How much to charge for a sponsored Reel in India

There is no official price for a sponsored Reel in India. Instagram does not publish one and neither does ASCI, which regulates advertising. You set the price by working out the lowest figure that is worth your time, checking it against what the brand gets for its money, and quoting a bundle that says what is included. This post shows three ways to do that, with sums you can copy. Every rupee figure below is an invented example to show the arithmetic, not a market rate, and nothing here promises that a brand will pay it.

We looked for a published rate benchmark for India that we could open and check, with a stated date and sample, and did not find one. So there is none here. If you see a rate list on an agency blog, ask yourself when it was made, from how many deals, and whether the agency sells influencer services.

Every method starts from numbers you can show. Open Insights for your professional account and look at your last ten Reels. Write down the views and the interactions for each: likes, comments, shares and saves. Then take the median of each list, not the average. The median is the middle value when you sort them, and it ignores the one Reel that went far beyond the rest. A brand paying for tomorrow’s Reel gets a typical one, not your best.

Meta’s Insights documentation defines reach as the number of unique accounts that have seen your content, and says reach is an estimated metric. It lists views, shares, saves and accounts engaged as separate metrics, so be clear which one you are quoting. Say “median views on my last ten Reels” and give the date range. Another point from that documentation: data can be delayed by up to 48 hours.

Engagement rate has more than one definition: interactions divided by followers, or interactions divided by views. Pick one and say which. Our engagement rate guide explains the versions, and the free Instagram engagement calculator on dmfast.app does the sum for you.

Take an imaginary creator. Their last ten Reels have a median of 6,000 views and a median of 420 interactions. Here is how each method prices one Reel.

Method 1: price per 1,000 views

Brands often think in cost per thousand views. Divide your median views by 1,000 and multiply by the figure you choose. At an example ₹200 per thousand, 6,000 views gives 6 × 200 = ₹1,200. At an example ₹500 it gives 6 × 500 = ₹3,000. The ₹200 and ₹500 are placeholders. Choose your own range, and notice that what moves the answer most is not your views but the figure you pick, which should reflect how well your audience matches the brand’s buyers.

Method 2: price per interaction

Here you price the people who reacted, not the people who scrolled past. At an example ₹3 per interaction, 420 interactions gives ₹1,260. This method favours small accounts with lively comment sections over larger passive ones. If methods 1 and 2 give very different answers, find out why: a high view count with few reactions often means your Reels are reaching strangers who do not engage, which a brand may value less.

Method 3: time plus costs

This is your floor. Add the hours: an hour for the idea and script, three hours to shoot, three to edit and one for changes makes eight. At an example ₹400 an hour that is ₹3,200. Add real costs such as a prop or a taxi, say ₹300, and the floor is ₹3,500. Below that figure you are paying the brand to take your time.

In the example, the views and interaction methods give about ₹1,200 to ₹3,000, while the floor is ₹3,500. A small creator often finds this: the audience value is lower than the cost of producing a polished Reel. That is not a reason to inflate your numbers. You have three honest choices.

• Quote at or above the floor and accept that some brands will say no. This suits creators with other income who do not need every deal.
• Reduce the work. A simpler Reel, a photo carousel or a Story set may cost you two hours, which lowers the floor to a figure the brand will accept.
• Raise the value instead of the price. A tightly matched audience, a product you already use and a Reel that answers a real question can justify a higher figure per view than a general account can.

Whatever you choose, quote one figure for a clear bundle, for example “one Reel, three Story frames, two rounds of changes, ₹X”. Offering three tiers (Reel only, Reel plus Stories, Reel plus Stories plus ad usage) lets the brand choose a budget without negotiating your hourly rate.

Tip: Never set your price from your follower count alone. Followers are a one-time choice to follow. Brands pay for what the next post delivers, and your median views and interactions are better evidence of that.

The Reel’s fee covers the Reel on your account. A brand that wants more should pay more, and Meta says so itself. Meta for Creators explains that a partnership ad is a brand paying to promote your content to people beyond your followers, shown with an “Ad” label, and advises creators to bargain for fair payment for any extra usage rights. Meta sets no limit on the number of partnership ads at once, so agree the number and the length of time with the brand.

A common method is to price each add-on as a percentage of the base fee. The percentage is yours to choose, and 20% is only an example. Whatever you choose, write it down, because exclusivity and ad usage cost you real opportunities that a bare Reel fee does not cover.

This part is general information, not advice. Under ASCI’s 2024 influencer guidelines, free or discounted products count as a material connection, so a Reel for a free product still needs a clear label such as “Ad”, “Sponsored” or the “Paid Partnership” tag. ASCI also requires the label to stay on screen for a minimum time on video: at least 3 seconds for a video of 15 seconds or shorter, and one third of the video’s length for one between 15 seconds and 2 minutes. Our disclosure guide covers the detail.

If a brand offers a product only, value it at what you would have paid and ask for a fee on top. If it says it has no budget, the answer is up to you; some creators say yes when they would have bought the product anyway, and no when the product is something they would never use. On money, the Income Tax Department’s pages could not be opened for this post, so we state no TDS rule. Whether you must charge GST depends on your turnover and registration, which our GST post explains. Take your own case to a chartered accountant.

• Log every quote: the brand, the bundle, your figure, the answer and the final fee.
• After each deal, note what took longer than planned and add it to your next floor.
• Update your median numbers once a month and put the date on the media kit.
• Raise your price after a run of yeses. If everyone agrees at once, your price is probably too low.
• Ask the brand for the campaign’s results (clicks, orders) and add them, with permission, to your media kit.