Usage Rights, Explained: What to Charge When a Brand Wants to Boost Your Reel
A brand wants to boost your Reel or run it in its ads. What usage rights are, how to price them in rupees, the red flags in contracts, and what to put in writing before you say yes.
The Reel went well. The brand is happy. Then comes a message that sounds like a compliment:
"Your video is performing really well! Can we boost it from our page for a few weeks? Also, can we use it on our website?"
Most creators in Nepal say "sure!" and feel flattered. Some don't even get asked; they later find their face in a sponsored ad they never agreed to.
Here's what's actually happening. The brand has found an ad that works, made by you, with your face and your credibility. They want to put money behind it and show it to far more people than your post ever reached. That's worth paying for. This guide explains how.
What are usage rights?
Usage rights are permission for a brand to use content you made, beyond your own post.
When you post a sponsored Reel on your own profile, the brand gets that post. That's the normal deal. Usage rights cover everything beyond it, such as:
- Reposting your video on the brand's own page
- Running it as a paid ad (boosting it, or running it through the brand's ad account)
- Putting it on their website, Daraz store page or in-store screens
- Cutting it into new versions, or adding their logo and offers
- Using it on TV, billboards or in print
Every one of these gives the brand more value than your single post. So each one has a price.
Why brands want your content as an ad
Brands have learned that creator videos often perform better as ads than polished brand videos, because they look like something a real person would post. A small brand in Kathmandu can spend Rs. 20,000 boosting a creator's Reel and reach many times your audience, with an ad that already feels trusted.
That's great for the brand, and it can be great for you, as long as you're paid for it. Otherwise you've given away the most valuable part of the deal for free.
The three questions about any usage request
When a brand asks to use your content, ask these three things. We call it Where, How Long, How.
1. Where will it appear? Their organic page only? Paid ads on Facebook and Instagram? Their website? Offline, like billboards or TV? The wider the reach, the higher the price.
2. For how long? 7 days, 30 days, 3 months? Or, the red flag, "forever" or "in perpetuity"?
3. How will it be used? As-is under your name? Edited with their logo and offer? Run from your handle (so it appears as if you posted the ad) or from theirs?
Get all three answers in writing before you agree to anything.
The two ways brands boost creator content
It helps to know what the brand is actually asking for.
Option A: They download your video and run it from their own ad account. Your content appears as their ad, under their name. You lose visibility into how it performs unless they share results.
Option B: They run the ad from your handle or as a partnership ad. Instagram, Facebook and TikTok all have ways for creators to give a brand permission to run an ad using the creator's post, usually through a code or setting you generate and share. On TikTok, these are often called Spark Ads. The ad shows your name, and engagement often lands on your post.
Option B usually performs better for the brand because it keeps your identity attached. It also means your face and name are in an ad, so it's worth more. Many of these permission codes let you set a time limit. Use it.
How to price usage rights in rupees
There's no official rate in Nepal yet. Here's a simple starting point based on how usage is priced in more mature markets, where creators commonly add around 30 to 50% of their base fee for 30 days of paid-ad use.
Say your base fee for one Reel is Rs. 10,000:
| Usage | Suggested add-on | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Brand reposts on its organic page | +10 to 20% | Rs. 11,000 to 12,000 |
| Paid ads, 30 days | +30 to 50% | Rs. 13,000 to 15,000 |
| Paid ads, 90 days | +60 to 100% | Rs. 16,000 to 20,000 |
| Website and store pages, 6 months | +20 to 30% | Rs. 12,000 to 13,000 |
| Offline (billboards, TV, print) | Quote separately | Negotiate |
| "Unlimited" or "perpetual" use | Usually decline, or quote a very high number | Rs. 30,000+ |
These are starting points, not rules. Adjust for how big the brand is, how much they plan to spend on the ads, and how much the content depends on your personal identity.
Two useful rules of thumb:
- The more ad money behind it, the more it's worth. A brand putting Rs. 2 lakh behind your video is getting far more than one putting Rs. 5,000. It's fair to ask about planned ad spend.
- Time limits protect you. If the brand wants to extend, they pay again. Many creators earn a second fee from the same video this way.
Put it in writing
For any usage, your confirmation message or contract should state:
- The content: which video or photos
- Where: the channels (for example "Meta paid ads, brand's Facebook and Instagram pages")
- How long: start and end date
- How: as-is or edited; from your handle or theirs
- Territory: usually "Nepal" for local brands
- Fee for the usage, separate from the content fee
- What happens after: the brand stops running ads and removes the content from paid placements when the term ends
Here's a short version you can send:
Happy for you to run the Reel as a paid ad! My usage terms: Meta paid ads from your page, Nepal only, 30 days from date, used as-is. The usage fee is Rs. 4,000 on top of the content fee. If you'd like to extend after 30 days, I can quote for another period.
Red flags in brand contracts
- "Perpetual," "in all media," "worldwide": they're asking to use your face forever, anywhere. Push back or price it very high.
- "All rights and ownership transfer to the brand": this can mean you can't even keep the video on your own portfolio. Keep the right to show your own work.
- Usage that isn't mentioned at all, and then your video shows up as an ad: raise it immediately and ask for the usage fee. Keep screenshots.
- Editing without approval: if they can add claims or offers you never said, your credibility is on the line, and with Nepal's new advertising policy covering misleading ads, you want to see the final version.
What if the brand says "Other creators don't charge for this"?
Some don't, because nobody told them. You can reply:
I understand. My content fee covers the post on my page. Running it as a paid ad gives it a much bigger audience for a longer time, so I charge separately for that. If you'd prefer to keep the budget lower, we can stick to the post on my page only.
Most brands accept this, because they know the ad is where the value is.
The takeaway
Your content fee pays for making the video and posting it. Usage rights pay for everything the brand does with it after that. Separate the two every time and put a time limit on usage. On longer ad runs, the usage fee can come close to the content fee itself.
Where Reffero fits
On Reffero, usage terms sit in the contract alongside the fee and the deliverables, so what a brand may do with your video is agreed before you shoot rather than argued about afterwards. Create your free account.
Read next: How to Charge Your First Rs. 10,000 for a Brand Deal