Confirm who controls the channel and commercial contact
Verify the creator's primary accounts, linked channels, business contact and naming history. For material deals, confirm control through an established channel rather than relying on a copied profile or forwarded message.
Record the verification date and evidence. Accounts are renamed, compromised and impersonated; a permanent approved label based on an old screenshot creates false confidence.
Check the people the campaign can actually reach
Review geography, language, age information where legitimately available, platform mix and the subjects that attract the audience. Compare ordinary content with sponsored content because commercial posts can reach a different portion of the following.
Treat dashboards as evidence inputs, not unquestionable truth. Ask how the data was captured, which period it covers and whether the campaign's eligible market is visible at a useful level.
Look for patterns, not one suspicious number
Inspect follower growth, engagement distribution, repeated comments, view consistency and the substance of replies across a reasonable sample. Sudden growth or unusual patterns justify questions; they do not prove misconduct by themselves.
Review how influence appears in practice. A smaller creator with informed conversation and stable topic authority may be more useful than a larger account whose audience rarely engages with sponsored material.
Read enough history to understand the partnership context
Sample long-form, short-form, live and deleted-or-corrected material where it is publicly available. Note claims, tone, treatment of vulnerable audiences, responsible-play behaviour, disclosure and how the creator responds to criticism.
Search for platform enforcement, public disputes and content that conflicts with the brand's market or policy obligations. Document the source and relevance rather than turning rumours into a private reputation score.
Map conflicts, sponsorship density and the creator's best role
List recent sponsors, category conflicts, exclusivity, frequency and visible audience response. A credible creator can still be a poor campaign fit when the channel is saturated with competing offers.
Classify the role the creator performs best: live entertainer, product explainer, short-form storyteller, community voice or UGC producer. Evaluate them against that job instead of one universal creator score.
Write proceed, proceed-with-controls or reject
The final record should name the campaign, market, intended role, supporting evidence, unresolved questions, controls and owner. Proceed-with-controls may require a narrower claim set, limited market, pilot deliverable or additional reporting.
Keep rejection reasons factual, relevant and reviewable. Set an expiry or recheck date for decisions that depend on fast-changing audience, platform or commercial information.
Creator diligence record
| Component | What to record |
|---|---|
| Identity | Channel control, linked accounts and verified contact |
| Audience | Geography, language, age evidence and topic fit |
| History | Claims, disclosures, enforcement and brand conflicts |
| Commercial | Sponsors, density, exclusivity and intended role |
| Decision | Evidence, controls, owner, expiry and rejection reason |
Worked example: good engagement, uncertain market fit
Imagine a hypothetical streamer with consistent broadcasts and a lively community. The visible engagement looks genuine, but the operator can only serve a defined set of markets and the creator has not supplied a recent audience breakdown. The question is not whether the channel is good in general. It is whether the available evidence supports this particular regulated campaign.
Ask for the relevant native audience data where available and record its period, account and limitations. Compare it with language, broadcast schedule and the content itself, but do not treat those indirect clues as precise geography measurements. A creator speaking one language can still have a geographically mixed audience. State that uncertainty explicitly in the recommendation.
Check the commercial relationship separately. Verify who controls the account, who can sign the agreement and whether existing sponsorships conflict with the proposed work. A legitimate audience does not resolve a rights or exclusivity problem. Similarly, an enthusiastic manager’s promise does not establish that the streamer has agreed to every deliverable.
The team can decide to hold pending evidence, narrow the role or reject the purchase. If it narrows the role, write a revised scope rather than quietly accepting the original proposal with weaker assumptions. For instance, production expertise and audience access are different things to buy. Each needs a corresponding acceptance standard and appropriate rights.
Before launch, repeat the checks that can change: current account control, recent sponsorships, destination, approved message and monitoring access. Keep the original recommendation with the final decision so another reviewer can follow the reasoning. Diligence is most useful when it changes what the campaign does; a long checklist that never affects casting, briefing or contract terms is only administrative work.
Sources and further reading
Use these primary references alongside the operating recommendations above. Platform and jurisdiction requirements should be checked again before a campaign launches.