How Much to Charge for a Brand Deal: UK Creator's Pricing Guide 2026
A brand lands in your inbox. They're based in London. Or Manchester. Or they're a US brand specifically targeting the UK market.
Either way, you need a number — and every pricing guide you've found quotes in dollars, talks about CPMs from American agency surveys, and references audience benchmarks that don't map to the UK creator ecosystem.
That gap is exactly what this guide closes. Below, you'll find brand deal rates UK creators are actually working with in 2026 — in pounds, with context for the UK market, and with the add-ons factored in.
The Short Answer
For a mid-tier UK creator (50K–250K followers), a single-platform brand deal typically starts at:
| Deliverable | Rate Range (GBP) |
|---|---|
| Instagram Reel (sponsored) | £800 – £3,500 |
| TikTok video (sponsored) | £600 – £2,800 |
| Instagram Stories (3-frame set) | £300 – £900 |
| YouTube integration (60–90 sec) | £1,200 – £5,000 |
| Instagram feed post | £500 – £2,000 |
These are content fees only. Usage rights, exclusivity, boosting, and platform mirroring are separate line items — and they can add 50–150% to your total.
A deal that looks like a £1,200 brief can legitimately quote at £2,800 once everything is priced correctly. If you've been quoting the content fee and calling it a day, you've been leaving real money on the table.
What Goes Into UK Brand Deal Rates
The base rate
Your base rate reflects the deliverable, your follower count, and your engagement. A 100K Instagram creator with 5% engagement commands more than a 200K creator with 1.2% engagement. That's true everywhere — but UK creators sometimes underweight this because the domestic brand ecosystem skews toward relationship-based deals rather than data-driven negotiations.
The result: UK creators tend to be warm and accommodating in the conversation, and they end up undercharging. Don't confuse a good working relationship with an obligation to discount your rate.
The add-ons that actually move the number
Every published brief has a content ask. Most have additional asks buried in the scope of work or the contract. These are the ones that matter most:
Usage rights. The brand wants to repurpose your content in their own channels — website, email, paid social. This is a separate right from the content fee. Pricing usage rights correctly is one of the highest-leverage moves a mid-tier creator can make.
Ad boosting / whitelisting. The brand wants to run your content as a paid ad — either through their account (usage rights) or from your account (whitelisting or Spark Codes). Running ads from your account means your face and name appear in someone else's advertising. That comes at a premium. How much to charge for ad boosting rights has the full breakdown.
Exclusivity. If the brand wants you to avoid competitors for 30, 60, or 90 days, that's income you're forfeiting. It should be priced accordingly.
Rush turnaround. A 48-hour brief is not the same as a two-week brief. It disrupts your creative process and your schedule. Charge for it.
What Brands in the UK Market Typically Pay
UK-based brands vs. global brands operating in the UK
This distinction matters more than most guides acknowledge.
A UK-based DTC brand — a homegrown skincare company, a British food brand, a domestic retailer — is working with a UK marketing budget. Deal sizes tend to be smaller than equivalent US campaigns. Relationships are often more informal, sometimes starting with gifting before escalating to paid work. That informality can feel friendly. It can also make it harder to hold the line on rate.
A global brand running a UK campaign — a US consumer goods company, an international fashion house, a tech brand targeting British consumers — brings international campaign budgets. They are not paying you UK market rates because you're UK-based. They are paying you based on the value your UK audience represents to their campaign. If the brief is for a UK-facing campaign from a brand with a global marketing budget, that is not a reason to reduce your rate.
Platform-by-platform breakdown
Instagram remains the dominant paid partnership platform in the UK for mid-tier creators. Brand recognition of Instagram as a paid channel is high, and briefs tend to be well-structured. The UK benchmark for a sponsored Reel for a 100K creator sits in the range of £1,200–£2,500 for content only.
TikTok has grown significantly as a paid channel in the UK, particularly for beauty, fashion, and lifestyle. TikTok UK is one of the platform's most active markets, and brand spend is catching up to creator demand. Expect rates slightly below equivalent Instagram rates — around 15–20% less for a comparable deliverable at the same tier.
YouTube integrations and dedicated videos command the highest rates per piece of content, and UK creators with strong YouTube audiences are well-positioned with beauty, tech, and lifestyle brands. A 60-second YouTube integration for a 100K subscriber creator typically ranges from £1,500–£3,500.
The Currency Question: When to Quote in GBP vs. USD
Working with UK brands
Quote in GBP. Always. If a UK brand is sending you a brief in sterling, your quote should be in sterling. There's no ambiguity, no conversion risk, and no need to complicate the conversation.
Working with international brands targeting the UK
This is where it gets worth thinking about. A US brand that wants a UK-facing campaign may approach you in USD. You can accept USD, but make sure you're quoting the right market rate.
US dollar brand deal rates are typically higher than equivalent GBP rates because of the US agency infrastructure and campaign budget norms. If a US brand is coming to you for your UK audience, you should be quoting at or above your standard GBP rate — not converting your sterling rate to dollars at face value.
A creator who charges £1,500 per Reel and simply writes "$1,500" on a US-brand brief is undercharging by roughly 25–30% at current exchange rates.
Selah handles this automatically. The pricing engine detects the brand's region and adjusts the rate output to reflect the appropriate currency and market multiplier — so you're not doing manual currency math in the middle of a negotiation.
Get a quote for your next deal →
A Real UK Deal Breakdown
Here's what a correctly priced deal looks like for a UK lifestyle creator with 110K Instagram followers and 72K TikTok followers.
The brief: A UK-based wellness brand wants one Instagram Reel and one TikTok video, with 30 days of usage rights across both platforms and a 30-day exclusivity window on the wellness category.
| Line Item | Rate |
|---|---|
| Instagram Reel (content fee) | £1,600 |
| TikTok video (content fee) | £1,200 |
| Usage rights — 30 days, both platforms | £700 |
| Category exclusivity — 30 days | £600 |
| Total | £4,100 |
Without usage rights and exclusivity priced as separate line items, this brief looks like a £2,800 deal. With everything correctly included, it's £4,100. The brand's brief didn't change. The creator's understanding of what's in it did.
How to Calculate Your Rate as a UK Creator
Don't start from what you've charged before
If you've been undercharging — and the fact that you're reading this suggests you suspect you have been — your previous rates are not a benchmark. They are a floor you're trying to move off.
Start from deliverable value, add each line item that applies to the brief, and build up to a total. Don't start from a number and work backward to justify it.
The variables to assess on every brief
Before you quote any deal, you need to know:
- What is the deliverable? Reel, TikTok, Stories, YouTube, newsletter, podcast mention — each has a different rate.
- What rights are they requesting? Usage (and for how long?), whitelisting, Spark Codes, ad code access — these are not included in the content fee.
- Is there exclusivity? What category, what duration?
- What's the turnaround? Under one week qualifies for a rush premium.
- Is this a UK brand or an international brand targeting the UK? The budget context is different.
Most guides online recommend lower rates here. Selah is built for the creator side — you should be paid what you're worth, regardless of which market the brief comes from.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are typical brand deal rates UK creators should charge in 2026?
For mid-tier UK creators (50K–250K followers), a sponsored Instagram Reel typically ranges from £800–£3,500 and a TikTok video from £600–£2,800. These are content fees only. Add-ons like usage rights and exclusivity are separate line items and often add 50–100% to the base rate.
Should I charge less for UK brands than US brands?
Not necessarily. It depends on the brand's budget, not where they're based. A global brand running a UK campaign has international marketing budgets. A small UK DTC brand may have more constraints. Judge by the scope and scale of the campaign, not the brand's country of origin.
Do UK brand deals typically include usage rights?
Often yes, though they're not always stated upfront. UK brands increasingly include usage rights clauses in contracts — particularly for digital and paid social repurposing. Read every contract for language like "repurpose," "amplify," "promote," or "paid media." These signal that usage rights are in scope, whether or not they've been priced.
Should I quote in GBP or USD?
Quote in GBP when working with UK brands. When working with international brands in USD, make sure your rate reflects the correct market value — don't simply convert your sterling rate to dollars at face value, as this typically results in a lower effective rate.
Why is there so little creator-facing pricing content for the UK market?
Most brand deal pricing content is produced in the US, by US creators, for a US market. The UK creator ecosystem is large, high-income, and active — but the guidance hasn't caught up. Selah's pricing engine handles multi-currency and regional rate multipliers automatically, so you're not left doing manual adjustments every time an international brief arrives.
You know your audience. You know your content. The only thing that's been missing is a number to match.
For a full framework on building your total rate from scratch — including every add-on variable and how to present it to a brand — How to Price a Brand Deal walks through the complete methodology.