Introducing: Scout's Talent Network
YouTube's first open network of verified creators for brand sponsorships. Free for creators, zero fees, zero cuts, nothing exclusive.
Today is one of the more exciting days since we launched Scout this summer, because today we are introducing the Scout Talent Network: YouTube's first open network of verified creators.
Quick backstory:
- Three months ago we launched Scout to help growth-stage brands find their best creators on YouTube.
- Since then: hundreds of brands joined, 100K+ creators indexed, 10K+ creator deals facilitated, and over $1M in creator budgets running through Scout.
We've listened to all of the feedback. You told us what was working and what was not, and we shipped it all summer: creator email lookups, outreach sequences, live search, trust scores, audience demographics, and a bunch more.
Somewhere in there a pattern showed up. Brands were hitting the same wall, and it was never picking the creator. Picking the creator takes ten minutes. Everything around it takes weeks. Hunt down an email, guess the pricing, wonder whether they even take deals in your category.
Creators were stuck on the other side of that same coin, fielding pitches for products they would never touch, at prices somebody else guessed for them.
So for the past month we have been working on our most ambitious update yet.
The Scout Talent Network
Creators can now claim their profile on Scout for free. They control how brands find them: what they charge, which industries they want to work with, how they like to do deals, and which inbox all of it lands in. No fees, no cut, nothing exclusive.
Here is what that looks like 👇
How It Works
- Create an account. Free, no card.
- Search your channel. Every creator we track already has a profile sitting there waiting.
- Claim it. Sign in with the Google account that manages the channel and the profile is yours.
- Set your rates and pick your brands. Your number, your categories, your contact.
Over 1,000 creators have claimed their profile in our first few weeks of beta.
The Win For Creators
A verified badge, and you show up first when brands search with Scout. Your profile is a real page that search engines index, so a brand looking for someone in your niche can find you without anyone introducing you first. It is the simplest way we know to start closing more paid sponsorships on YouTube.
The Win For Brands
Better deals and faster closes with creators who already said yes to hearing from you. The rate on a verified profile is their number instead of our estimate, and the contact is the inbox they actually want brands using.
The Win For Talent Managers
If you manage a roster, reach out and we will get your creators set up. You stay the contact on every one of them. Tell us who should stay private and they stay off the public directory. There is nothing for you or your talent to sign, just written confirmation that you are on board.
Every verified profile carries three things:
- Rate: what they charge for an integration, set by them.
- Topics: the categories they want deals in, so they stop getting pitched things they would never touch.
- Contact: the inbox they actually want brands using.
Better Deals for Everybody
Better deals for brands, better deals for creators, and a lot less guessing in the middle.
Scout is supposed to feel like having an influencer manager on staff. An influencer manager with no contacts and no rates is just a spreadsheet, and we have all spent enough of our time in spreadsheets. A verified profile is a creator saying the quiet part out loud: here is my price, here is what I will talk about, here is where to reach me.
"This is way better than anything I've seen. I've never met anyone who could give me 10 really good leads every month like this. I'd pay $500 per lead and be happy as a clam."
Ashly Knox, CMO, Henson Shaving
A directory shows you creators and wishes you luck. The Talent Network hands you someone who already said yes, at a price they picked themselves.
Claim Your Profile
Creators and managers, it is free and it takes a few minutes.
New to Scout? Get your first 100 creators free at babbl-labs.com. Describe your customer, drop in your brand URL, or upload a creator list, and Scout finds your brand's best creators on YouTube.
Where This Goes Next
Our goal is to open the door for 100,000 verified creators this year, with other platforms on the way.
After that comes more control for everyone in the network: seeing which brands looked at your profile, deciding more of what shows up on it, and messaging brands directly instead of waiting on email.
Tell us what you want to see. We will keep building in public, wins and losses included.
If you are a creator, it is two minutes to claim and brands start seeing you today. If you manage a roster, reach out and we will have your creators verified this week.
Cheers,
Ramsey, Sam, Scout & the team
