- Write down the customer and market you need before looking at a single channel.
- Shortlist creators by audience fit, not subscriber count.
- Vet them: recent views, audience data, comments, past sponsors, brand safety.
- Compare every quote on CPM, the price per 1,000 views.
- Start with several creators, keep the ones that sell.
- Use an agency when you need access, negotiation and reporting across several creators or markets.
1. Know who you are hiring for
Hiring a creator means renting the attention of their audience. So the first question is not who is famous, it is who your customer watches. Write down the goal (sales, installs, sign-ups or awareness), the country, the language and the customer you want to reach. That list is your filter for every channel that follows.
2. Find creators whose audience fits
Brands have moved away from follower counts: in CreatorIQ’s survey of 1,723 marketers, agencies and creators, suitability and brand fit topped the list of selection criteria for brands (22%), compared with 8% for follower count. Search by topic first (travel, food, commentary, tech, family), in the language your customers speak, and look at which channels your competitors have already sponsored.
Source: CreatorIQ, State of Creator Marketing, survey by Sapio Research, Oct 1, 2025. CreatorIQ sells creator marketing software.
3. Vet every creator
This is where most money is lost. Ask for the numbers before you talk price.
| Check | What to ask for | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Recent views | Median views of the last 10 long videos | Only a subscriber count, or an average pulled up by one viral hit |
| Audience | Country, age and gender, as YouTube Studio screenshots | A media kit from last year and no screenshots |
| Comments | A look at the last few videos | Generic one-word comments with no real conversation |
| Past sponsors | Which brands, how often, how they were presented | An ad in every video, or direct competitors of yours |
| Brand safety | Topics, tone and language of the channel | Subjects your brand is not comfortable being next to |
4. Compare creators on CPM
A channel with 40,000 views and one with 400,000 views cannot be compared on the total price. Divide each quote by the expected views and multiply by 1,000: that is the CPM, and it puts every creator on the same scale. Market ranges by channel size and niche are in our guide on how much a YouTube sponsorship costs, and our sponsorship calculator gives you a range in seconds. For prices on other platforms and agency fees, see the influencer marketing cost guide.
5. Test before you commit
The best creator on paper is not always the one who sells. For a first campaign, several creators teach you more than one: give each one a unique link, code or QR code, compare cost per sale, and keep the ones that perform. The metrics are in our guide on how to measure YouTube sponsorship ROI.
In-house or with an agency?
Most brands still run influencer marketing in-house: 66% say theirs is managed entirely in-house, according to Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2026 benchmark. But large US brands are turning to specialized agencies: Linqia reports 49% of marketers now work with one, up from 28% a year earlier.
Sources: Influencer Marketing Hub, Benchmark Report 2026 (May 4, 2026; 600+ respondents) · Linqia, 2026 State of Influencer Marketing (200+ enterprise marketers; Linqia is an influencer agency).
If you hire an agency, judge it on four questions:
- Reach: which creators can it actually get in your market and language?
- Data: what does it get from creators before you pay, and does it show you?
- Price: how does it charge, and is the creator fee separate from its own?
- Report: what will you see at the end, per creator?
See how we run YouTube sponsorships and the integrations our creators have made for brands.
Once you have your creators, the full process (contact, contract, brief, approvals and ad disclosure rules) is in how to sponsor a YouTube channel.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose YouTube creators by subscriber count?
No. Look at audience fit, the median views of recent videos, comment quality, past sponsors and brand safety. Subscriber count alone says little about results.
What should I ask a YouTuber before hiring them?
The median views of the last 10 long videos, audience by country, age and gender as YouTube Studio screenshots, the brands they have worked with recently, and their price for the format you want.
Do I need an agency to hire YouTube influencers?
Not always. Many brands run campaigns in-house. An agency helps when you need creator access, negotiation, creative direction and reporting across several creators or markets.
How do I choose an influencer marketing agency?
Ask which creators it can actually reach in your market, how it prices its work, what data it gets from creators before you pay, and what the report at the end of the campaign includes.
