vape · nicotine
What Do Vape Creator Rates Run for Podcast vs Video
AreYouGarbage? Comedy Podcast (a 278K-subscriber Lucy partner) has run 4 paid Lucy spots since August 2025 at 165,056 average views in our deal log. Lucy is a US nicotine-pouch and gum brand. A vape marketing lead asked Monday if Lucy should stay on podcasts or shift back to YouTube videos. The 90-second answer was stay on podcasts. The feed never gets flagged. Glossary on first mention: PACT Act, the 2020 federal law banning mail-order shipping of e-cigarettes. FDA Deeming Rule, the 2016 rule pulling vape products under FDA tobacco regulation.
The format question is the one operators get wrong on the first vape roster. The cost is not wasted ad spend. It is a takedown of the brand video for nicotine policy on YouTube that erases the impressions you paid for.
Across the Lucy roster in our deal log, 5 podcasts have run 19 paid spots since 2024, and only 1 ZYN deal has surfaced on a single creator in the same window.
What vape creators actually charge
Lucy is the brand pulling the curve in 2026. CHGO Sports (a 107K-subscriber regional sports channel) has run 10 paid Lucy spots since April 2024, the most in our log. Similar mid-tail sports channels land near $2,000 per video.
The bottleneck is platform risk, not creator price. A 4-minute podcast read costs about the same as a 60-second video integration. The video can be taken down. The podcast cannot.
Hamilton Morris (a 276K-subscriber chemistry and pharmacology creator) has run 6 paid Lucy spots since January 2022 at 69,501 average video views. That is the only science-adjacent vape-safe channel in the clean cohort.
Most rate sheets run $1,500 to $4,000 per spot in the 100K to 300K subscriber band. The number you should care about is views, not subs. Buy the actual 90-day view average, not the lifetime number on the deck.
The rate gap between formats
Podcasts cost more per spot. Podcasts also survive platform suppression better than video. That is the trade.
The bottleneck is feed scanning, not ad copy. YouTube scans video metadata and frames for tobacco content. Spotify and Apple Podcasts do not. We Might Be Drunk Podcast (a 243K-subscriber comedy podcast) has run 3 paid Lucy spots between March and April 2026 at 137,291 average views. Not one has been pulled.
Bussin' With The Boys (a 700K-subscriber sports podcast) has run 2 paid Lucy spots since February 2026. The video numbers on YouTube are low at 23,732 average views. The Spotify and Apple downloads are the real audience, and they are not visible in any YouTube dashboard.
[SMALL-CALLOUT: The pick your gut makes is probably wrong]
Most vape brands open vetting wanting a big YouTube creator with a young audience. Our data says the repeat-deal pattern concentrates inside mid-tail comedy and sports podcasts. Follower count is the worst possible first cut.
How to spot a padded rate
Three tells. The deck quotes lifetime views, not last 90 days. The exclusivity line costs 50% of base. The creator shows zero past nicotine or vape deals in any public log.
The bottleneck is verification, not negotiation. A creator with no past Lucy or ZYN deal carries an unknown rejection risk. Their team may pull the spot a week before air if a sponsor calls it sensitive. College Football Addiction (a 38.9K-subscriber regional sports channel) has run 5 paid Lucy spots in April 2026 at 3,646 average views, which sounds tiny until you price the spot at $400.
The cleanest fix is past-deal history. Pull every brand the creator has run in the last 24 months. If nicotine, tobacco, alcohol, or gambling appears at least once, the creator is bookable. If not, push back on the rate by 40% or walk.
vape rate sanity check
Stop paying YouTube prices for video posts that get pulled
Paying $4,000 for a video integration that gets demonetized in week 2Buying whitelisting rights you cannot safely run on Meta or TikTokBooking a creator with zero past nicotine deals and crossing your fingers
Across the 5 podcasts in our Lucy cohort, the takedown rate on paid spots is zero.Get the vetted vape roster
The CPM math that decides fit
Cost per thousand views, the CPM, is the right unit. Take We Might Be Drunk Podcast at $3,000 per spot for 137,291 views. The CPM is about $22. Take Bussin' With The Boys at the same rate for 23,732 YouTube views. The CPM looks awful at $126.
The bottleneck is download data, not YouTube view counts. Bussin' lives on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The real audience is the audio feed, not the YouTube clip. The brand needs to ask for podcast platform analytics before signing.
Hamilton Morris at $2,500 per spot against 69,501 views runs a CPM of $36. Reasonable for the science vertical, where audience overlap with nicotine-curious adults is high. The contrarian play is smaller podcasts with verified download numbers, not bigger YouTube channels with flagged metadata.
The CPM you compare against is not Meta. It is the next nicotine-safe creator on the bench.
When a low rate is a trap
A $400 spot on a small podcast looks free. It rarely is.
The bottleneck is air. A creator who quotes $400 has probably never booked a vape brand before, has not read the PACT Act, and has not built a disclosure pattern that protects either side. The Dynamic Family (a 57.6K-subscriber lifestyle channel) ran 1 ZYN spot in April 2026 at 7,118 average views. That is the only ZYN deal in the clean cohort. The cohort is still Lucy-heavy because Lucy has built a creator-vetting bench.
A low rate without past nicotine deals carries hidden cost. The brand pays $400, gets a takedown notice, and the creator refuses to re-post. See FDA's CTP newsroom for current warning letters.
FAQ
Fair rate for a vape creator with 250K subs in 2026? A podcast like We Might Be Drunk Podcast lands around $3,000 per spot at 137,000 average views. A video creator at the same band runs closer to $1,500.
Why do podcast and video rates split in vape? Podcasts run inside an audio app, not a vape-flagged feed. AreYouGarbage? Comedy Podcast at 278K subs has run 4 Lucy spots with no platform pushback.
How do I spot a padded vape creator rate? The deck shows lifetime views, not 90-day views. Exclusivity is priced at 50% of base. The creator has zero past nicotine deals in our log.
Does subscriber band predict cost-per-buyer in vape? No. Bussin' With The Boys has 700K subs and 23,732 average video views. We Might Be Drunk has 243K subs and 137,000 average views.
What rate should I push back on first? Whitelisting and content rights. Vape ads pulled into Meta or TikTok almost always flag the brand account.
Where We Come In
We run the vape format cut for you because the past-deal history, repeat-deal patterns, and FDA flag risk for every nicotine creator worth looking at already live in our database across 18 named channels and 50 paid deals. The bounded downside is one careful pilot. The unbounded upside is a 12-month roster that ships month over month without a single PACT Act takedown notice or FDA warning letter. Speak with us when you want the list built right.
Vetting is the moat.
Reading loop
- Hub: Vape influencer marketing in 2026
- Related: vape tier 1 vs mid tail rates, vape affiliate vs paid deals
- Compliance: vape pact act creator rules
Frequently asked
What is a fair rate for a vape creator with 250K subs in 2026?
A podcast like We Might Be Drunk Podcast (a 243K-subscriber Lucy partner) lands around $3,000 per spot at 137,000 average views. A video creator at the same band runs closer to $1,500 because views drop fast after week one.
Why do podcast and video rates split so far apart in vape?
Podcasts run inside an audio app, not a vape-flagged feed. The feed never demonetizes. AreYouGarbage? Comedy Podcast at 278K subs has run 4 Lucy spots since August 2025 with no platform pushback.
How do I spot a padded vape creator rate?
Three tells. The deck shows lifetime views, not 90-day views. The rate card lists exclusivity at 50% of base. The creator has zero past nicotine deals in our log.
Does subscriber band predict cost-per-buyer in vape?
No. Bussin' With The Boys has 700K subs but only 23,732 average video views. We Might Be Drunk has 243K subs and 137,000 average views. The same per-spot rate buys five times the audience on the smaller channel.
What rate should I push back on first?
Whitelisting and content rights. Vape ads pulled into Meta or TikTok ads almost always get the brand account flagged. You are paying for a right you cannot safely use.