How you pay a host shapes how they stream. Here are the three models, what each does to behaviour, and why we settled on flat fee plus commission.
Hourly or flat fee only
The host is paid for time. Simple to budget and easy to explain. The problem is that a slow stream and a great stream pay the same, so the host has no reason to push the deal harder, stay five more minutes for the late arrivals, or care which product you pin. Fine for a demo-heavy stream where the goal is awareness. Weak for sales.
Commission only
The host is paid a percentage of sales. On paper, perfect alignment. In practice, hosts carry all the risk: a stream on tired stock, a bad time slot, a platform hiccup, and they've worked for nothing. Good hosts won't take commission-only from a brand they don't know, so you end up with whoever will, which is rarely who you want. It also makes hosts cherry-pick products and slots.
Flat fee plus commission
A guaranteed amount for the stream, plus a percentage of what sells during it. The guaranteed rate covers the host's time and keeps the professionals in the pool. The commission means every extra sale is in their interest too. Brands get a host who is motivated and reliable, hosts get a floor and an upside.
At Hosts for Hire the numbers are the National Living Wage rate, £12.71 an hour, on every stream, and 3 percent of sales once a host has done three lives for the same seller. Every live is at least three hours. The delay on commission is deliberate: the first few streams with a new seller are where the host learns the stock and the audience, and it rewards the pairing that works rather than the one-off.
Setting the numbers
- Hourly rate. Enough that a quiet night is still worth the host's evening. On the UK market, hourly listings cluster between £12 and £30, so a three-hour stream at £38 to £90 is the normal range before commission.
- Commission. Somewhere between 3 and 10 percent of sales during the stream is typical. Set it so that a good stream with a regular seller roughly doubles the hourly pay. Lower if margins are thin, higher if you want hosts fighting for your slots.
- Attribution. Count sales made during the stream from the live itself. Keep it simple and visible so the host can see it in the dashboard. Arguments about attribution kill trust faster than a low rate.
Through an agency
When hosts come through an agency, the brand usually pays one monthly retainer and the agency contracts and pays the hosts, including their commission. You never manage freelancers, and the host still has the flat fee plus commission structure underneath. That's how our pricing works.
Published 2026. Hosts for Hire is an independent UK agency and is not affiliated with TikTok.