9 Must-Haves for Your YouTube Sponsorship Contract Template to Earn More & Keep Your Money

Want the best YouTube sponsorship contract template to maximise your earnings and protect your money? I’m sharing the crucial money-making terms and protections you need!

Becoming a YouTuber and securing brand deals is an incredible achievement. But if you’re anything like me, you don’t just want to get the most out of your brand deals.

As a lawyer myself who has crafted a YouTube sponsorship contract template for creators, including YouTubers like you, I know exactly what essential terms you need to boost your income and protect your money.

In this blog post, you’ll learn:

• What key terms you need to earn more than just a fixed base fee (which should be included in any Youtube sponsorship contract template free of fluff)

• What payment terms you need in your YouTube sponsorship contract template doc to make sure you actually get paid and avoid costly mistakes

• What protections you need to safeguard your money when things go wrong, like when the brand terminates the YouTube sponsorship agreement

After learning about all these money-making terms for your YouTube sponsorship contract template, you will earn more with your brand deals and keep your money!

This post is all about the key terms a YouTube sponsorship contract template must have to earn the most from your brand deals and keep your money.

Money-Making YouTube Sponsorship Contract Template

The 9 key money terms for your YouTube sponsorship contract template doc

1. Get paid (partially) upfront

When creating sponsored content for a brand, you are putting in a lot of your time to create it. You will likely have to send it to the brand for approval, which also takes time. You put in the effort with the assumption that it will pay off, literally, when you get paid. 

But there is always a chance that something goes wrong. The brand may no longer want to work with you and cancel the sponsorship for whatever reason. Often, it is not even the YouTuber’s fault.

Even if you have a killer YouTube sponsorship contract template that the brand agreed to, it will probably not help you much in those cases. That sounds odd for a lawyer to say. But the reality is that you definitely need a contract to set boundaries and avoid getting sued by the brand, but it won’t help you much if the brand screws you over. 

Let me explain. If a brand decides to cancel the sponsorship and you have not been paid for your work, maybe even when you have already published your sponsored video on YouTube, there is not much you can do. Are you going to sue the brand over a $1,000 to $5,000 brand deal? It will likely cost you more to go through an entire court procedure. So, realistically, you don’t have a leg to stand on in that situation.

That is why I recommend including an upfront payment of at least part of the fee, i.e., a deposit in your YouTube sponsorship contract template. That way, you have security that you will at least have part of the money paid that you deserve should something go wrong with the deal.

2. Protect your money if the brand cancels

That brings me to the next thing you must include in your YouTube sponsorship contract template: the tiered payment system in case of termination at any stage.

As I said, the brand can decide to terminate the agreement anytime, but you may, too, for whatever reason. 

That’s fine. You don’t want to force a brand to work with you or be forced to work with a brand when the collaboration is just not working, or something happens that negatively affects you. So, that should be an option as long as you get paid what you deserve. 

There is no point in asking for a deposit either if, at termination, you must pay it back.

Therefore, in your YouTube sponsorship contract template, you need to include the percentage of the fee you are owed at each stage of the process when the contract is terminated.

Here are some examples:

• “25% of the Fee if the Agreement is terminated after the signing date of this Agreement but prior to the initial Drafts were sent to the Brand by the YouTuber.”

• “50% of the Fee if the Agreement is terminated after the initial Drafts have been created by the YouTuber and sent to the Brand.”

That way, you are ensured that you still get paid what you deserve and keep at least part of the money already paid.

3. Charge royalties if the brand uses your video (in ads)

Sometimes, the brand may want to use the sponsored part of your video for its own platforms, like its Instagram feed, for which influencers usually give a license.

But the brand may (also) want to use your sponsored part of the video for advertising. In that case, you can ask the brand for royalties. Royalties are periodic payments, usually monthly or quarterly, that the brand must make for a license to use your video. 

Royalties are a great way to earn some extra cash.

Ensure that your YouTube sponsorship contract template states that you are the sole owner of the intellectual property rights to that video. Otherwise, if you assign all rights to the (sponsored part of the) video, then the brand becomes the owner. That means the brand can do whatever it wants with your video without paying you any compensation.

4. Set boundaries on the approval process (when time is money)

The brand will likely want to approve the video before you publish it. That means there may be multiple revision rounds and refilming of the sponsored part of the video. That is fine, as long as it does not become an endless process where the brand asks for more and more revisions in eternity.

Therefore, your YouTube sponsorship contract template should include a limited number of drafts and revision rounds that are included in the price. 

If the brand wants more revisions to be made while the video conforms with the brief you agreed to, that’s also fine, as long as you are compensated for the extra work. So, your YouTube sponsorship contract template must also include that you will charge an extra fee for that extra work. And that means more money for you!

5. Whitelisting fees (when running ads on your YouTube video)

Ads are another source of income for you as a YouTuber. 

However, some brands may expect you not to run ads on the video that includes sponsored content. This is something you must consider based on the price you are paid. A sponsorship deal is great, but that’s just a one-time payment (for your YouTube video, at least) unless you are also paid royalties and a commission for each sale made with your discount code.

Ads, however, provide a source of income that will make you revenue for a longer period of time, years even, as you will make money every time someone watches your videos, even years later.

So, this is something you must consider based on what the brand is paying you.

In any case, you should have it clearly stated in your YouTube sponsorship contract template whether you will or will not run ads on your sponsored YouTube video.

6. Limitations on exclusivity to protect future income

Brands will likely want exclusivity, so your YouTube sponsorship contract template must include at least an option for a creator-friendly exclusivity clause. You don’t want the exclusivity clause to be too broad because then you can’t work with brands that may be in the same industry but want to promote a completely different product. 

Ensure that your exclusivity clause is limited to competing products, not any brands that compete in some way with the brand you are working with.

Also, ensure that the duration of the exclusivity is not too long.

7. Earn more (without doing anything) with commissions

A great way to earn more money is to get a commission for each sale made with your discount code. 

Usually, a brand will give you a discount code for your audience to use when purchasing a product. 

If the brand does not provide a discount code, you can ask if they have an affiliate program so that any sales made through an affiliate link that you place in your video’s description generate a commission for you.

8. Success fees for high performance

A so-called’ success fee’ is another great bonus to include in your YouTube sponsorship contract template. 

Depending on your relationship with the brand or if you’re working with a new brand that does not have a big budget, you could ask for a success fee.

If you’re unsure if it’s something you can ask from the brand, make it a discretionary fee so the brand can decide whether or not to pay you a success fee. Both a mandatory and a discretionary option should be included in your YouTube sponsorship contract template.

In any case, a success fee should be linked to a specific, measurable target, like the number of views on your video or a specific number of sales made with your discount code.

A success fee is a great way to make a little extra cash!

9. Avoid losing income when the brand’s reputation changes 

I don’t want to be the bearer of all doom, but it’s kind of my job to educate you about and protect you from bad things that may happen in a brand deal, like a brand cancelling a sponsorship.

Another major issue you might not consider when collaborating with a brand you love is that the brand’s reputation may change.

Change can be good, but not when it negatively affects your reputation.

Let’s say you are known for being a vegan influencer. You collaborate with a brand that sells vegan protein powders. But then the brand decides, for whatever reason, to cancel its line of protein powders and only sell whey protein powders. You no longer want to be associated with that brand because your audience might think you also transitioned to whey protein powders instead of vegan ones. This could affect the trust that the audience has in you as well. That may result in fewer followers, fewer brand deals, and, ultimately, less income.

So, a change in the brand’s reputation may decrease your overall income, and you want to avoid that.

Therefore, your YouTube sponsorship contract template should include clauses so that you can end the sponsorship and remove the brand’s content from your channel WITHOUT having to compensate the brand.

That’s how you protect your money with a proper YouTube sponsorship contract template.

The ULTIMATE YouTube sponsorship contract template free of fluff

Are you looking for a YouTube sponsorship contract template that contains all the money-making essentials I discussed in this blog post?

I am selling a template in my contract shop! It’s a sponsorship contract template in Word that you can use for any brand deal, including brand deals for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and other social media platforms. The package includes a creator-friendly and brand-friendly sponsorship contract template in Word, giving you multiple options and alternatives for each clause. They are fully customisable and can be easily reused for each brand deal.

You can get my sponsorship contract template in Word on this page of my contract shop!

This post was all about the key terms every YouTube sponsorship contract template must have to get the most out of your brand deals.

Get your YouTube sponsorship contract template on this page of my contract shop!

Are you also a podcaster getting brand deals for your podcast? Read this blog post on the 5 Essential Terms Every Podcaster Needs in a Podcast Sponsorship Agreement for the Best Sponsorship Deals.

Are you (also) a videographer doing videography projects on the side? Read this blog post on the 7 Must-Haves for Every Videographer Contract Template.

Are you also doing work as a content creator, creating media for brands to use on their YouTube channels or social media platforms? Read this blog post on the 6 Crucial Terms Every Content Creator Contract Template Needs to Generate MORE Income.

Are you creating your own online course? Read this blog post on the 11 Must-Haves for Your Course Terms and Conditions.