# SponsorTrack – Creator Sponsorship Intelligence (`enosgb/sponsor-track`) Actor

Discover which brands sponsor which creators on YouTube, Podcasts, and Newsletters. Get sponsorship tenure, frequency, estimated spend, and AI-powered insights for media buying and influencer marketing.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/enosgb/sponsor-track.md
- **Developed by:** [Enos Melo](https://apify.com/enosgb) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Automation, AI
- **Stats:** 14 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $8.00 / 1,000 per sponsorship detecteds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## SponsorTrack – Creator Sponsorship Intelligence

**SponsorTrack** is the first intelligence tool that systematically tracks brand sponsorships across YouTube videos, podcast episodes, and newsletters. We detect sponsorship mentions, calculate how long a brand has been partnering with a creator (sponsorship tenure), identify frequency patterns, and estimate spend—giving you the competitive edge in influencer marketing.

### Why use SponsorTrack?

- **Brands & Media Buyers** – Identify where your competitors are advertising, find cost-effective creators, and benchmark sponsorship rates
- **Influencer Marketing Agencies** – Show clients proven sponsorship history, avoid creators who overstate brand relationships, and negotiate better deals with data
- **Investors & Startups** – Understand go-to-market strategies of SaaS companies, see which creators they trust for audience reach
- **Content Creators** – Research what rates similar creators command, discover which brands sponsor your niche

### How to use SponsorTrack

1. Go to the **Input** tab
2. Choose mode: **creators** (analyze specific creators) or **brands** (find brand placements)
3. Provide creators with their platform URLs (YouTube Channel ID, Podcast RSS, Substack, Beehiiv)
4. Set brands to track (e.g., \["Notion", "Stripe", "Linear"])
5. Click **Start** and download sponsorship data

### Input

| Field               | Required               | Description                                                                   |
| ------------------- | ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `mode`              | Yes                    | "creators" or "brands"                                                        |
| `creators`          | Yes (if mode=creators) | Array of `{ name, youtubeChannelId, podcastRssUrl, substackUrl, beehiivUrl }` |
| `brands`            | Yes                    | Array of brand names to track                                                 |
| `daysBack`          | No                     | Days of content to analyze (default: 90)                                      |
| `maxItems`          | No                     | Max content items per creator (default: 200)                                  |
| `enableAiDetection` | No                     | Use AI for detection (default: true)                                          |

#### Example Input

```json
{
    "mode": "creators",
    "creators": [
        {
            "name": "Ali Abdaal",
            "youtubeChannelId": "UCJgfaSkE5Lyiq5R0sX5jVgw",
            "podcastRssUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/dHoohVNH"
        }
    ],
    "brands": ["Notion", "Stripe", "Linear"],
    "daysBack": 90,
    "maxItems": 200,
    "enableAiDetection": true
}
```

### Output Fields

- **brandName** – Sponsoring brand
- **creatorName** – Content creator
- **platform** – youtube, podcast, or newsletter
- **contentTitle** – Title of sponsored content
- **contentUrl** – Direct URL to content
- **sponsorMention** – Exact text of sponsorship mention
- **sponsorshipTenureDays** – Days brand has been sponsoring
- **frequency** – weekly, monthly, quarterly, or one-time
- **estimatedSpend** – Estimated cost range
- **isNewSponsorship** – Whether this is a new partnership
- **intentReason** – AI-generated insight

#### Example Output

```json
{
    "brandName": "Notion",
    "creatorName": "Ali Abdaal",
    "platform": "youtube",
    "contentTitle": "How I Take Notes in 2024",
    "contentUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abcdef123",
    "sponsorMention": "This video is sponsored by Notion...",
    "sponsorshipTenureDays": 487,
    "frequency": "monthly",
    "estimatedSpend": "$2,000 - $10,000",
    "detectedAt": "2025-04-05T14:30:00.000Z",
    "isNewSponsorship": false,
    "intentReason": "Long-term partnership with 12 mentions over 16 months indicating established brand-creator relationship"
}
```

### Pricing / Cost Estimation

**Free Tier:** The first $5/month of platform usage is free on Apify.

**Example costs:**

- **5 creators, 10 videos each:** ~$0.10-0.20 per run
- **10 creators, 50 videos each:** ~$0.30-0.50 per run
- **AI detection (Groq):** ~$0.001 per content item (very cheap with llama-3.1-8b-instant)

**YouTube API:** Requires your own YouTube Data API v3 key (free tier available in Google Cloud Console).

**Compare:** Manual research costs $50-200/hour. SponsorTrack gives you thousands of data points for pennies.

### Tips & Advanced Options

- **Provide YouTube Channel IDs** (not URLs) for accurate fetching
- **Use Podcast RSS feeds** for most accurate podcast data
- **Disable AI detection** for faster, cheaper runs (uses regex only)
- **Run weekly** to track new sponsorships over time — the Actor remembers previous runs

### FAQ, Disclaimers & Support

**Q: Is this legal?**
A: SponsorTrack only uses publicly available data — video descriptions, podcast show notes, and newsletter content. We respect robots.txt and rate limits.

**Q: What platforms are supported?**
A: YouTube (via API), Podcasts (RSS feeds), Substack, and Beehiiv newsletters.

**Q: How accurate is the detection?**
A: AI detection (Groq) has ~90% accuracy. Regex fallback catches obvious sponsorships but may miss nuanced mentions.

**Q: How does tenure calculation work?**
A: The Actor stores historical data in Key-Value Store. Tenure is calculated as days since first detected sponsorship.

**Known limitations:**

- YouTube requires API key (no API = no YouTube data)
- Some podcasts may have private RSS feeds
- Newsletter scraping depends on public page access

**Need help or have feedback?** Use the Issues tab or contact us through Apify Console. Custom enterprise solutions available on request.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Choose whether to analyze specific creators or search by brand interests

## `creators` (type: `array`):

List of creators with their platform URLs. At least one platform URL is required per creator.

## `brands` (type: `array`):

Brand names to search for in creator content when mode is 'brands'. Used as keywords for sponsorship detection.

## `daysBack` (type: `number`):

How many days of past content to analyze. More days = more complete data but higher compute cost.

## `maxItems` (type: `number`):

Maximum number of videos/podcasts/newsletter issues to process per creator. Controls cost and runtime.

## `enableAiDetection` (type: `boolean`):

Use Groq AI to accurately detect sponsorship mentions and generate insights. Disable for faster, cheaper runs using regex-only detection.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "creators",
  "creators": [
    {
      "name": "Example Creator",
      "youtubeChannelId": "UCXXXXXX",
      "podcastRssUrl": "https://example.com/feed.rss",
      "substackUrl": "https://example.substack.com/",
      "beehiivUrl": ""
    }
  ],
  "brands": [
    "Notion",
    "Stripe",
    "Linear",
    "Supabase"
  ],
  "daysBack": 90,
  "maxItems": 200,
  "enableAiDetection": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `sponsorships` (type: `string`):

All detected brand sponsorships with metadata, tenure, and AI-generated insights

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Execution statistics including creators processed, sponsorships detected, and runtime metadata

## `history` (type: `string`):

Historical sponsorship data per creator for tenure tracking and change detection

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "brands": [
        "Notion",
        "Stripe",
        "Linear",
        "Supabase"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("enosgb/sponsor-track").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "brands": [
        "Notion",
        "Stripe",
        "Linear",
        "Supabase",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("enosgb/sponsor-track").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "brands": [
    "Notion",
    "Stripe",
    "Linear",
    "Supabase"
  ]
}' |
apify call enosgb/sponsor-track --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,enosgb/sponsor-track"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/sFgO5Mv5D7Nm7QAHh/builds/Is6xUKlNZNoiR36Gq/openapi.json