How hardware brands should sponsor YouTube tutorials

Why tutorials are a different kind of sponsorship

Most influencer advice is written for feed content: a post or short video that gets its views in the first few days. A YouTube tutorial is different. Somebody types “how to set up a Raspberry Pi NAS” or “Home Assistant Zigbee setup” into a search box, finds the video, and follows it step by step with the hardware on their desk.

That viewer is not scrolling past an ad. They are in the middle of a project and deciding what to buy for it. If your product is part of the build, they see it working in the exact setup they are trying to copy.

Step 1: Decide what job the product does in the build

Before you contact anyone, write one sentence: what does the viewer build, and what does your product do in it? “A home media server where our SSD HAT holds the library” works. “Showcase our new board” does not, because it gives the creator nothing to teach.

The job decides everything after it: which creators fit, how long the segment is, and what you measure.

Step 2: Choose creators by fit, then by numbers

Subscriber count tells you how many people clicked subscribe at some point. It does not tell you how many people watch the videos now. Look at these instead:

• Recent views per video. Take the last ten or so long-form videos, not the all-time best one.
• The builds they already make. A creator who already uses similar hardware can show your product properly. One who never has will read a script.
• The comments. Viewers asking setup questions and sharing their own builds is a good sign the audience actually follows along.
• Their past sponsors. Watch two or three earlier sponsored segments. You are looking at how they handle a sponsor, not whether they have had one.
• Their rules. Good creators often say what they won't do. Respect it, because it is part of why their audience trusts them.

Step 3: Understand what the price is based on

Creators in this space often price a sponsorship from their recent average views. A common method is a rate per thousand views (CPM) multiplied by those views.

One creator in the niche publishes the calculation openly. Jeff Geerling's rate card on GitHub shows a $15 CPM applied to a 90-day average of 363,818 views across 12 long-form videos, for a rate of about $5,460. The card says it was updated automatically on 2026-09-28. The same page states that he never does paid videos where someone pays him to say certain things.

That is one creator's published method, not a market rate. Rates differ by channel, format and what is included. The useful habit is to ask every creator what their number is based on, so you compare like with like.

Step 4: Choose the format

There are two common formats. In an integration, your product is one part of a tutorial about something bigger. In a dedicated video, the whole video is about your product.

For hardware, an integration inside a project tutorial is often the more natural fit, because the viewer came for the project. A dedicated video suits a product that is a project on its own, like a new board or kit. Whichever you choose, the product has to be used, not just mentioned.

Step 5: Write a brief the creator can build around

A good brief is short and specific. Include:

1. The job. The one sentence from step 1.
2. Facts that must be accurate. Specs, compatibility, pricing and anything legal. Keep it to what really matters.
3. Versions. Which hardware revision, firmware and software versions to use, so the tutorial still works when viewers follow it.
4. Hardware terms. Whether the unit is a loan or the creator keeps it, and when it ships.
5. Links and codes. The tracked link, any discount code, and where they go.
6. Disclosure. What has to be said in the video and written in the description.
7. Review and dates. When you see a draft, how long you have to review it, and the publish date.

Leave out the script. Tell the creator what must be true, and let them decide how to teach it.

Step 6: Disclosure is your problem too

Both US and Canadian regulators say the brand can be responsible, not only the creator.

• United States. The FTC's guidance for influencers says a disclosure in a video should be in the video itself, not only in the description, and that a platform's disclosure tool may not be enough on its own. Its answers for businesses say: “Your company is ultimately responsible for what others do on your behalf,” and that handing the work to an outside company does not remove that responsibility.
• Canada. The Competition Bureau says it treats the Competition Act as applying to businesses as well as the influencers they engage, and that advertisers may be liable for representations made through influencers.

In practice: put disclosure in the brief, check it in the draft, and keep a record. This is general information, not legal advice.

Step 7: Measure over 90 days, not one week

Decide what success means before launch, and match it to the job from step 1.

• Every campaign: views, watch time and link clicks at launch, 30 days and 90 days.
• Hardware: discount code use, traffic to your store or distributor listing, and sales of the product during the same windows.
• Dev tools: sign-ups, installs, docs visits or repository activity from the tracked link.

Treat views as reach, not sales. A video can reach many people and sell little, or the reverse. Report both.

Common mistakes

• Choosing a creator for one viral video instead of their recent average.
• Sending a script, then wondering why it sounds like an ad.
• Shipping hardware late, so the creator has no time to build anything real.
• Leaving disclosure to the creator and never checking.
• Judging the campaign after one week.