are pitching, and get a planning range you can defend in a budget meeting. We pull public channel and recent video metrics, classify niche from titles and descriptions, price from view delivery and format benchmarks, then layer a short buying brief on top.
This is not the creator's private rate card. It is the math and the questions you bring to the negotiation.
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Built for sponsorship buyers
Not a fake quote — a defensible planning range.
Public YouTube data cannot reveal a creator's private rate card or their last closed deal. What it can do: show how many people actually watch recent uploads, which niche CPM band applies, and what a fair range looks like before you email their manager.
Public performance
Recent view counts on long-form uploads and Shorts drive the estimate. Subscriber count shows up for context, but brands usually pay for expected delivery — and delivery shows up in views, not vanity metrics.
Format-aware rates
Compare description links, pinned comments, 60–90 second integrations, dedicated sponsor videos, and Shorts placements. Each format gets its own CPM adjustment so you are not pricing a pinned comment like a full read.
Buying brief
Confidence notes, niche caveats, negotiation angles, and five questions to ask before you send budget. The range is math; the brief is what you actually say on the call.
Spot existing sponsor reads
Sponsorship detection starts in the transcript.
Budgeting tells you what to offer. Scanning past videos tells you whether the channel already runs brand deals — and how openly they disclose them. Most teams do this by pulling spoken text and searching for a handful of patterns.
"use code" / promo codes
Spoken discount codes are the easiest win. Creators almost always say the code out loud even when the description link is buried.
#ad · paid partnership
FTC-style disclosures often land in the first 30 seconds — "this video is sponsored by", "thanks to X for sponsoring", or a quick #ad read before the hook continues.
Brand names in the read
Product walkthroughs with competitor comparisons ("I switched from A to B") usually mean money changed hands, even without a formal disclosure line.
Where this breaks down
- Videos without captions return not_found on transcript lookup. No track means no text to scan.
- Creators who skip disclosure break platform rules — but your scanner will miss them if they never say the quiet part out loud.
- Integrated reads can sound like organic enthusiasm. Pair transcript hits with description links and pinned comments when you need higher confidence.
YouTube returns data.transcript.segments with millisecond offsets — useful when you want to jump straight to the ad read in a review UI. Pair with /v1/youtube/videos when you need publish date and view count in the same export.
Transcript API use case → · or try the free YouTube transcript tool for a single URL.
For agencies & marketers
Price one channel here. Screen hundreds from code.
This page is a single manual check with fair-use limits. At scale, most buyers run two passes: channel and recent-video lookups for pricing math, then transcript pulls on the uploads they care about to flag existing sponsor reads.
List videos with /v1/youtube/channels/{handle}/videos, estimate CPM bands from the metrics, then hit /v1/youtube/videos/transcript per URL. Branch on data.lookupStatus — not_found still means the lookup ran; lookup_failed is safe to retry.
const channel = await fetch("https://api.socialfetch.dev/v1/youtube/channel?handle=creator",{ headers: { "x-api-key": "…" } });
FAQ
Questions you probably have
How does the YouTube sponsorship calculator work?
Paste a channel handle or URL and pick a sponsorship format. We fetch public channel metadata and recent video metrics, classify niche from titles and descriptions, estimate expected views from that sample, apply format-specific CPM benchmarks, and return a planning range with confidence notes plus an AI buying brief.
Is this the creator's actual rate?
No. This is a planning range from public data, not the creator's private rate card or their last closed deal. Before you commit budget, ask for 30-day average views, audience geography, retention on sponsor segments, and results from past brand campaigns.
Why do you use recent views instead of subscribers?
Brands pay for expected delivery, not subscriber count. A channel with a million subs and 20k views per upload should be priced like 20k views. Recent public view counts are a better proxy for how many people a sponsored placement may reach.
What sponsorship format should I choose?
A 60–90 second integrated mention is the default because most YouTube sponsorship benchmarks assume that format. Dedicated sponsor videos cost more. Description links and pinned comments are usually lightweight add-ons, not the main buy.
Why is the estimate a range?
Pricing swings on niche, audience quality, format, usage rights, exclusivity, and how booked the creator is. A range is more honest than a fake exact number — and the buying brief explains what would push you toward the low or high end.
Can I use this for YouTube Shorts?
Yes. Shorts are priced on a different curve from long-form integrations. The tool separates Shorts-like uploads where it can and shows a dedicated Shorts estimate alongside long-form numbers.
How do teams detect existing sponsorships on a channel?
Most buyers pull video transcripts and search for disclosure language (#ad, paid partnership, sponsored by), promo codes (use code …), and repeated brand names in product segments. YouTube captions have to exist — videos without a track return not_found on transcript lookup. Undisclosed integrations are invisible to text search.
What transcript patterns should I search for?
Start with FTC-style reads in the first 30 seconds, spoken discount codes, and competitor switch stories (I moved from X to Y). Timestamps in data.transcript.segments let you jump to the exact moment. Pair transcript hits with description links when you need higher confidence.
Can I screen many channels with the API?
This page is for manual checks with fair-use limits. For creator screening at scale, use the YouTube channel and channel videos APIs for pricing math, then /v1/youtube/videos/transcript on the uploads you want to scan for sponsor reads. Branch on data.lookupStatus — not HTTP status alone.