What Brands Want in a Creator Media Kit

A media kit exists to answer one question a brand is asking silently: can this person deliver the audience we need, reliably, without creating work for us?

Most kits answer a different question — how many followers do I have — and that is why they get ignored. Follower count is the least interesting number in a short-form kit, because it says nothing about whether anyone watches.

One page, one document, always current

A PDF of one or two pages, plus the same information as a page on your site. Both, because some brand contacts want an attachment for their records and others want a link they can forward.

The date of last update should be visible. A kit that says "updated two years ago" reads as an account that may no longer be active.

The numbers that actually persuade

Include these, in this order:

• Platform and handle, for each platform you are pitching. Separate kits per platform are better than one combined one, because reach on one does not transfer to another.
• Audience size, stated plainly. Do not round up; the first thing a brand does is check.
• Average views and the typical range, not your best video. A best-ever video tells them what happened once.
• Completion or retention where the platform shows it. This is the number that separates an engaged audience from a large passive one, and it is the number most creators leave out.
• Saves and shares, if you have them. Both signal intent, and brands increasingly care about them more than likes.
• Audience location and age breakdown, from the platform's own analytics, if it is available and flattering. If it is not, say what you do know rather than leaving a gap.

Leave out screenshots of follower counts, emoji-filled growth charts, and anything measured in percentages without a base. "Engagement up 400%" from a small base invites exactly the question you do not want.

Two case studies beat ten bullet points

A case study is three lines: what the brand wanted, what you made, what happened. If you have never worked with a brand, use your own product or a video that performed — the structure is what matters, not the client name.

• The brief. One sentence. "Launch a new product to an audience that had never heard of it."
• What you made. One sentence plus a still or a link.
• What happened. The number they care about: views, click-throughs, code redemptions, whatever the brand's goal was.

Three of those will do more than any amount of copy about being authentic and passionate.

Say what you actually offer

Brands arrive with a vague idea and leave with a deliverable. Make the menu explicit:

• Formats. Talking head, demo, unboxing, tutorial, series integration. Say which you are good at, not which you will attempt.
• What one video includes. Length range, captions, a hook in the first two seconds, one revision round, posting date.
• What costs extra. Paid amplification, exclusivity, raw footage, extra cutdowns, rush delivery.
• Typical lead time. How far ahead you need the brief.

Ambiguity here is what turns a straightforward booking into three weeks of email.

Linking proof, not claiming it

Every claim in the kit should have somewhere to click. A retention figure links to the platform's analytics screenshot; a case study links to the video; the format examples link to real posts.

This matters more than the writing. A brand contact forwarding your kit internally is asked "is this real?", and links answer that faster than adjectives.

Rates: state them or say they are on request

Both are defensible. What is not defensible is a kit with no indication at all, which produces enquiries that go nowhere once a number finally appears.

• Stating a starting price filters out most mismatched enquiries and signals you are a business.
• "Rates on request" is fine if you are negotiating per campaign, but then answer quickly — a slow first reply loses more deals than a high price.

If you state a price, state what it buys. A number with no scope invites an argument about scope later.

The one-page layout, in order

If you are building the kit from scratch, this order works because it follows the questions a brand asks:

1. Who you are, in one line. Handle, platform, subject. Not a biography.
2. Four numbers, in a row: audience size, average views, completion or retention, saves and shares. Each with the period it covers.
3. Two case studies. Brief, video, result. Links included.
4. What you offer. Formats, what one video includes, what costs extra, lead time.
5. Rate or rate on request. With the scope it buys.
6. Contact. Email, time zone, response expectation.

That is a single page with room to breathe, and it can be read in ninety seconds — which is roughly how long a brand contact gives it before deciding whether to reply.

When to build one

Before you have anything to put in it, a kit is a template with nothing to say. Build it the moment you have one video that performed and one number you are willing to defend. That is enough: two case studies can be the same video described two ways, or one real one and one made for your own product.

Waiting for a sponsorship before writing a kit is backwards. The kit is what makes the first pitch possible.

Contact, and the smallest possible friction

One email address, checked, that goes to a human. Not a contact form with six fields. Include a response-time expectation if you can hold it, and your time zone, because a brand coordinating three creators needs to know when you will reply.

The mistakes that get a kit ignored

1. It is about you. Three paragraphs of biography before a single number.
2. Stale numbers. A kit from last year with a handle you no longer use.
3. Only follower count. No views, no retention, no saves.
4. Designed heavily, informative barely. A beautiful template with no case study.
5. No formats. The brand has to ask what they can buy, which is work for them.
6. No link to the actual work. The fastest way to lose a serious enquiry.

Keep it alive

Refresh the numbers every quarter, and immediately after any video that changes them materially. The single most common reason a good kit fails is that it described an account from a year ago.

A kit is also the natural home for the pricing method in how to price a sponsored short — the two documents should not contradict each other, because brands read both.