YouTube BrandConnect alternative for brands and creators, with the Creator Partnerships requirements and what each route costs

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Start with the name, because most pages about BrandConnect are out of date. YouTube launched BrandConnect in 2020 as the rebrand of FameBit, its influencer marketplace. In 2026 the program runs under the name YouTube Creator Partnerships: creators see a Creator Partnerships tab in the Earn section of YouTube Studio, and brands find a YouTube Creator Partnerships tool in the Tools menu of Google Ads. The creator opt-out address still carries the old BrandConnect name, which is why both names keep showing up in search.

For brands, the important change came in June 2026. Google's own Ads help page says the core features (Overview, Creator Search and List Management) are now available to every active Google Ads account registered in a country where the YouTube Partner Program runs, and that the earlier minimum spend and the requirement for an assigned Google sales rep no longer apply. In practice, any advertiser with a Google Ads login can now search YouTube creators, save them to lists and contact them, at no charge for the tool itself. On the creator side, eligibility is narrow by design.

A channel needs to be at least 18, in the YouTube Partner Program, based in one of the 24 listed countries and regions (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia among them) and free of active Community Guidelines strikes. Eligible creators are discoverable by default. They can set desired rates for long-form videos and Shorts and add a manager's email, and they receive inquiries from brands periodically. A creator who has not joined the Partner Program is simply not in the search.

The deal itself happens outside YouTube. When a creator marks an inquiry as interesting, YouTube shares their contact details with the brand, and the two negotiate, sign their own agreement and settle payment directly. YouTube's help page is explicit that the amount a brand enters on an inquiry is not a final offer. There is no escrow and no published commission on either side.

After the video goes live, the creator can share brand partner access, which links the video to the brand's Google Ads account so the brand sees organic performance and can boost it as an ad. That boost is ordinary Google Ads spend. So Creator Partnerships is genuinely good at one thing: finding and measuring YouTube creators who are already monetized, with first-party YouTube data and a built-in way to turn a sponsored video into an ad. Its audience filters only work on creators who opted into sharing channel insights, so filtered searches return fewer channels than an unfiltered one.

Where it stops is everything that is not YouTube. A brand testing the same audience in podcasts or newsletters needs a second tool, and a creator who earns most of their sponsorship income from a podcast or a newsletter has no listing there. Smaller channels that have not reached the Partner Program are invisible, even though channels with a few thousand engaged subscribers in a tight niche are often the best value for a performance-minded brand. That is where Sponsorships fits.

YouTubers, podcasters, newsletter operators and event organizers publish their audience, formats and a price per placement, and they list because they want sponsors, so a brand is not cold-pitching someone who never asked to be found. Brands filter by channel, niche and budget, read the rate card before the first message, and book and pay the creator directly at 0% commission. The Brand plan is $49.50 a month billed yearly or $99 month to month. Be honest about the trade.

Creator Partnerships costs nothing, and Sponsorships does not. Sponsorships has no access to YouTube's first-party watch data and cannot boost a video as a Google ad; if your whole plan is YouTube creators plus paid amplification, start in Google Ads, because that tool is free. If you buy across channels, want prices up front, or want creators below the Partner Program line, a flat marketplace saves the most time. Many brands will use both: Creator Partnerships to check a channel's YouTube data, Sponsorships to find and book the wider list.