A retainer pays a creator a set amount for a target number of videos each period (for example, $300 for 30 videos a month). Each video earns its share of that amount, and the share is held until the creator hits the target. Hitting the target releases the held pay automatically. Use it to reward consistency rather than one-off posts. A retainer is not a fixed payment. The creator earns per video they post: hit the target and they get the full amount, fall short and you decide what they get (see If a creator falls short).

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How the amount is split

The amount per period is divided evenly across the video target. $300 for 30 videos a month works out to $10 per video.
  • Each video earns its share once it’s approved and goes live, plus any per-video bonus for views you add.
  • That share is held, not paid, until the creator reaches the target for the period.
  • When they reach it, all the held videos release together and settle on your normal payout schedule.
There’s no extra fee on top. The amount per period is the creator’s pay for hitting the target, not an add-on to another rate.

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Setting up a retainer for the campaign

In Campaign Settings, go to Payouts and pick Retainer as the pay type. You’ll set:

Amount per period

What the creator earns for hitting the target (for example, $300). It’s split evenly across the target videos.

Video target

How many videos per period (for example, 30).

Repeats every

Week or month: the window the target resets on.

Starts

The date and time the first period begins, shown in your timezone. Only videos made from this date are held.
You can also add an optional Per-video bonus (per 1,000 views or view tiers) and Milestone bonuses that reward a video or a whole period for reaching a view goal. Both are paid on top of the share. Every creator in the campaign is on these terms unless you give them their own.

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Retainer for one creator

You can put a single creator on their own retainer, whether or not the campaign has one. It works the same way: their own amount, target, period, and start date.
1

Open the creator's payout terms

Go to your campaign → Creators, open the creator’s row menu, and choose Override payout terms (it reads Edit payout terms once they have their own).
2

Pick Retainer and fill it in

Choose Retainer as the pay type and set Amount per period, Video target, Repeats every, and Starts. You can also start from one of your saved payout presets.
3

Save

The terms apply to this creator only. Everyone else stays on the campaign’s terms.
If the creator has already signed the campaign contract, saving new terms asks them to re-sign. They can’t submit new content until they do.

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Which videos are held

Only videos made on or after the retainer’s start date are held and count toward the target. Videos made before it keep the pay they were made under and settle on your normal schedule, without being held. That makes it safe to move a creator onto a retainer mid-campaign: set the start date to today, and the videos they already made pay exactly as before. The payout terms dialog reminds you of this before you save. If the campaign itself already has a retainer, a creator you move to their own terms stays on the hold they were under: their videos count from the campaign’s start date, not the day you changed their terms. Changing terms keeps a creator’s existing start date unless you pick a new one. Each held video counts toward the period it went live in.

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How a creator gets paid

1

They post as usual

As each video is approved and goes live, its share is held. The creator sees exactly how many videos they’ve posted and how much is held, so there’s no surprise about when they’ll be paid.
2

They hit the target

When the creator reaches the target for the period, their held pay is released automatically, all together.
3

It settles on your schedule

Released pay then settles on your campaign’s normal payout schedule, not instantly. The next period starts fresh.

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What creators see

On a retainer, the creator’s pay terms read like this:
$300 for 30 videos per month, $10 per video. Your pay is held until you post 30 in the month, then released together.
On the campaign, they see their progress for the current period:
12 of 30 videos this month. $120 held, released when you reach 30. Resets Oct 31.
In their payouts, held videos read Held until 30 videos instead of showing a payout date.

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What you see

On the campaign’s Payments tab:
  • Retainer progress shows a grid with creators down the side and periods across the top, one cell per period with progress like 12 / 30. Each creator’s row uses their own target and dates. The header shows the campaign’s target (for example, 30 videos / month), or Custom per creator when retainers are set creator by creator.
  • In Payout activity, held videos are grouped under Held until retainer target with a status like Held · 12/30. They have no payout date until the target is hit or you decide.
  • Held for retainer shows the total held, next to Accruing now. Accruing now doesn’t include held pay.

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If a creator falls short

When a period ends below the target, nothing happens automatically: the delivered videos stay held, and the decision is yours. We notify you (in-app and by email) that a period is waiting, and the notification links straight to the campaign’s Payments tab. In the Retainer progress grid, a period waiting on you shows an amber Decide cell. You choose one of three outcomes: Your preferred outcome is listed first and marked preferred. It’s Pay what they did unless you’ve asked Wavie to set a different one. Pay never moves until you confirm.

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Deciding a shortfall, step by step

1

Open the campaign's Payments tab

Go to your campaign → Payments → Retainer progress. A period that ended below target shows an amber Decide cell with the creator’s progress (say, 8 / 10). Click it to see how many payments are held.
2

Pick the outcome and confirm

Choose Pay what they did, Roll over, or Forfeit, then confirm. Paying is final; a rollover or forfeit can be undone later from the same cell (until the pay has actually released).
3

Done: settlement takes it from here

Released videos settle on your campaign’s normal payout schedule. A rolled-over creator keeps earning toward the combined target; a forfeited period stays held until you say otherwise.
You don’t have to wait for the period to end. Click a creator’s in-progress cell and choose Pay now to release the videos held so far in that period. Anything they post later in the same period pays on your normal schedule instead of being held.

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Example

**$100 for 10 videos per week**, so each video earns $10:
  • Week 1: the creator posts 10. Their $100 releases automatically and settles on your schedule.
  • Week 2: they post 6, so $60 is held. At the end of the week you’re notified, and you choose Roll over. The 6 carry into week 3.
  • Week 3: they post 4 more (6 + 4 = 10). The combined target is hit, and everything releases automatically: the $40 from week 3 and the $60 from week 2.
The creator earns their share for each video they post. The retainer decides when that pay is released, and you decide what happens to a short period. Released pay settles on your campaign’s payout schedule.

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FAQ

No. The amount per period is the creator’s pay, split across the target videos. The retainer controls when that pay releases.
Once they hit the target, or once you pay a short period or choose Pay now: on your campaign’s payout schedule, not instantly.
The videos stay held and the period keeps waiting in Retainer progress: pay never moves, in either direction, without you. Don’t leave creators hanging: decide promptly.
Yes. A campaign can have one retainer for everyone, and any creator can have their own instead. A retainer never carries over to another campaign.
Yes.
  • For one creator: open their row menu → Edit payout terms. Change the retainer, switch to another pay type, or choose Reset to campaign terms to put them back on the campaign’s pay. If that leaves them with no retainer, the pay held for them moves to your normal payout schedule.
  • For the campaign: go to Campaign Settings → Payouts and change the retainer fields, or pick another pay type and save. You can also ask Wavie to do it. If you remove the campaign’s retainer, pay already held for creators without their own retainer moves to your normal payout schedule; creators on their own retainer keep theirs.
Changing the terms of a creator who has already signed asks them to re-sign before they submit new content.