Seven checks to build a sponsorship rates selection checklist

What to take away

1. Write the brief before you write the number

The common failure is treating a rate as a starting point. A rate means something only once you know the deliverable, the channel, the exclusivity period and who carries production cost.

Take a team paying £400 a month for a retained creator on one platform. Compare that with £400 for one post carrying category exclusivity. The two are not the same purchase, so write the terms first.

If your comparison method is loose, score every option on the same basis — deliverable, channel, exclusivity, usage and audience — using a like-for-like comparison method before you look at price.

2. Check the evidence behind every rate

Ask where each number came from. A defensible rate cites a rate card or media kit, platform analytics such as TikTok Creator Marketplace or YouTube BrandConnect, a comparable signed deal, or published research. A number with no source is a guess, and an illustrative figure should be labelled as one. Then convert it: divide the quoted fee by the promised impressions and multiply by 1,000 to get a CPM; divide likes, comments and shares by the follower count and multiply by 100 to get an engagement rate. Record both on the checklist so you can compare two creators on the same basis rather than on headline fees alone.

The Office for National Statistics publishes national wellbeing data that includes participation in cultural and media activity. That data helps you sanity-check audience-demand claims rather than accept them at face value.

Ask for the date on each figure too, because a rate card from two years ago tells you little about current pricing.

3. Confirm disclosure before the fee is fixed

Disclosure shapes the creative, the schedule and sometimes the fee, because a clearly labelled ad can perform differently from organic content.

The rule that matters for a paid partnership is CAP Code Rule 2.1 — the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing requires marketing communications to be obviously identifiable as such. The ASA's 'Guidance for influencers' sets out how to apply it, including the '#ad' label and the requirement that the label appears before the first fold on platforms where users scroll past it.

The Competition and Markets Authority enforces the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, under which undisclosed advertising is a misleading commercial practice. Complaints about a label go to the Advertising Standards Authority through its online complaints form. Category bans are the second layer: the rules on electronic cigarette advertising show how far a prohibition reaches into creator content.

Category rules matter as much as general ones. Alcohol, gambling and medicines each carry restrictions that change what a creator can say and when.

What the disclosure check should cover

Label placement, platform tools, and who is responsible for flagging a paid partnership.

What it should not cover

Vague wording that leaves a reader guessing whether money changed hands.

4. Map the platform rules that apply

Each platform has its own branded content tools, disclosure settings and eligibility thresholds. A checklist that ignores them produces a rate you cannot deliver against.

Name the tool for each platform you use: Meta's branded content tool for Instagram and Facebook, TikTok's branded content toggle for paid partnerships, and YouTube's paid promotion disclosure. Before you fix a rate, confirm the creator meets each platform's current eligibility threshold — follower minimums, account-age requirements and community-guideline standing — because a creator who cannot activate the disclosure tool cannot deliver the campaign at any price. Record the help-page URL and the date you checked it on the checklist.

The Online Safety Act 2023 sits in a different layer: its full text sets content-safety duties for services, so know where your campaign sits before you commit budget — but it is not the disclosure or pricing rule.

Platform terms change, so record the version and date you checked, and keep that note with the rate.

5. Test the audience claim

Audience size is the easiest number to inflate and the hardest to verify. Ask for geography, age split and engagement pattern, not a single follower count. Then convert: multiply the creator's average reach per post by the number of posts in the brief to get total impressions, and apply the CPM you derived in Check 2 to produce an implied fee. If that implied fee does not match the quoted rate, the gap is your negotiation lever.

Ask how much of the audience sits in the market you are buying, since a large following elsewhere does not support an England rate.

For a shortlist, ask each creator for their media kit, platform analytics and recent campaign results, then score them on the same criteria — CPM, engagement rate, UK audience share, deliverable count — before you compare fees. A creator with a lower CPM but half the engagement may cost more per action than one with a higher headline rate.

6. Read the contract terms that move the rate

Usage rights, whitelisting, renewal options and payment terms all carry a price. A rate that looks low becomes expensive once you add a twelve-month usage window. Price each right separately on the checklist: assign a multiplier to the base fee for every additional usage month, every whitelisting channel and every renewal option. If the total with rights exceeds your brief budget, cut the rights before you cut the fee.

List every term that could trigger extra cost, then decide whether the quoted figure still holds after you add the rights multipliers. If it does not, go back to the brief and re-scope the deliverable rather than renegotiating the number alone.

7. Set a review date and a trigger

Rates age. Set a review date, plus a trigger for reviewing earlier, such as a platform rule change or a shift in audience data.

Write both into the checklist, so the next review starts from evidence rather than memory. Add the owner of each check too, so the review does not stall when the person who built it moves on.

Common questions

How many checks should a sponsorship rates selection checklist have?

Seven covers the brief, evidence, disclosure, platform rules, audience data, contract terms and review. Fewer leaves gaps that show up at contract stage.

Does this checklist apply outside England?

Some advertising and platform rules cover the whole UK, while others differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Confirm the position for each market you publish in.

When should the checklist be completed?

Before you brief a creator or agree a fee. Running it afterwards turns a pricing decision into a negotiation about who absorbs the shortfall.