Whitelisting and creator licensing, explained

What is whitelisting?

Two separate things get called whitelisting, and it helps to keep them apart:

• Content licensing: you have the right to use a creator's video in your own ads, posted from your brand's account.
• Identity licensing (whitelisting proper): you run ads that appear to come from the creator, under their handle, with their permission.

The second is worth more to the creator, because their name is on an ad they don't control, so it costs more and needs more paperwork. The platforms now have their own tools for it: partnership ads on Facebook and Instagram, and Spark Ads on TikTok.

How do Meta partnership ads work?

Meta describes partnership ads as ads you run "with creators, brands, and other businesses", with both accounts shown in the ad's header. You can choose which account is primary.

• Permission can be account-level, where the creator approves your brand once, or post-level, where the creator shares a partnership ad code for a specific post.
• If you publish without the right permission, Meta holds the ad in pending delivery until the creator approves.
• Meta doesn't limit how many partnership ads can run at once.
• To take part, the creator needs to manage a Facebook Page or use Pro Mode, and posts with licensed music aren't eligible.

Meta also separates branded content, which is the creator's own organic post carrying a "Paid partnership" label, from partnership ads, which are that content with ad spend behind it and an "Ad" label. Meta's own advice to creators is to "negotiate for fair pay for any extra usage rights", so expect the question.

How do TikTok Spark Ads work?

Spark Ads let you run organic TikTok posts as ads, either your own or a creator's with their authorisation. The views, likes, comments, shares and follows the ad earns are credited to the original post.

1. The creator opens the post in the TikTok app, taps the three dots, then Ad settings, and generates a code.
2. They choose how long the authorisation lasts: 7, 30, 60 or 365 days.
3. They send you the code and you add it in TikTok Ads Manager. You can authorise up to 20 codes at a time.

Two details catch people out. The caption can't be edited once the post is authorised as an ad, so agree it first. And the authorisation period is the creator's choice in the app, so the period in your contract and the period on the code need to match.

Partnership ads and Spark Ads side by side

What should a creator licence say?

Platform permission lets the ad run. The contract says whether it's allowed to. We'd put these in every licence:

• Which videos are covered, listed by name or link.
• Where they can run: organic, paid social, your website, email, and anything else such as TV or print.
• Which platforms and which ad accounts.
• Countries, for example the UK and the US.
• The term, and when it starts. We'd start the clock on first use, not on delivery.
• Whether whitelisting is included, and on which platforms.
• What edits you can make: cut-downs, new hooks, captions, music.
• Exclusivity, if any, with the category and the period.
• The fee for each period and the price to renew.
• What happens at the end: ads switched off, or existing ads left to run out.

How long should you license creator content for?

Long enough to find out whether it works, then longer for the winners. Our starting point is 30 days for a test, three months for a video that's earning its keep, and 12 months only for evergreen content you're sure of. Spark Ads' 30, 60 and 365-day periods fit that pattern, and some UK platforms already bundle a 12-month paid licence into the price.

Paying for a year up front on every video is the most common way we see brands overspend on rights. Most ads tire before then.

What does whitelisting cost?

There's no official rate. Published industry guides cluster around a percentage of the creator's base fee for each 30 days:

• Influencer Marketing Hub cites 20% to 25% of the base rate per 30-day flight, with 25% as its standard figure.
• Influee's guide suggests 30% of the base rate per month for whitelisting or Spark Ads, and 30% to 50% for usage rights.
• For Spark Ads, some creators charge a flat monthly fee instead, whatever the ad spend.

In our experience a flat monthly fee is easier to manage for small budgets, and a percentage suits larger creators. Either way, price usage separately from the content, so you can renew only the videos that are working.

Do whitelisted ads need an "Ad" label?

Yes, in both markets. A paid ad usually carries the platform's own label, but that isn't always enough when the ad appears to come from a person.

UK: the ASA says paid ads are usually identifiable through their position and labelling, but even "Promoted" or "Sponsored" posts can break the rules if they mislead about who placed them. Where it isn't obvious why a person is sharing a brand's ad, the ASA is likely to expect a prominent label such as "#Ad" upfront. It prefers "Ad" and advises against "sponsored", and a disclosure that only appears after "See more" isn't acceptable.

US: the FTC says a platform's built-in disclosure tool is no guarantee of an effective disclosure, and that responsibility sits with the influencer and the brand, not the platform. Starting with "Ad:", "#ad" or "Advertisement" is likely to work. In video, a disclosure both on screen and spoken is more likely to be clear.

Our rule: "Ad" in the first line of the copy and on screen in the opening seconds, on every whitelisted ad. This is general guidance, not legal advice.

How we handle licensing at TBC

Usage rights for paid ads are agreed with each creator up front and written into your fixed quote, before any filming. If you want creators to post on their own accounts as well, that's priced separately, so you only pay for what you use.

• Creators come from the TBC Creator Network roster, 1,000 to 1,000,000 followers, and you approve every one before anything is agreed.
• We handle contracts, briefs, draft checks and posting dates.
• Ads run on your own ad account by default, so the data and spend history stay with you.

See creator campaigns and paid social, or start a brief.

Questions

Is whitelisting the same as Spark Ads?

Spark Ads are TikTok's version. On Facebook and Instagram the equivalent is partnership ads. Whitelisting is the general term for running ads through a creator's account.

Do I need whitelisting to run UGC as ads?

No. With a content licence you can run a creator's video from your own brand account. Whitelisting adds the creator's name and handle to the ad, which costs more.

What happens when a Spark Ads code expires?

The authorisation runs for the period the creator chose: 7, 30, 60 or 365 days. Agree the renewal price in the contract well before it ends, so a winning ad doesn't stall while you renegotiate.

Who is responsible for the disclosure?

In the US, the FTC says the influencer and the brand. In the UK, the ASA expects the ad to be obviously identifiable whoever posts it. Treat it as yours.