# How to pay YouTubers and streamers to play your game

How indie developers find creators for their Steam game, flat fees versus paying per wishlist, what to put in a brief, and how to track results.

Updated 2026-10-08.

## Why creators work for games

People decide to try a game by watching someone play it. A creator whose audience already loves your genre puts your game in front of exactly the players who wishlist it. Creators can read [how they get paid per wishlist](https://wishlistme.me/guides/get-paid-for-steam-wishlists).

## Flat fee or pay per result

- Flat fee: you pay for a video or stream up front. Good when you know a creator converts, risky when you don’t. A video that flops costs the same. Compare [what a wishlist costs through each channel](https://wishlistme.me/guides/how-much-does-a-steam-wishlist-cost).
- Free keys: works for creators who cover games anyway, but there’s no commitment and no tracking. See [Keymailer and other key networks compared](https://wishlistme.me/guides/keymailer-alternatives).
- Per wishlist: you set a price per wishlist and pay only for what Steam attributes to the creator’s link. Your cost follows the results.

## What to put in a brief

- What makes the first ten minutes fun, and what to show.
- Anything to avoid: spoilers, unfinished areas, known bugs.
- The link to use, and where to put it: video description, pinned comment, stream panel.
- No rewards for wishlisting. Asking viewers to wishlist is fine; paying or rewarding them for it breaks Steam’s rules.

## Track every video

Give each creator, and ideally each video, its own UTM link. See [Steam UTM tracking](https://wishlistme.me/guides/steam-utm-tracking). Then you know which creator and which video brought wishlists, and who to work with again.

On Wishlistme each video gets its own link automatically, creators claim slots without you approving them, and you pay a 5% fee on top of the job budget. [Post a job](https://wishlistme.me/buy-steam-wishlists).

More guides: https://wishlistme.me/guides