How Much to Charge for Whitelisting: Spark and Partnership Ads

How much to charge for whitelisting: about 30% of your content fee for 30 days, or 40% to 60% for 90 days, as its own line on top of the content fee and paid usage. On a US$1,500 video, 30 days of whitelisting adds US$450. Every Spark Ads code or partnership permission needs an end date.

The brief looked normal, the fee was agreed, and then one line turned up at the end: "Can we whitelist this?" or "Can you send us the Spark code?" or "We'll send a partnership ad request." You want the deal, you don't want to look awkward, and you have no idea what that line is worth. Here are the numbers, the clause and exactly what to send back.

What is whitelisting, in plain English?

Whitelisting means the brand runs paid ads from your handle. The ad shows your name and profile picture at the top, plays in people's feeds as if you posted it, and the brand pays to push it to an audience it picks.

That is different from plain paid usage, where the brand downloads your video and runs it as an ad from its own account. Same footage, different name on the post.

As of 2026, each platform calls it something different:

• TikTok: Spark Ads code. You open the video, go into its ad settings, generate a code and send it to the brand. Then they paste it into TikTok Ads Manager, and the post runs as an ad under your handle. One code covers one video. TikTok's Spark Ads guide shows the brand's side of it.
• Instagram and Facebook: partnership ads. The brand sends a partnership ad request, or you share a partnership ad code for one post. The ad shows both handles in its header. Meta also offers account-level permission, which lets the brand run ads from any of your posts without asking each time (Meta's partnership ads documentation).
• "Whitelisting" or "allowlisting". The older catch-all word brands still use for both.

Why is whitelisting priced on top of the content fee?

Because the brand is buying three things the content fee never covered, so each one needs a price.

1. Your name on paid ads. Every person who sees the ad sees your handle, not the brand's. Your audience's trust is doing the selling.
2. Your face in feeds you didn't choose. The brand picks who sees it and how often. So if it spends heavily, you become the face of that product for weeks.
3. Comments on your account. On TikTok the comments land on your original post. If the ad annoys people, the replies are yours to read and answer.

Brands ask because it works for them. Meta ran an A/B test across roughly 2,400 advertisers and found that adding creator content as partnership ads cut cost per acquisition by 19% on average, according to eMarketer. In other words, when a brand asks for its best-performing ad format, it has budget for it. Being asked is a sign the deal is getting bigger, not a favour you owe.

How much to charge for whitelisting, by window?

Price it at the paid ads rate for the same window, as its own line. The brand still needs paid usage to run the video as an ad at all, so a whitelisted ad carries two lines: paid usage plus whitelisting. This matches the full ladder in usage rights for creators.

Pick the low end of the 90 day range when the brand caps its spend and you approve the copy. Pick the high end when spend is uncapped, the brand wants several videos, or it is a category you post about every week.

The US$1,500 video sits in the US$1,000 to US$4,000 band for creators with 10k to 50k followers. Your own number depends on quality, scope and your average views, not just followers, so get a content fee first from the Creator Rate Calculator. Percentages only work once you have a fee to take them off. For a smaller first-deal example with the same maths, see what UGC usage rights cost.

What should the whitelisting clause say?

Four things, each with a date or a number on it: the window, who writes the ad copy, the spend cap, and what happens at the end. Paste this into the agreement and fill the brackets:

Whitelisting. The Brand may run [1] video as paid ads from the Creator's [TikTok / Instagram] handle for [30] days from first spend, ending no later than [date]. The Creator will set the Spark Ads code or partnership permission to expire on that date. Ad copy, captions and any edits to the video need the Creator's written approval before spend starts. Total ad spend behind the Creator's handle is capped at [US$ amount]; spend above the cap needs a new written agreement. The fee is [US$ amount], separate from the content fee and paid usage fee. Renewal is priced at the same rate for the new window.

What each part protects:

• Time limit and auto-expiry. Set the code or permission to expire when the window ends, so nothing relies on anyone remembering. If the app doesn't offer that exact length, pick the nearest shorter one and send a fresh code to cover the rest. A TikTok code that expires stops the ads, and the brand has to come back to you for a new one. On Instagram, you can remove a brand from your ad partners in settings, which pauses its running ads.
• Who controls the ad copy. The brand writes the headline and caption that appear next to your face. You still approve them. No claims you didn't make, no cuts that change what you said.
• Spend cap. The fee is worked out on a rough idea of how hard your face gets pushed. A cap keeps that honest. If the ads perform and they want to spend more, that is a new conversation with a new number.
• Post-level, not account-level. Grant access to the named video only. By contrast, account-level access means any post you have made can become an ad.

The brand deal contract template has the rest of the agreement in plain English, and the exclusivity guide covers the other line brands often add at the same time.

What do you reply when the brand asks to whitelist?

Same day, in writing, with each line priced separately. Change the numbers to match your fee:

Hi Priya, happy to whitelist it.

The content fee stays at US$1,500 for the video and one round of edits.

Running it as a paid ad is a separate licence: 30 days of paid use on TikTok and Instagram is US$450.

Running those ads from my handle as a Spark Ad or partnership ad is another US$450 for the same 30 days, because it's my name and my comments on the ad. I'll set the code to expire on day 30, and I'll need to approve the ad copy before spend starts.

Total with both: US$2,400. If it performs, I can quote a 90 day renewal before the code ends.

That message keeps the agreed fee untouched, names each right in plain words, puts a window on every number, and offers the renewal as the easy next step. If the brand pushes back, drop the window to 30 days before you drop the rate.

If you'd rather not type those lines from scratch every time, a rate card with standing lines for paid usage and whitelisting does it once. The Creator List's rate cards include pricing for ads, usage and exclusivity, and agreements the client signs from one link; it's a 14-day free trial, then a monthly plan (pricing).

Which mistakes give whitelisting away for free?

• Sending the code before the agreement is signed. The code is the product, so send it after the fee and the window are in writing.
• Folding it into the content fee. One total hides the licence and teaches the brand that whitelisting is free.
• Picking the longest code length to be helpful. A code that outlasts your paid window is a free extension.
• Accepting account-level access for one video. Grant the post, not the account.
• Renewing after the code expires. Diary the end date and send the renewal quote 30 days before, as the deal tracking guide suggests.

One thing to do today: find the last brand that asked for a code or a "quick whitelist", check whether it is still running, and send a renewal quote at your rate before the window closes.