A Brand Wants to Run Your Video as an Ad: What to Reply and What to Charge

When a brand wants to use your video as an ad, it is asking for paid usage: permission to spend money putting your content in front of people who don't follow you. That is a separate purchase from the post itself, whether the brand calls it a partnership ad, a Spark Ads code, whitelisting or a boost. Price it on its own line with a set end date, and never treat "no cost to you" as payment. It only means you won't be billed for the ad spend.

Each request means something specific. Meta partnership ads run your Reel, story, post or carousel as an ad on Instagram and Facebook, and they need ad permissions from you. TikTok Spark Ads run your organic post as an ad through an authorization code you generate and set a duration for. Licensing hands the brand the file to run from its own ad account. An organic repost with credit is not an ad, and many creators allow it for free.

Before you quote, ask five questions: which tool, which video and whether it will be edited, how long, where it will run, and what else comes attached, such as exclusivity or a discount code. Then build the price: start from your base rate and add an ad-usage fee that rises with the length of the license, with a set price for each renewal. Later's 2026 pricing guide puts whitelisting and paid-ads usage at 30 to 50 percent of the base rate, a convention rather than a rule. If the video was gifted, price the ad license from your usual rate, because the product paid for an organic post, not an ad.

Two illustrative examples show the math. A dog creator with 3,000 Instagram followers asked for ongoing ad use of a gifted Reel turns "ongoing" into 90 days and quotes $75, the top of the 45 to 50 percent step on her usual $150 Reel rate, with a $75 renewal and a royalty-free audio swap, because licensed music cannot run as a partnership ad. A TikTok creator with 19K followers offered $500 plus a Spark Ads code quotes $700 with 60 days of Spark Ads, then answers a $500 all-in budget with two options: the video alone, or the video plus a 30-day code for $650.

The guide includes three replies you can copy: a quote with two options, end dates, a renewal price and payment before access; a counter that shrinks the window or placements and offers a free organic repost instead of a free ad; and a polite decline that names exactly what is not allowed. Put the video, tool, dates, placements, edits, fee, exclusivity and disclosure in writing, and check your base rate in Aurelia's free rate calculator before you reply.

On Aurelia, ad usage is settled before you film. Brands post campaigns, and every campaign shows your take-home pay, the product, the usage rights and the deadline before you apply; paid ads need a stated term. The agreement is written from the campaign, including any paid-ads term of 3, 6 or 12 months covering whitelisting and Spark codes with your consent, and you accept and sign in one step. The take-home you see already has Aurelia’s fee taken out, and you're paid to your bank after the brand approves your work.