Influencer usage rights: a separate, steeper fee
The content fee and the right to run that content as paid media are now two separate negotiations, and the second one is being priced as a multiple of the first.
- Paid-media usage rights are now negotiated in roughly 35-45% of creator-brand campaigns, up from about 15-20% two years ago, and the share can cross 50% for larger, performance-heavy campaigns.
- Shudeep Majumdar, CEO and Co-Founder of Zefmo, quotes 20-40% for 30-day paid social usage, rising through 40-75% at 90 days to 100-200% or more for perpetual rights.
- A separate pair of figures reported in the article puts 30-day usage at a 20-30% premium and perpetual usage at 150-200%.
- The Rs 3,600 crore industry size cited is a 2024 figure with projected growth of 25% in 2025, so it is dated rather than a current market number.
Paid-media usage rights are now negotiated in roughly 35-45% of creator-brand campaigns, up from about 15-20% two years ago, according to Storyboard18. For larger brands and performance-heavy campaigns, that share can cross 50%.
The article carries two different sets of fee numbers from two different practitioners, and they are worth reading separately rather than blended. One set reported in the article puts the premium at 20-30% for 30 days of usage and 150-200% for perpetual usage. Shudeep Majumdar, CEO and Co-Founder of Zefmo, gives a longer ladder: 20-40% for 30-day paid social usage, 40-75% for 90 days, 60-100% for six months, 75-125% for 12 months, and 100-200% or more for perpetual usage. Two practitioners quoting different market rates is ordinary. Averaging them would produce a number neither of them said.
The illustrative example in the article is a creator on Rs 1 lakh per Reel asking another Rs 40,000 to 75,000 for 90 days of paid amplification. That is one example, not a benchmark.
On the principle, Darshana Bhalla, Founder and CEO of D’Artist Talent Ventures, said: “The moment a brand puts paid media behind a creator’s face, voice and credibility, it is no longer simply buying content, it is commercially exploiting the creator’s identity.” Both named speakers work in influencer talent and marketing, so treat their ranges as practitioner quotes rather than neutral market data and weigh them accordingly.
For market size, the article cites India’s influencer-marketing industry at approximately Rs 3,600 crore in 2024, with projected growth of 25% in 2025. That is a 2024 base with a 2025 projection, quoted in a September 2026 article, so it is a dated reference point rather than a current figure.
The operational fix is sequencing, not haggling. Decide the usage window before you negotiate the fee, not after the creative is approved and the media plan is already built, because at that point you are buying rights under deadline pressure with no leverage. On either set of numbers above, perpetual is the most expensive tier by a wide margin, and buying perpetual by default on an asset you will actually run for six weeks is where the money goes. Price the window you will genuinely use, write a renewal option into the contract for the winners, and carry usage rights as its own budget line instead of assuming it sits inside the content fee.
Zane’s analysis draws on original reporting by Storyboard18. Read the original report.