YouTube Sponsorship Examples and Published Case Studies

A home and living brand paid $18,000 for four YouTube integrations and reported $73,300 in directly attributed revenue, a 5.7x return on ad spend¹. Numbers like these are rare. Most YouTube sponsorship "case studies" leave out either the spend or the result.

This page collects the brand-side YouTube cases that publish both, explains what each brand did step by step, and checks the math. Then it turns them into a plan you can use for your own first deal.

Facts and prices checked November 11, 2026. See something wrong? Tell us.

Key takeaways

• A fintech app bought 3 mid-roll integrations from finance channels with 80,000 to 180,000 subscribers for $11,000, $9,500 and $13,500, and reported about 2,016 funded accounts at roughly $27 each in 30 days.
• A US home and living brand on Shopify paid $18,000 for a 4-integration package, half the creator's $9,000 list price per video, and reported $73,300 in attributed revenue and a 5.7x ROAS.
• Ground News was the top YouTube sponsor by video count in the first half of 2025, with 1,863 integrations and 664 million views, per Gospel Stats.
• All three cases bought mid-size channels, tracked each creator with its own link or code, and negotiated price instead of paying list rates.
• Every published case here comes from the agency or platform involved, so treat the results as useful examples, not audited proof.

How we chose the cases

We set a simple bar. A case makes this page only if the brand or the firm that ran it published both what was spent and what came back. That rules out most of what you'll find online, which shows views or "engagement" but not money.

Three YouTube cases cleared the bar.

• A fintech app that bought three finance channels, published by Creators Agency².
• A home and living brand that turned an affiliate deal into a four-video package, published by the influencer platform that tracked the sales¹.
• Ground News, which ran YouTube's largest sponsorship program by video count in early 2025, per Gospel Stats³.

One warning up front. Each case was published by a company that sells creator campaigns or the tools for them. None is independently audited. Two of the brands aren't named. We report the numbers as published, add our own math where it helps, and point out where the numbers don't line up.

Key terms

Integration means a paid segment inside a creator's regular video. CPM means cost per 1,000 views. ROAS means revenue divided by ad spend. CAC means cost to acquire one customer.

Case 1, a fintech app on three finance channels

Creators Agency published this case in April 2026. The brand is described only as a mid-market finance brand².

The goal

The brand had a $50,000 budget and wanted at least 2,000 new funded accounts, at or below its usual paid search cost per account².

The shortlist

The team found 16 finance channels in about 45 minutes. Each had at least 40,000 average views on recent uploads, real comment threads, and at least half of its last 90 days of videos on investing, credit or budgeting². The mix was 8 personal finance channels, 5 investing channels and 3 small business channels. Channels with generic praise in the comments were cut².

The deal

Three creators made the final cut. Each had 80,000 to 180,000 subscribers, averaged 55,000 to 90,000 views and posted at least weekly². Their opening asks were $12,000, $9,000 and $14,000. The brand paid $11,000, $9,500 and $13,500, or $34,000 in base fees, plus a small bonus tied to a target CAC².

The terms were tight. Each creator ran one mid-roll of 45 to 120 seconds between the 3 and 5 minute marks, plus a pinned comment and the link first in the description. Exclusivity ran 45 days and paid usage 60 days². Each creator got a unique UTM link, a coupon code and a landing page matched to their audience².

The result

In the first 30 days the videos drew just over 210,000 tracked views, a 2.3% combined click rate and a 4.8% click-to-funded rate. The brand reported about 2,016 funded accounts at an effective CAC of around $27, which it says beat paid search².

Checking the math

The funnel is hard to square. 210,000 views at a 2.3% click rate is about 4,830 clicks, and 4.8% of that is about 232 accounts, not 2,016, and the case doesn't explain the gap². The pricing lesson holds either way. The brand negotiated each ask down and paid a CPM well inside the finance range Creators Agency publishes, where 90% of its matched finance and business deals fall between $50 and $200 per 1,000 views⁴.

Case 2, a home and living brand's four-video package

This case comes from the influencer platform that tracked the sales. The brand is a US home and living store on Shopify. Its goal was 10 YouTube integrations a month while staying profitable¹.

It started small

The brand didn't open with a big fee. It sent about $240 in products and offered a 20% affiliate commission, double its usual 10%¹. One of the creator's videos drove more than $10,000 in sales, which made the case for a bigger deal¹.

The negotiation

The creator's standard fee was $9,000 for a 90-second integration¹. The brand tried a $4,000 flat fee, then a hybrid of $1,700 upfront plus 10% commission, then a shorter 30-second read with extra product. The creator stopped replying¹.

So the brand changed the offer. It proposed a bundle of 4 integrations for $18,000 fixed, plus over $1,500 in product. The creator accepted two days later¹. That's $4,500 per integration, half the $9,000 list price, by our math.

The result

The creator had already planned their videos, so the two sides agreed on voice-over recommendations and edited mentions in existing videos, published over Black Friday weekend¹. The Black Friday video brought in about $8,000 in its first 24 hours. Directly attributed revenue reached $73,300 and estimated total revenue passed $104,000, for a reported 5.7x ROAS¹.

Our math for context. $73,300 on $18,000 is about 4.1x on attributed sales alone. $104,000 on $18,000 is about 5.8x. The published 5.7x sits near the estimated total, so the attributed-only return is lower.

The big lesson here is hard to see at first. The brand only got this deal because it could reach the creator and keep the conversation going. When one offer stalled, it came back with a better one. Most teams never get that far, because they never find the right contact in the first place.

Case 3, Ground News and always-on integrations

Ground News, a news comparison app, is the clearest public example of sponsorship at scale. Gospel Stats found it was the top YouTube sponsor by number of integrations in the first half of 2025, with 1,863 sponsored videos, up 202% year over year³. It was also first by views on sponsored videos, with 664 million³.

What the numbers say

664 million views across 1,863 videos is about 356,000 views per sponsored video, by our math. That's squarely in the range Tubefilter's write-up calls YouTube's middle class, creators averaging 100,000 to 500,000 views per video, which it credits with much of the growth⁵. Ground News didn't bet on a few mega creators. It bought a very large number of mid-size ones.

What isn't published

Gospel Stats doesn't publish Ground News's spend or its signups. So this is a case of method, not return. We include it because it shows what a mature program looks like, and because it ties to a wider pattern. SponsorRadar found 43.1% of tracked deals ran on channels with 50,000 to 250,000 subscribers, and 34.9% on channels with 250,000 to 1 million⁶.

Other repeat sponsors buy the same way. Tubefilter reported BetterHelp paid for more than 50 videos in a single week of June 2025⁷. For a ranked list of the biggest buyers, see top YouTube sponsors.

The three cases side by side

For a wider view on whether results like these are typical, read are YouTube sponsorships worth it.

What the cases share

The three brands sell very different things. Their methods line up closely.

1. Mid-size channels. The fintech brand picked channels with 80,000 to 180,000 subscribers². Ground News averaged about 356,000 views per sponsored video, by our math on Gospel Stats figures³. None relied on a single mega creator.
2. A fit check before price. The fintech team cut channels whose recent videos weren't on topic or whose comments looked fake².
3. Tracking per creator. Unique links, codes and landing pages in the fintech case², affiliate tracking tied to Shopify in the home brand case¹.
4. Negotiation. Every fintech ask came down². The home brand paid half the list rate by bundling¹.
5. A small test first. The home brand proved the creator could sell before it paid a fee¹.
6. Time to work. Sponsored videos keep earning views. YouTube cites Agentio data that 40% of a video's views come more than a month after it goes live⁸.

A template to plan your own

Here's a simple plan built from what these cases did. Change the numbers to fit your product.

Set the goal and the ceiling

Write down the result you need and the most you'll pay for it. The fintech brand wanted 2,000 accounts at or below its search CAC². If your search CAC is $60, a sponsorship that lands customers at $40 is a win.

Price on views

1of10's floor formula is median views of the last 10 videos, times a niche CPM, plus production⁹. Its finance example is 60,000 views at $40 per 1,000, or $2,400, plus $300 production, for a $2,700 floor⁹. Typical integration rates across niches run $10 to $50 per 1,000 views⁹.

Work out what you need to win

Say you'll pay $3,000 for a channel with 60,000 views. If 1% of viewers click, that's 600 clicks. If 5% of clickers buy, that's 30 customers, or $100 each. If your product is worth more than $100 in first-year profit, the read pays back. Run this math before you send an offer.

Write the terms

Copy the fintech brief. Three talking points, one required screenshot, a placement window, a pinned comment and the link first in the description². Set exclusivity and usage rights in writing. 1of10 puts paid usage at 30% to 100% of the base fee⁹.

Disclose

YouTube asks creators to tell it when a video includes paid product placements, sponsorships or endorsements¹⁰. Put that in the brief so nothing gets missed.

For tracking setup, see how to track YouTube sponsorship results.

How to open the conversation

None of these deals started with a contract. They started with a message to the right person. Here's a first email built from what the cases did.

Hi [name], I run partnerships at [brand]. Your recent videos on [topic] fit what we sell to [audience]. We'd like to sponsor a 60 to 90 second mid-roll in [month]. Could you send your rate, the views on your last 10 videos, and your audience split by country? If a package of three videos works better for you, we're open to that too.

[Your name], [brand]
[Company, postal address]
Not a fit? Reply no and I won't email again.

Treat a sponsorship email as commercial email and follow these rules. That's why the template ends with your postal address and an easy way to say no.

Why this works

• It says why this channel. The fintech team only kept channels whose recent videos were on topic², so lead with that fit.
• It asks for views, not subscribers. Views are what you'll price on⁹.
• It opens the door to a bundle. A package is what moved the home brand's deal¹.

Follow up once

Creators are busy. If you hear nothing in 5 to 7 days, send one short follow-up. If the first offer stalls, come back with a different shape, the way the home brand moved from a flat fee to a hybrid to a bundle¹.

Mistakes the cases avoided

• Paying list price. The home brand's first offers failed, but a bundle got 4 videos at half the per-video list rate¹.
• Long exclusives. The fintech brand kept exclusivity to 45 days, because its creators had been burned by three-month blocks².
• One link for everyone. Separate links and codes let both brands see which creator drove sales²¹.
• Judging too soon. The fintech brand measured a full 30 days and said it would track assisted conversions from day one next time².
• Ignoring off-topic channels. A channel with big views but off-topic recent videos was cut from the fintech list².
• Walking away after one no. When the home brand's creator went quiet, it came back with a better offer¹.

What these cases don't prove

It's tempting to read 5.7x and $27 CAC as the norm. They aren't proof of that.

• Selection. Firms publish their wins. We don't see the campaigns that flopped.
• Small samples. One case is one creator. Another is three. Results swing a lot from channel to channel. In the fintech case, the best creator's click rate was 3% and the lowest just under 2%².
• Attribution gaps. The home brand's 5.7x leans on estimated, not just attributed, revenue¹. The fintech funnel numbers don't fully add up².
• Seasonality. The home brand's big week was Black Friday¹. A quiet month would likely look different.

So use these cases for method. Copy how they chose channels, priced deals and tracked results. Then test with your own product, and judge by your own numbers.

Find the mid-size channels behind cases like these

Every case on this page started the same way. Someone found the right channels and reached the creator. Media List has 189,000+ YouTube channels with contact emails, ready to search.

• Find channels. Filter by minimum subscribers, category, country and language to build a list like the fintech brand's 16.
• Unlock the contact email. Emails unlock from your plan's allowance, no bot checks. Reach the creator or their manager directly.
• Save a list. Keep your shortlist, notes and next steps in one place.
• Send outreach. On Professional, email the list from built-in campaigns and ask each creator for rates and recent views.

Media List doesn't run campaigns for you or quote prices. It gives you the contacts so you can run deals like these yourself. Basic at $99 a month covers search, saved lists and exports. Built-in email campaigns and AI search come with Professional at $399 a month. Start with a 3-day trial, $0 today, and cancel anytime. See the pricing page, or learn the basics in our guide to YouTube sponsorship for brands.

Questions, answered

What is an example of a successful YouTube sponsorship?

A fintech app paid three finance creators $11,000, $9,500 and $13,500 for mid-roll integrations and reported about 2,016 funded accounts in 30 days at roughly $27 each. A home and living brand paid $18,000 for four integrations and reported $73,300 in attributed revenue. Both were published by the firms that ran them.

How much do brands spend on a YouTube sponsorship campaign?

It varies widely. The published cases here range from about $240 in product plus commission for a test, to $18,000 for a four-video package, to $34,000 in base fees from a $50,000 budget. Rate guides put integrations at about $10 to $50 per 1,000 views.

What ROAS do YouTube sponsorships get?

There's no reliable average. One published home brand case reported a 5.7x ROAS, which works out to about 4.1x on directly attributed sales alone. Results swing by creator, product and season, so test with a few channels first.

Which brands sponsor the most YouTube videos?

Ground News led by video count in the first half of 2025 with 1,863 integrations. Other repeat sponsors include Squarespace, BetterHelp, PrizePicks and Incogni. These brands buy many mid-size channels on an ongoing basis.

How do I find case studies for YouTube influencer marketing?

Look for cases that publish both spend and result, and note who published them. Agency and platform cases are useful for method but are rarely audited. Check whether the math adds up before you plan around the result.

How long does a YouTube sponsorship take to show results?

Give it at least 30 days. Sponsored videos keep earning views after launch, and YouTube cites data that 40% of a video's views come more than a month after it goes live.

Related guides

• YouTube Sponsorship for Brands and How to Sponsor YouTubers
• YouTube Sponsorship Rates by Views, Subscribers and Niche
• How to Find YouTube Influencers to Sponsor Your Product
• How to Find a YouTuber's Business Email for a Sponsorship
• How Much Does It Cost to Sponsor a YouTube Video

Sources

1. Influencer Hero, $18K YouTube influencer partnership case study, checked 2026-11-11
2. Creators Agency, Inside a finance brand's $50K YouTube creator campaign (Apr 4, 2026), checked 2026-11-11
3. Net Influencer, YouTube sponsorships surge 54% as brands shift marketing dollars to influencers (Gospel Stats H1 2025), checked 2026-11-11
4. Creators Agency, YouTube brand deal rates by niche 2026 (reviewed Jul 22, 2026), checked 2026-11-11
5. Tubefilter, Gospel Stats YouTube sponsorship landscape report (Oct 22, 2025), checked 2026-11-11
6. SponsorRadar, State of YouTube sponsorships (Feb 2025 to Jan 2026), checked 2026-11-11
7. Tubefilter newsletter, Shopify and BetterHelp top the YouTube sponsored charts (Jun 30, 2025), checked 2026-11-11
8. YouTube Official Blog, Discover a new era of brand and creator partnerships on YouTube (Mar 23, 2026), checked 2026-11-11
9. 1of10, YouTube sponsorships, 2026 rates by channel size (Aug 24, 2026), checked 2026-11-11
10. YouTube Help, Add paid product placements, sponsorships and endorsements, checked 2026-11-11