How much to charge for a YouTube video
YouTube covers the widest range of any platform: a 30-second Short prices like short-form video, while a dedicated long-form piece is closer to a production day.
The distinction that moves the price most isn't runtime — it's whether the video is about the brand or merely contains it.
Where the base rate lands
Calculated for long-form / dedicated youtube at average engagement, one revision round, no rush and no exclusivity. These are starting points, not market quotes — adjust for your category, your market, and the value the brand is getting.
| Following | Organic only | Paid, 30 days | Paid, 90 days | Paid, 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5K | $640.00 | $800.00 | $960.00 | $1,280.00 |
| 25K–100K | $1,040.00 | $1,300.00 | $1,560.00 | $2,080.00 |
| 100K–500K | $1,280.00 | $1,600.00 | $1,920.00 | $2,560.00 |
Notice the jump across the columns rather than down the rows: the licence moves the number more than the follower count does.
Price your exact briefWhat's different on YouTube
Dedicated versus integration
A dedicated video is entirely the brand's; an integration is a segment inside content you were making anyway. They're different products at different prices, and conflating them is the most common YouTube pricing mistake.
Shorts follow short-form pricing
A YouTube Short is a short-form video and prices from that grid. Don't discount it because the platform is associated with longer work.
Long shelf life cuts both ways
YouTube assets keep earning for the brand for years, which makes a term-limited licence genuinely valuable and a perpetual buyout genuinely expensive. Resist bundling perpetual rights into a standard fee.
Pre-production is real work
Scripting, sourcing and approval cycles happen before you shoot. Bill for them or build them into the quote explicitly rather than absorbing them.
Questions
How much should I charge for a dedicated YouTube video?
Price it against a full production day of your time and compare that with the calculated long-form figure, then quote the higher. Long-form is the deliverable most often underpriced by per-piece thinking.
Should a YouTube Short cost less than a TikTok video?
No. It's the same deliverable — a vertical video under 60 seconds — and prices from the same grid. Platform doesn't change production effort.
Put your rates somewhere brands can see them
Save a rate card, publish a media kit, and stop rebuilding the same PDF every time a brand asks what you charge.
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