Transparency is fueling a surge in creators’ sponsorship rates

Sponsorship rates are on the rise in 2025, and creators say a newfound culture of pay transparency is helping fuel the jump.

Creators’ sponsorship rates have climbed — sometimes doubling in the past year — with marketers calling it a natural market correction amid advertisers’ rising demand for creator inventory. But four creators told Digiday that this rise in rates has been driven in part by a new wave of transparency, with creators openly comparing sponsorship deals and brand usage of their content for the first time.

“The first collaboration that I ever did, I was paid in $200 gift cards that I had to spend on a product for the video — and I had 150,000 followers,” said TikTok creator Millie Ford. “No one had told me how much to charge, and no one knew the platform. Now, people are so much more open about it, because they know that if other people are under-charging, then it ruins it for everybody.”

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LGBTQ+ sports site Outsports grows revenue and audience by over 50% under new ownership

Many LGBTQ+ publishers saw a slowdown in ad spend earlier this year, but one publisher is emerging as an outlier, thanks to new ownership, more sales resources and its focus on sports coverage.

Vox Media sold Outsports, which covers LGBTQ+ athletes, to Q.Digital last March in an “acqui-hire” deal (a non-cash transaction where Q.Digital took over Outsports’ operations and revenue costs while keeping the team intact). It was part of Vox Media’s reorganization to focus on its core brands last year.

Under its new owners – which have other LGBTQ+ focused titles like Queerty and Gay Cities in its portfolio – Outsports has grown revenue by about 50% year over year, and unique visitors are up over 60% since it was acquired, according to Scott Gatz, CEO of Q.Digital, a privately-owned company based in San Francisco. He declined to share raw revenue figures.

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