We analyzed 2,321,249 TikTok creators to see how those with TikTok brand deals compare with the rest.
Specifically, we looked at plays per follower, engagement rate, how many creators have sponsored content and who lists a public email.
Sponsored creators get at least twice the median plays per follower of the rest from 50K followers up.
Sponsored creators are also easier to contact, since they list a public email about eight times as often.
By "sponsored" we mean a creator who has posted sponsored content among the posts we looked at. Method and limits covers what that leaves out.
We are comparing creators with each other, so none of this shows what a sponsor does to a creator's plays. Our TikTok benchmarks by follower count has the general figures.
Key findings on TikTok brand deals
Source: our data on 2,321,249 TikTok creators with 1,000+ followers and a public account who posted since 1 August 2026. The sponsorship figures cover the 2,286,798 of them whose posts we could check.
Here is a summary of our key findings:
- About one in eighteen TikTok creators has posted sponsored content. The share climbs to about one in three among creators with a million or more followers.
- From 50K followers up, TikTok creators with sponsored content get at least twice the plays per follower of the rest.
- The weak end of the list is stronger too. From 50K followers up, the weakest quarter of sponsored TikTok creators gets at least 1.8 times the plays per follower of the weakest quarter of the rest.
- Sponsored TikTok creators have a lower median engagement rate than the rest in all six size bands.
- Sponsored TikTok creators list a public email about eight times as often as the rest.
- Only 3.3% of TikTok creators with sponsored content have a business account.
Sponsored content gets more common as TikTok creators get bigger
About one in eighteen TikTok creators has posted sponsored content. The share climbs with each step up in follower count.
It starts at 4.8% for the smallest creators. It reaches 32.5% for creators with a million or more followers.
Share of TikTok creators with sponsored content, by follower count
As you can see in the chart above, the share rises at each step. Even so, about three in four creators with sponsored content have under 10K followers.
Key takeaway: Most creators with sponsored content have under 10K followers, so set a filter for sponsored content and a size range together before you search.
TikTok sponsorship goes with about twice the plays per follower at larger sizes
For each creator we took their average plays on recent videos and divided it by their followers. Then we found the median within each size band, once for sponsored creators and once for the rest.
Our data shows that sponsored creators lead in all six size bands. The gap is small for the smallest creators, at about 1.1 times.
It grows with size, and from 50K followers up sponsored creators get at least twice as many plays per follower.
Take creators with 100K to 500K followers. The median sponsored creator averages about 21 plays per hundred followers. The median creator without sponsored content averages about 9.
Median plays per follower: sponsored creators as a multiple of the rest
The gap peaks at about 3 times for creators just under a million followers. It eases to about twice for creators with a million or more.
Sponsored creators are also larger on average, since the share with sponsored content rises from 4.8% to 32.5% across the bands. That is why we compare them within size bands.
Key takeaway: Rank creators with sponsored content ahead of the rest, and compare each one with creators of a similar size.
The weak end is stronger for sponsored creators
Creators with sponsored content also have fewer weak performers.
We lined creators up by plays per follower and found the line that a quarter of each group falls below.
Take creators with 100K to 500K followers. A quarter of the sponsored ones get under 4.8 plays per hundred followers. A quarter of the others get under 2.0.
In other words, the weak end is about 2.4 times stronger for sponsored creators. From 50K followers up, it is at least 1.8 times stronger.
For the smallest creators the weak end is about the same. The top end favors sponsored creators in all six bands, by 1.3 to 2.4 times.
Key takeaway: From 10K followers up, picking creators with sponsored posts gives you fewer weak performers and more strong ones.
Sponsored creators have a lower engagement rate
Engagement rate is the total likes, comments, shares and saves divided by total plays, across the creator's 30 or so newest posts. It is a measure we worked out for this study.
Sponsored creators score lower on it in all six size bands, even though they get more plays per follower.
Among the smallest creators the median sponsored creator has an engagement rate of 11.4%, against 15.7% for the rest. The gap mostly narrows with size and falls to about half a point for creators with a million or more followers.
Because the rate divides by plays, a creator who reaches more viewers can show a lower rate.
Key takeaway: Judge a sponsored creator by their average views against their followers, since a lower engagement rate here comes with more plays.
Sponsored creators list a public email much more often
About 15% of creators with sponsored content list a public email. Among the rest, about 2% do.
That makes sponsored creators about eight times as likely to list one. The gap is wider at larger sizes, and more than half of the sponsored creators with a million or more followers list an email.
Public email listed: sponsored creators ahead of the others, in percentage points
The gap is widest, at about 31 points, for creators just under a million followers.
Key takeaway: Pair the has email filter with a filter for sponsored content before you search to get a list you can email right away.
Few creators with sponsored content have a business account
TikTok creators can run a regular account or a business account. Our search has a Business account filter with the option Business accounts only, and a Sells on TikTok Shop filter with the option Sellers only.
Only 3.3% of creators with sponsored content have a business account. Only 2.4% of them sell on TikTok Shop.
Share of creators with sponsored content, by account type
Business accounts are about twice as likely to have sponsored content. They are so few that Business accounts only would leave out about 97% of sponsored creators, and Sellers only would leave out about 98%.
Key takeaway: To find sponsored creators, set Sponsored posts to Only with sponsored posts, and leave Business account and Sells on TikTok Shop on Any.
Find creators who take sponsorships on TikTok
Search by topic and Find similar creators let you filter for sponsored content, a listed email and a follower range before you search. The list that comes back is sponsored creators at the size you want. Look up creators returns the public emails of creators you already have. You can sign up for free to try them.
Full data
The exact values behind the findings above. Plays per hundred followers is a creator's average plays on recent videos divided by their followers, times 100.
Share of creators with sponsored content
| Follower band | Creators with sponsored content | All creators checked | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1K-10K | 95,776 | 2,011,208 | 4.8% |
| 10K-50K | 19,981 | 201,253 | 9.9% |
| 50K-100K | 4,156 | 32,715 | 12.7% |
| 100K-500K | 5,709 | 33,648 | 17.0% |
| 500K-1M | 1,084 | 4,583 | 23.7% |
| 1M+ | 1,101 | 3,391 | 32.5% |
| All sizes | 127,807 | 2,286,798 | 5.6% |
Median plays per hundred followers
| Follower band | Median: sponsored | Median: others | Multiple | Sponsored creators | Other creators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1K-10K | 28.5 | 26.5 | 1.07x | 95,776 | 1,915,432 |
| 10K-50K | 17.4 | 11.6 | 1.50x | 19,981 | 181,272 |
| 50K-100K | 23.5 | 11.4 | 2.05x | 4,156 | 28,559 |
| 100K-500K | 20.5 | 9.2 | 2.22x | 5,709 | 27,939 |
| 500K-1M | 20.6 | 6.9 | 2.98x | 1,084 | 3,499 |
| 1M+ | 12.8 | 6.3 | 2.04x | 1,101 | 2,290 |
Weak and strong performers by follower band
The bottom quarter line is the plays per hundred followers that a quarter of the group falls below. The top quarter line is the figure that a quarter of the group beats.
| Follower band | Bottom quarter line: sponsored | Bottom quarter line: others | Multiple | Top quarter line: sponsored | Top quarter line: others | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1K-10K | 13.3 | 13.0 | 1.02x | 80.3 | 63.2 | 1.27x |
| 10K-50K | 4.7 | 3.6 | 1.32x | 82.4 | 52.9 | 1.56x |
| 50K-100K | 4.7 | 2.5 | 1.89x | 95.0 | 47.2 | 2.01x |
| 100K-500K | 4.8 | 2.0 | 2.43x | 65.3 | 33.3 | 1.96x |
| 500K-1M | 6.0 | 1.9 | 3.22x | 51.3 | 21.8 | 2.35x |
| 1M+ | 4.3 | 1.9 | 2.22x | 31.3 | 17.4 | 1.79x |
Median engagement rate
| Follower band | Median engagement rate: sponsored | Median engagement rate: others | Difference (points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1K-10K | 11.4% | 15.7% | -4.3 |
| 10K-50K | 7.7% | 10.0% | -2.3 |
| 50K-100K | 6.7% | 8.2% | -1.5 |
| 100K-500K | 6.4% | 8.1% | -1.7 |
| 500K-1M | 6.9% | 8.2% | -1.3 |
| 1M+ | 7.7% | 8.2% | -0.5 |
Public email listed
The all-sizes row is derived: each band's share weighted by its number of creators.
| Follower band | Sponsored | Others | Difference (points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1K-10K | 9.6% | 1.2% | 8.3 |
| 10K-50K | 24.7% | 5.3% | 19.3 |
| 50K-100K | 32.4% | 8.5% | 23.9 |
| 100K-500K | 38.0% | 11.2% | 26.7 |
| 500K-1M | 47.9% | 17.0% | 30.9 |
| 1M+ | 53.0% | 25.1% | 27.8 |
| All sizes | 14.6% (of 127,807) | 1.8% (of 2,158,991) | 12.8 |
Business accounts and TikTok Shop sellers
| Account type | Creators with sponsored content | All creators of that type | Share with sponsored content | Share of all sponsored creators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business account: yes | 4,186 | 37,675 | 11.1% | 3.3% |
| Business account: no | 123,621 | 2,249,123 | 5.5% | 96.7% |
| Sells on TikTok Shop: yes | 3,127 | 28,752 | 10.9% | 2.4% |
| Sells on TikTok Shop: no | 124,680 | 2,258,046 | 5.5% | 97.6% |
Method and limits
Our data covers 2,321,249 TikTok creators with at least 1,000 followers and a public account who posted since 1 August 2026. It is a random sample of such creators.
The sponsorship figures cover the 2,286,798 of them whose posts we could check, and they sit in six bands by follower count.
A creator counts as sponsored when any of the posts we looked at was sponsored content. A creator with none among those posts may still have worked with a brand, so the others include some sponsored creators.
Plays per follower is a creator's average plays on recent videos divided by their followers, and we show it per hundred followers. Engagement rate is the total likes, comments, shares and saves divided by total plays, across the creator's 30 or so newest posts. It is our own measure for this study.
A public email is one the creator lists publicly on their profile. Business account and Sells on TikTok Shop are the names of two filters in our search.
Comparing creators can show what goes together and can't show cause. Sponsored creators differ in other ways as well, and for one they are larger on average.
