Comparisons · 2026 data
Which platform pays best for each sponsorship
Fifteen head-to-head comparisons between the six networks, niche by niche, with the average profile of each platform. The absolute rate tells you what you charge; the CPM tells you which network values your audience more — not the same thing.
If you would rather start from your audience, the seven niches gather the same numbers per niche.
Comparisons
15
Networks
6
Niches per table
7
How to read these tables
There are two ways to read the same table and they change the conclusion. Read the absolute rate and the network with the biggest accounts wins; read the CPM and the one that pays most per thousand impressions wins. To decide where to publish, use the second: the absolute rate depends on how many followers each network's average account has, not on what the brand values in your audience.
An example from this page: in finance, Instagram has a $23 CPM and YouTube $36, yet Instagram's average rate ($620) beats YouTube's ($435) because its average account has 11,000 more followers. If your account has 30,000 followers on both networks, the right comparison is CPM, and on it YouTube pays more than half as much again for the same impression.
Each network is measured with its own average profile: followers, engagement and main format. That is the only way to compare platforms without blaming the network for what actually depends on the creator. Inside each page the table faces the seven niches and marks the difference with a sign: positive means the network on the left.
The absolute rate tells you what one delivery pays; the CPM tells you what the network pays per 1,000 impressions. If your account is larger or smaller than the average, the CPM is the figure that travels to your case: multiply your estimated impressions by that CPM and adjust for engagement and rights.
No comparison decides for you. One network can pay more per delivery and close fewer campaigns; another pays less and repeats every month. Use the table to negotiate the price and your campaign history to choose where to publish.
Instagram against the rest
Instagram still runs on brand budgets that renew every quarter: consumer, fashion and lifestyle deals with a repeatable campaign calendar.
TikTok against the rest
TikTok reach can multiply the follower base several times over, so brands pay for viral potential on top of audience size.
YouTube against the rest
YouTube carries the highest CPM in the market because its audiences watch for minutes, not seconds.
Twitch against the rest
Twitch offers one of the most loyal communities in the creator economy, ideal for brands buying trust and repetition.
LinkedIn against the rest
LinkedIn has the most expensive CPM in the market because every impression lands on someone with decision power.
Reading a pair in the right order
Open any of the fifteen pages and the table looks like two columns of prices. Read it in three steps instead and the pair answers a different question each time. First the CPM: it tells you which network values the audience more, and it is the only column that survives a change in account size. Second the average rate: it tells you what the average account on each network actually charges, which is what a brand with a fixed budget is comparing against. Third the format note: a network that pays well per impression but only for a dedicated video is not paying well for a Story.
If the CPM and the rate point the same way, the decision is easy and the negotiation is about scope. When they disagree — the most interesting case, and the one the pair pages are built around — the gap is the size of the average account, not the quality of the audience. That is the moment to quote your own numbers rather than the table's.
What the tables do not measure
They measure price, not outcome. Nothing here knows how good your creative is, how much the two audiences overlap — running both networks can show the same ad to the same person twice — how seasonal your niche is, or whether the brand will come back next month. Each network is also measured with its own average profile, so the comparison is between networks, never between your account and the average.
Use a pair to settle the price and to rule out a split that makes no sense, then decide the campaign with your own history: what closed, what got repeated and what the brand asked for a second time. That record is the part no dataset can hand you.
Compare your own account, not the average.
Enter your platform, niche, followers and engagement to get your floor, suggested and premium numbers before you choose a network.