How to Price Your Rate — Even Before You Have a Brand Deal
August 10, 2026
Most creators either guess a number that sounds impressive, or undercharge because they're scared of losing the deal. Neither works long-term. Here's a simpler way to think about pricing.
Start with your real numbers, not your best month
Brands don't care about your best-performing post from eight months ago. Pull your last 10-15 posts and average the views, not the outliers. That average is your baseline — it's what a brand can actually expect, and it's the number you should be pricing against.
Know the difference between CPM pricing and flat-fee pricing
CPM (cost per thousand views) pricing pays you based on performance — more views, more money. It rewards creators whose content genuinely performs, and it's how most "clip" campaigns on UbuntuCreators are structured — funded upfront in escrow, so the budget is real before you ever post.
Flat-fee pricing is a fixed amount regardless of performance. It suits scripted "create" style content — reviews, tutorials, brand-directed videos — where the brand cares more about the message landing correctly than raw view count.
If a brand offers you a flat fee, sanity-check it against what your average views would earn at a reasonable CPM rate. If the flat fee is lower, either negotiate up or ask for CPM instead.
A rough starting CPM range
There's no single "correct" rate — it depends on your platform, niche, and audience quality — but as a starting reference point for South African creators with genuinely engaged (not bought) audiences:
- Nano/micro creators (under 20K average views): R30-60 per 1,000 views
- Mid-tier creators (20K-100K average views): R50-90 per 1,000 views
- Larger creators (100K+ average views): negotiate directly, rate cards stop being useful here
These are starting points for a conversation, not fixed prices. Engagement rate, niche relevance, and exclusivity all move the number.
Don't forget to price in the extra asks
"Can you also post it to your Stories?" "Can we get usage rights to run it as an ad?" "Can you do a follow-up post in two weeks?" Each of those is worth more money — usage rights especially, since a brand running your content as a paid ad is a completely different value exchange than an organic post. Price each addition separately instead of folding it into the base rate for free.
The one-line rule
If you're not sure what to charge, charge for your average performance, not your dream outcome — and always know your walk-away number before the conversation starts.
Once you're ready to put real numbers to the test, browse live campaigns — every one is already funded before it goes live, so what you see is what you can actually earn.