How to pay gaming creators per view

A flat fee buys a post. Whether that post reaches 400 people or 40,000, the price was settled before anyone pressed play.

Paying per view moves that risk. You pay a rate for every 1,000 views a post earns, so a video nobody watched costs little and a clip that travels costs more, up to a limit you set. For a small studio still learning which creators and formats work for its game, that is often the fairer deal for both sides.

This guide covers how to set the rate, how to cap each post, what counts as a view, how to fund the budget so spending cannot run over, and what a $250 test buys on Bounty Board.

The direct answer

To pay gaming creators per view:

1. Pick a rate. A rate per 1,000 views for YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, or a rate per average live viewer for a Twitch stream.
2. Cap each post, so one clip that takes off cannot spend the budget meant for ten creators.
3. Fix the date views stop counting, so every payout settles on a known day.
4. Fund the budget before anyone posts, so creators can see the money exists.
5. Write down what does not count: fake or bought views, posts from someone else's account, posts that skip the brief, and posts with no paid disclosure.

On Bounty Board, a per view campaign works this way. The studio funds one pool up front. Creators post once and earn a rate per 1,000 views from it, first come, first served, until it runs out. Each post is paid on its final count, and anything left is refunded.

Set the rate from what the post is

The rate depends on how much of the post is about your game.

A mention inside a broader clip or short reaches many people with a light touch. A piece made about your game, such as a full video, goes deeper and keeps finding viewers for months, so it earns a higher rate per view.

Bounty Board's campaign builder has a rate helper that suggests numbers by creator tier. For YouTube views it suggests:

Instagram and TikTok use the same table. Twitch is priced per average live viewer instead, because what a stream is worth is how many people watched it live. For an audience mostly in the US, UK or EU, the helper raises each suggestion by half.

These are starting points, not quotes. A higher rate pulls in bigger creators, because they can land the views to earn it, while the cap keeps any one of them from taking too much.

Cap each post

The cap is the most one post can earn. On Bounty Board it must be at least the rate, and the pool must cover at least one post's full cap.

Divide the pool by the cap and you get the fewest posts it can pay. A $250 pool with a $50 cap pays at least 5 posts at the full cap, and more when posts earn less.

Other per view platforms use the same lever. Jestr's documentation sets a maximum reward per creator and gives the example of a creator who stops earning at $1,500 after 250,000 eligible views.

A useful way to pick the cap: set it near what you would have paid that tier of creator as a flat fee. Posts that do well then cost what a flat deal would have, and posts that do poorly cost less.

Decide what counts as a view

You can only pay per view for views someone can measure. On Bounty Board, view based bonuses and results based payouts are measured automatically for YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and TikTok. Instagram and TikTok views are read through the creator's connected account. Other platforms (X, websites) cannot be measured automatically, so plan a per view deal only on the four that can.

Three more rules keep the count honest:

• Only new posts count. Only posts published after the campaign goes live count, so an old video with a head start cannot drain the pool.
• Views stop counting on one date. You pick when submissions close and how many days views keep counting after that. The builder offers 7, 14 or 30 days. Early posts count longer.
• Bought views never count. Views or engagement from bots, purchased traffic, or other manipulation do not count, and payments made on them can be reversed.

Fund the pool before anyone posts

A creator weighing a per view offer from a studio they have never heard of is also weighing the chance it never pays. A funded budget answers that before they ask.

On Bounty Board, the studio funds the pool up front through Stripe when the campaign is published, and the funds are held by Bounty Board. Bounty Board reads views regularly, and each post claims what its views have earned from the pool, first come, first served, until the pool is spent. The remaining balance shows on the campaign card and page, so creators can see what is left before they post. Once the pool is spent, the campaign closes to new posts for good.

Claims build up while views count. Money moves at the end: every post is paid on its final count on the day views stop counting. Payment goes to the creator's Stripe account, and Stripe then holds the payout for 7 days so any disputes can be resolved before funds reach their account. Whatever is left in the pool is refunded to the studio in full, including its share of the platform fee.

Choose who can post

Each creator can post once. Beyond that, the studio picks how open the campaign is:

• Anyone. Any creator can post while the pool has money and submissions are open. This gets the most posts and gives you the least say over who makes them.
• Approve each creator. Creators apply first, and only those you approve can post.
• Add a game key. You can give each creator a key too. The keys you add then set how many creators can join, and the campaign takes nobody new once they run out, until you add more.

What you can reject, and what you cannot

The fair worry with per view deals is paying for a post you would never have approved. The answer on Bounty Board is a short, fixed list. While views are counting, a studio can reject a post only for fake or bought views, a post not published from the creator's own connected account, a post that does not cover what the brief asked, missing paid disclosure, or content that breaks the Terms. The creator can dispute a rejection within 3 days, and Bounty Board decides. The Terms have the full wording.

"I did not like it" is not on the list, which is the point. A creator takes the risk that a post earns little; they should not also take the risk of a studio changing its mind. Two things keep you inside that list: a brief that says exactly what the post must cover (our brief writing guide has a checklist), and a disclosure line creators can copy (our disclosure guide shows wording that works on camera).

A $250 test, worked through

Take a $250 pool at $10 per 1,000 YouTube views, with a $50 cap on each post.

• What it buys: 25,000 views at the rate.
• How many posts: at least 5 at the full cap, more when posts earn less.
• What the studio pays: $275 at checkout, the pool plus the standard 10% platform fee.
• What a creator receives: a post that earned $50 pays the creator $45, after the 10% creator fee.
• What comes back: if posts have earned $180 between them when views stop counting, the unused $70 is refunded, together with its $7 share of the fee.

Fees work differently elsewhere, so compare totals rather than rates. Jestr's documentation takes its fee out of the campaign budget: 25% for campaigns under $10,000 and 20% from $10,000 up, as of October 2026. Our Jestr comparison covers the rest of that choice.

When a set price is the better deal

Per view is not always the right model.

• The work lives on X or a website. Those views cannot be measured automatically, so pay a set price for the piece.
• You need one specific thing by a date. A launch day stream or a video timed to a Steam Next Fest demo is easier to buy as a set price per approved piece.
• You want one particular creator. The creator carries the risk in a per view deal, and an established channel you have in mind may simply quote a flat price.

On Bounty Board both models run as a campaign: a set price for each piece you approve, or a rate per 1,000 views from a pool. The studio overview shows how each starts, and what it costs to hire gaming creators helps you set a budget for either.

Sources worth reading

• Jestr: Budget, CPM and rewards
• Jestr: How Jestr works
• Bounty Board Terms of Service
• What it costs to hire gaming creators for an indie game