YouTube Help What to ask when you have been approached to review a companies product?

[GrooveOn]

Hi all,
My channel GrooveOn is mainly 'how to videos' in the automotive industry, I recently posted a car diagnostic trouble shooting video using one of my diagnostic devices and in one of the comments I had someone approached me to ask "we would like to send you a product for you to test our and review, which is quite exciting !
So I would like to ask you all, what are my next steps as I have a few questions:

Q - Should I ask about the return of the product or ask do I keep it? (its worth about £300+)
Q - Should I do the video for free or ask for a fee, if so how much?
Q - Do I ask about their expectations on what they would like the content to show, e.g. Brand of car, specific functions on the diagnostic device?
Q - Should I ask what country they would like to aim the review at, as I can then tailor pricing to that country for example.

Any help would be appreciate.
GrooveOn

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

The requirements for deals like this can vary, but generally speaking you are going to be expected to keep the product. They typically are not going to have a budget for ad integrations... most of the time these deals are a video-for-the-product trade. A lot of the YT strategists will tell you that this is not a fair deal and that your time is worth money. And you may be able to coax them out of $25-$50 to sweeten the deal. Personally I believe that depending on the amount of labor required these are easy deals and a video-for-product trade isn't bad so long as it is something you want. If not then don't do it. You absolutely need to have a discussion about their expectations. Lack of communication will lead to issues.

If they are paying you then you should have a discussion about targeted audiences. If that is a skill you offer then it is a part of the package deal. It can be hard to get someone to commit to a price for you to offer in return for an ad integration like this, the general answer would be to take the hourly rate that you value your time and multiply that by the amount of time you are going to spend working on the video. That number always came out pretty high for me, so my approach is to take the current CPM's I am earning on similar videos and double it (to account for YT's revenue share). I charge this CPM with a little kicker added to it based on the average amount of views that my videos get. For example.

My most recent video got a CPM of $26. Since this is a revenue split with YT I double that. $54 is my CPM but I'm going to tack on an extra labor charge, so we'll round that out to $60 for every 1,000 views. That is a fair number and something that an advertiser would expect to see when purchasing ads on YouTube. I averaged 2,300 views per video in 2023 so my rate equates to about $140 for an ad integration. And since these are all based on actual numbers for the channel it doesn't sound as arbitrary of a method for pricing.

This tends to be a lowball number, but an ad integration like this is also tends to be fairly easy. I would lean more into the hourly rate for a dedicated video. But doing an ad read for a company and playing with a product that aligns with my channel is easy stuff. I'll do that for $140 any day.

 

[GrooveOn]

Thanks for a

The requirements for deals like this can vary, but generally speaking you are going to be expected to keep the product. They typically are not going to have a budget for ad integrations... most of the time these deals are a video-for-the-product trade. A lot of the YT strategists will tell you that this is not a fair deal and that your time is worth money. And you may be able to coax them out of $25-$50 to sweeten the deal. Personally I believe that depending on the amount of labor required these are easy deals and a video-for-product trade isn't bad so long as it is something you want. If not then don't do it. You absolutely need to have a discussion about their expectations. Lack of communication will lead to issues.

If they are paying you then you should have a discussion about targeted audiences. If that is a skill you offer then it is a part of the package deal. It can be hard to get someone to commit to a price for you to offer in return for an ad integration like this, the general answer would be to take the hourly rate that you value your time and multiply that by the amount of time you are going to spend working on the video. That number always came out pretty high for me, so my approach is to take the current CPM's I am earning on similar videos and double it (to account for YT's revenue share). I charge this CPM with a little kicker added to it based on the average amount of views that my videos get. For example.

My most recent video got a CPM of $26. Since this is a revenue split with YT I double that. $54 is my CPM but I'm going to tack on an extra labor charge, so we'll round that out to $60 for every 1,000 views. That is a fair number and something that an advertiser would expect to see when purchasing ads on YouTube. I averaged 2,300 views per video in 2023 so my rate equates to about $140 for an ad integration. And since these are all based on actual numbers for the channel it doesn't sound as arbitrary of a method for pricing.

This tends to be a lowball number, but an ad integration like this is also tends to be fairly easy. I would lean more into the hourly rate for a dedicated video. But doing an ad read for a company and playing with a product that aligns with my channel is easy stuff. I'll do that for $140 any day.

Thanks for a comprehensive response very helpful. The person asked for my contact details and I have had some communication I have asked the following:

If I may ask a couple of questions in regards to the product that you would like to send to me:

Firstly, as I understand it the item you have is an OBD2 plugin diagnostic which I love to try out different brands. Could you let me know if you are wishing for me to provide a 'sponsored' review with a script that you would like me to follow, or would you like a 'non-sponsored' review where I will provide my honest opinion by using your product in an upcoming video, I can mention your name or company if you wish, so let me know.

Secondly, are there specific functions that you would like me to cover with your diagnostic tool, or would you like an overview of the product?

I await their reply.
Regards GrooveOn.

 

[GrooveOn]

The requirements for deals like this can vary, but generally speaking you are going to be expected to keep the product. They typically are not going to have a budget for ad integrations... most of the time these deals are a video-for-the-product trade. A lot of the YT strategists will tell you that this is not a fair deal and that your time is worth money. And you may be able to coax them out of $25-$50 to sweeten the deal. Personally I believe that depending on the amount of labor required these are easy deals and a video-for-product trade isn't bad so long as it is something you want. If not then don't do it. You absolutely need to have a discussion about their expectations. Lack of communication will lead to issues.

If they are paying you then you should have a discussion about targeted audiences. If that is a skill you offer then it is a part of the package deal. It can be hard to get someone to commit to a price for you to offer in return for an ad integration like this, the general answer would be to take the hourly rate that you value your time and multiply that by the amount of time you are going to spend working on the video. That number always came out pretty high for me, so my approach is to take the current CPM's I am earning on similar videos and double it (to account for YT's revenue share). I charge this CPM with a little kicker added to it based on the average amount of views that my videos get. For example.

My most recent video got a CPM of $26. Since this is a revenue split with YT I double that. $54 is my CPM but I'm going to tack on an extra labor charge, so we'll round that out to $60 for every 1,000 views. That is a fair number and something that an advertiser would expect to see when purchasing ads on YouTube. I averaged 2,300 views per video in 2023 so my rate equates to about $140 for an ad integration. And since these are all based on actual numbers for the channel it doesn't sound as arbitrary of a method for pricing.

This tends to be a lowball number, but an ad integration like this is also tends to be fairly easy. I would lean more into the hourly rate for a dedicated video. But doing an ad read for a company and playing with a product that aligns with my channel is easy stuff. I'll do that for $140 any day.

Hi Stanley

Today I received an email back from the company, in summary they would like to send me the car diagnostic tool so I can provide my own honest review and for up and coming future reviews. This I beleive is because some of my vides have very high views for other similar diagnostic products so I surmise they reach out to Content Creators due to the view counts I have.
They will let me keep the product too which is nice as its £450 ! more than I make in ad revenue on my channel

So my plan is to review the product, mention in my video that it was sent to me for review and list the product in the description to buy do you think?

Kind regards
Alex

 

[GrooveOn]

Just a quick update, off the back of my review I did for the diagnostic tool which was £160, they seem to like my content and have now sent me a £550 pro spec tool to do a review on that !

View: https://youtu.be/KESORw2vj6E


I am very pleased and excited as I get to keep the products ! My goal is to get to 10K subs, I am currently at 8K so should reach 10K in 2 - 3 months, then I will look to get sponsorship on my content.