Why a London rate card does not carry to Manchester, Glasgow or Cardiff

What to take away

Why a London card travels badly

A London rate card is priced for the deepest creator market in the UK. Agencies, brand partnerships teams and creator startups cluster in Greater London, so briefs arrive faster and budgets are larger. Copy that card into a Manchester pitch and you quote a market your buyer does not sell in.

The buyer reads the number through a different frame. A London agency may keep a rate benchmark open on a second screen. A regional retail or sport-linked team often needs the metric explained rather than priced.

Rates also reflect the cost of the people around the creator. Studio space, crew and legal review cost more in the capital. A Manchester creator who keeps the London number without that cost base looks expensive.

Start with the rules covering the document itself. Which UK rules a creator media kit triggers depends on who receives it. A rate sent to a Welsh public body is not the same transaction as one sent to a Soho agency.

The published figures behind a regional rate

ONS regional accounts for the 2022 vintage put London's gross value added per head at the top of the UK table, roughly half again the UK average. The North West, Scotland and Wales all sit below it. Cite ONS regional accounts for the region and the year, not a guess.

Example: one London quote rebuilt for three cities

The figures below are illustrative, not market rates. One £1,200 London package becomes three regional quotes that all clear a shared cost floor.

Against that floor, London stays at £1,200, Manchester is quoted £850, Glasgow £780 and Cardiff £800. Each price carries one line of evidence from the creator's own analytics: a North West share of 22 per cent, a Scottish share of 11 per cent and a Welsh share of 6 per cent.

The rate falls because the addressable audience for a local brand falls. It does not fall because the work is worth less. Keep the floor visible and the margin is easy to defend.

Build that floor from source-backed prices and stated assumptions before any city rate goes into a kit.

Compare the four markets

Treat the index as a starting point and replace it with your own split. Buyers recognise the format and can see why the rate moves.

Glasgow and Cardiff change the brief

Devolved buyers approve spend through their own routes, so a launch date agreed in London can slip. A Glasgow campaign tied to a Scottish public body's year end needs assets earlier than a London one would.

Check which body signs before you promise a date. The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland covers the UK Government's Scotland-facing work and shows where reserved and devolved strands meet.

In Cardiff, bilingual delivery is standard for many publicly funded campaigns. GOV.WALES lists the organisations in service, and that list maps the clients who expect Welsh-language assets. Price the Welsh cut as its own line. See Organisations in service at GOV.WALES for the client map.

For the audience evidence behind that line, see this Cardiff bilingual media kit guide.

Where the nation and region split comes from

Social analytics give the split, not memory. On Instagram, open Professional dashboard, then Audience, then Top locations for cities and countries. On TikTok, open Analytics, then Followers, then Top territories.

Labels differ between platforms, so map them to the four markets you actually price. A territory list is not a rate card on its own.

Common questions

Can I use one rate card for all four cities?

No. The buyer and the addressable audience differ in each city, so one number either overprices you outside London or underprices you inside it. Keep one floor and four presentations.

Do I need separate media kits for Glasgow and Cardiff?

You need separate rate pages, not separate documents. One kit with four market sections is easier to maintain and still gives each buyer their own numbers.

How do I cite ONS data without overclaiming?

Name the region and the reference year, and say what the figure describes. Do not turn a regional average into a promise about your followers.

What if most of my audience is in London?

Say so and price for London. A Manchester or Cardiff rate is only correct when the audience there carries the campaign.