Whitelisting and Spark Ads: What Creators Should Charge
Charge for whitelisting, Spark Ads and partnership ads as a separate fee for ad access to your handle, priced by window, ad spend and the control a brand gets.
By Heidi Curto, Head of Brand Partnerships, 1DS Management · Published · Updated · 5 min read
Charge for whitelisting as a separate fee for ad access to your handle, priced by how long the brand holds it, how much it plans to spend and whether it can make new ads in your name. Published figures run from 30% to 50% of your base fee, or 5% to 20% of the brand's ad spend, depending on the source.
Platform rules shape what that access includes, and they change. Every rule below links to TikTok's or Meta's own help pages as we checked them in November 2026.
What are whitelisting, Spark Ads and partnership ads?
Whitelisting is the industry term for a brand running paid ads through a creator's account. TikTok's version is Spark Ads, and Meta's is partnership ads, which Meta used to call branded content ads.
TikTok describes Spark Ads (updated June 2026) as a native ad format built from organic TikTok posts, and it says all views, comments, shares, likes and follows gained from boosting go to the organic post. The creator turns on ad authorization for a video and sends the brand a code.
Meta's partnership ads show the brand's account and the creator's together in the ad's header. Instagram's Help Center describes 2 levels of permission: content-level, which covers specific posts, and account-level, which it calls more suitable for ongoing partnerships.
Paid usage rights are a third arrangement, where the brand runs your content from its own account. Our guide to usage rights covers that line.
| Type | Where the ad runs from | What the brand can run | How access ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid usage rights | The brand's own account | Your content, in the brand's ads | The end date in your contract |
| TikTok Spark Ads | Your post, under your name | The post you authorized with a code | The window you chose: 7, 30, 60 or 365 days |
| Meta partnership ads, content-level | Your handle and the brand's, together | Posts you share a code for or allow the brand to boost | When you revoke it; on Instagram, archiving the post leaves code access in place |
| Meta partnership ads, account-level | Your handle and the brand's, together | New ads from your handle, plus your existing posts that tag the brand | When you revoke it |
How much do creators charge for whitelisting?
Creators charge for whitelisting as a percentage of their base fee, a share of the brand's ad spend, a flat fee per code or a monthly access fee. The figures below are each source's own claim.
| Method | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of base | 30% to 50% of the base fee | mysocial.io, updated February 2026 |
| Share of ad spend | 5% to 20% of the brand's paid spend | impact.com, updated January 2026 |
| Share of ad spend, worked example | 4% of ad spend, so $2,000 on $50,000 | Lumanu, 2022 |
| Flat fee per Spark Ads code | $100 per code, on average | Statusphere, updated July 2026 |
By 1 survey's count, only about half of creators charge for this access. Lumanu ran the survey of 400+ influencers with the agency Collectively, and its write-up is dated March 2022: 80% had been asked to amplify content as part of a collaboration, and 51% said they charge a fee to let partners whitelist, boost or amplify it.
Each method fits a different kind of deal:
- Percentage of base suits a single post and a short window.
- Share of ad spend grows with the exposure your handle gets, and it needs a spend report from the ad account.
- A flat fee per code suits small TikTok deals where the brand wants several codes.
- A monthly access fee suits account-level access and ongoing partnerships, since the brand can keep making ads in your name.
On a $1,000 base fee, mysocial.io's range comes to $300 to $500. At impact.com's 5% to 20%, a brand that spends $10,000 behind your post would owe $500 to $2,000 for the same access.
What should a whitelisting agreement cover?
A whitelisting agreement should set the window, the posts or level of access, the spend, the edits allowed, who controls comments and what reports you get. The platform settings handle some of this, and the contract has to handle the rest.
Use this as your checklist:
- Start and end dates. On Meta, add a duty to remove the brand's access on the end date, since Meta lists no expiry.
- Which posts the brand can boost, or whether it gets account-level access. Account-level access lets a brand create ads from your handle without pre-existing content, so require your approval for each new ad.
- Which edits are allowed. Meta says advertisers can edit content for ads while your original post stays the same.
- Who moderates comments. Meta lets advertisers hide comments on the ads and on your original post, and it lets you unhide them.
- Whether the brand can use your custom audience. Meta's account-level permission lets advertisers include or exclude a partner's custom audience in their campaigns.
- A spend cap or spend tiers, plus a monthly spend report.
- Which advertisers can use your code. Meta says Instagram ad codes can be used by up to 2 advertisers at a time (Instagram Help Center), such as a brand and its agency.
- Exclusivity, if the brand wants it for the ad window, priced as its own line. Our exclusivity guide covers the method.
- Disclosure. Ads from your handle are still your endorsement, and the FTC's Endorsement Guides require a clear disclosure of a material connection such as payment (16 CFR 255.5).
- The renewal price and how much notice the brand gives before asking for more time.
How do platform rules change the price?
The more a platform lets a brand do with your handle, the more the access should cost. TikTok caps access with a window you choose, while Meta lists no expiry and leaves revoking to you.
TikTok Spark Ads
TikTok's help pages set these terms:
- The authorization runs for 7, 30, 60 or 365 days, chosen in the post's ad settings (TikTok Ads Help Center, updated October 2025).
- A video code can be deleted only once every ad using the video has been deleted in Ads Manager (Spark Ads creation guide, updated June 2026).
- Once a post is authorized as an ad, its caption can't be edited, a private video becomes public when it's used in a campaign, and its privacy setting can't change during the promotion (same guide).
Since you can't pull a live code, the window you pick is your control. Price a 365-day code well above a 30-day one, and agree any extension in writing before the code expires.
Meta partnership ads
Meta's help pages leave the outer limits to you:
- Creators can remove content-level and account-level permissions at any time, and Meta lists no expiry (Instagram Help Center).
- On Instagram, archiving your post leaves the advertiser's ad code access in place.
- Account-level permission lets the brand create ads from your handle without pre-existing content and use your custom audience in its targeting.
Price account-level access as a monthly fee, above any single-post fee, because the brand can keep producing ads in your name. If it wants dark posts, ads that run from your handle without appearing on your feed, quote them as new endorsements and approve each one.
We run creator licensing for brands as part of our services, including whitelisting, dark posts and content rights. If you'd like a management team on your side when a brand asks for your handle, apply for representation. For every other line in the deal, see our guide to pricing a brand deal.
Questions creators ask
How much should I charge for a Spark Ads code?
Price the code by its window. Statusphere says its creators charge $100 per code on average, and mysocial.io's 30% to 50% of base gives a number scaled to your own rate. Charge more for 365 days than for 30, since TikTok lets the brand run the post for the whole window you pick.
Is whitelisting the same as usage rights?
They're separate rights with separate prices. Usage rights let the brand run your content from its own account, and whitelisting runs ads from your handle, under your name.
Can I stop a brand from running ads on my account?
On Instagram and Facebook, Meta says you can revoke partnership ad permissions at any time. On TikTok, a code can be deleted only after the ads using it are deleted, so the window you choose is your main control. Write the end date into the contract either way.
Do I still need to disclose whitelisted ads?
Yes. The ad carries your name, and the FTC's Endorsement Guides require a clear disclosure of a material connection such as payment. TikTok asks creators to turn on its commercial content disclosure setting when a post promotes a brand, product or service (TikTok Ads Help Center, updated April 2026).
Should I give a brand account-level access?
Give it to brands you'll work with for months, at a monthly fee. Meta describes account-level access as suited to ongoing partnerships, and it lets the brand make new ads in your name, so add an approval step for every ad.
Written by
Heidi Curto
Head of Brand Partnerships, 1DS Management
Want a team negotiating your deals?
1DS Management represents more than 100 creators and athletes across brand partnerships, content strategy and monetization.