Why Mid-Size YouTube Creators Will Dominate Sponsorships in 2026

YouTube sponsorships grew 53.9% year-over-year in the first half of 2025.

One brand even sponsored over 1,800 videos in six months (more than 10 videos per day for a single sponsor 🤯)

You know what that means?

The creators who’re gonna see the BIGGEST explosion in sponsorships in 2026 aren't the ones with millions of subscribers. 

They're in the 25K-100K view range.

I just sat down with Joshua Cohen, founder of Tubefilter, Streamy Awards, and Gospel Stats to break down what's happening in the YouTube sponsorship landscape. 

And what the data reveals might completely re-write what you believe about your channel size, your niche, and your ability to land deals.

(Prefer watching? Click here to see the full video)

The “Middle Tier” Is Where The Money… Is Flowing?

For years, the conventional wisdom was this:

Get big, then get sponsors.

But according to this new 2025 YouTube data, it was the 25K-100K view range that saw the largest absolute growth in sponsored videos (not the mega creators).

And here’s why:

Most brands can afford sponsorships in this range. 

When I was running a multi-channel network years ago, one of the ad sellers told me something I'll never forget: "You guys are in the sweet spot. Most brands cannot afford six figures for a single integration."

At that time, my wife and I never had tens of millions of subscribers. We were only getting tens or hundreds of thousands of views per video… yet the deals kept coming in. 

And just like the data’s showing now, that's where most brands could comfortably spend (somewhere between $5K and $50K per integration).

Your "Hard to Monetize" Niche Just Became Easier

I hear this all the time: 

"Justin, my niche is too hard to monetize. I'm in entertainment. I'm in gaming. I'm in lifestyle. Brands don't want to work with creators like me."

But this new data tells another story:

The categories seeing the highest growth in sponsored videos are entertainment, gaming, sports, news and politics, and people and blogs. 

What changed? 

Well, brands are getting more sophisticated. 

They're diving deeper into YouTube to find creators with audiences that convert… not just massive follower counts anymore. 

"Brands are basically talent scouts now. They're all looking for creators with actionable audiences that convert for whatever product they're selling." -Joshua

As YouTube becomes an even more massive platform, brands are quickly realizing there are creators in every niche who can help them reach their target customers.

For example:

A needleworking creator getting 50K views per video has needleworking brands who need to reach that exact audience. 

The local sports commentary channel has regional brands looking for exactly that.

You get the idea lol. 

All of this to say…

Your niche isn't the problem anymore. 

Brands just didn’t know you existed.

The 2026 YouTube Shorts Opportunity

Shorts are getting 200 billion daily views on YouTube right now, but only 3% of sponsored videos are Shorts.

That means 97% of Shorts views are completely unmonetized through sponsorships (because YouTube hasn't made it easy for brands to sponsor short-form content yet). 

But that's changing faaast. 

Going into 2026, YouTube is gonna be rolling out features like “Roll Call” and “Brand Connect,” 

And when those floodgates open, the creators already building on Shorts are gonna be in the perfect position.

But here's where it gets even better…

Dynamic Ad Insertions: Making Your Old Videos Profitable Again… and Again.

Right now if you create a sponsored video, that sponsorship lives in that one video forever. If the video gets 100,000 views, great.

But if it continues getting another 100,000 views per month for the next five years… that sponsor isn't paying you for those additional views.

This will change with dynamic ad insertions.

With this new feature, you can go back to videos you posted years ago (videos still getting tens of thousands of views per month) and insert new sponsor ads into them…

Making your entire back catalog wayyyy more valuable!

Imagine being able to go to a sponsor and say: "I have 50 videos that collectively get 500,000 views per month. Wanna sponsor all of them?"

That's not a one-time deal anymore… more like recurring revenue from content you've already created 😏

What This New YouTube Data Means For Your 2026 Sponsorship Strategy

If you're a YouTuber reading this and thinking "I'm too small" or "My niche is too hard," this new 2025 data is telling a different story.

Being "big enough" isn't the barrier anymore.

The 25K-100K view range is already seeing massive growth, so if you're in that range, you're already in a great position.

Research brands already active in your niche. Just because you haven't seen other creators in your space landing deals doesn't mean brands aren't looking. They might just not know you exist yet.

Think beyond one-off deals. With features like dynamic ad insertions coming, start thinking about how you can create longer-term partnerships where brands sponsor multiple videos or your entire catalog.

Get ahead of the Shorts opportunity. If you're creating Shorts, keep building. Because when brands figure out how to sponsor short-form content at scale, you'll already have the audience and the content library.

YouTube sponsorships are exploding right now…

And smaller creators are getting the upside.