Negotiating with Creators
A creator's "Media Kit" is a starting point, not a price tag. It is almost always inflated by 30-50% to anchor expectations. Here is how to negotiate using data.
The "Median Views" Counter-Offer
If a creator has 1M followers but averages 40k views per video, they will quote you based on the 1M followers. You must counter based on the 40k views.
Script: "We love your content. Our standard YouTube benchmark for this niche is a $30 CPM based on median 30-day views. Looking at your last 10 videos (excluding the viral outlier), your median is 40k views, which puts our budget at $1,200. Does this align with your floor?"
Trading Clauses for Price
If they will not budge on price, do not walk away immediately. Ask for more contract rights:
- "We can hit that $5k fee, but we'll need 60 days of whitelisting instead of 30."
- "If we pay the full rate, we need perpetual rights to use the raw asset in our own paid ads."
- "We can do the $3k flat rate, but we need you to cross-post it to TikTok and Instagram Reels natively."
Tool: Value Equivalent Calculator
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