A license with a term has two dates that matter: the day it starts and the day it ends. Most creators pay attention to the first, because that is when they get paid, and none to the second, because nothing visible happens. That is the problem. On the end date the brand's rights stop, and the only person who benefits from noticing is you.
This guide is the timeline: what to do in the month before, on the day, and in the month after.
Thirty days before: the reminder and the offer
A month out, send the brand a short note with three things: the content the license covers, the date it ends, and the price to extend. This is not a chase; it is the easiest renewal conversation in the business, because the brand already knows how the content performs and the cost of more time is a fraction of the original.
Hi Sam, heads-up that the six-month paid-ad license on the serum video ends on October 12. If the ads are still working for you, a further six months is $225 (half the original fee), or twelve months for $360. If you are winding it down, no action needed and I'll confirm the end date closer to the time.
Notice the structure: a specific date, a specific price, and a graceful exit. Brands renew far more often when the offer arrives before the deadline than when they are told after it that they are out of license.
What an extension should cost
The content already exists and the brand already knows it works, so an extension is priced below the original usage fee, not above it. A common approach:
| Extension | Price as a share of the original usage fee | |---|---| | Same term again (e.g., another 6 months) | 50 to 75 percent | | Double the term (e.g., 12 months) | 80 to 100 percent | | A wider grant (new channels, more markets, higher spend) | Original fee or more, since the scope grew | | Perpetual | A buyout: several multiples of the original fee, and it is fine to decline |
If the original deal never separated the usage fee from the content fee, use the usage guide to reconstruct one: how to charge for usage rights.
The day it ends
On the end date, the brand's right to use the content stops. Concretely:
- Paid ads using the content must stop running.
- Whitelisted or Spark-style placements from your handle must be paused.
- Nothing new can be posted with the content.
- Whether past organic posts must be removed depends on the license wording; "use" usually means ongoing use, but a license can say all use ends.
Send a two-line confirmation that day: the license has ended, thanks for the campaign, the extension is still available if plans change. The note is the record.
Thirty days after: check
A week or two after the end date, look. Search the brand's ad library on the platforms they used, check their recent posts, and if the content was whitelisted from your account, look at your own ads manager for anything still active. Most brands stop on time. Some forget, and a forgotten ad is unlicensed use.
When you find one, assume oversight first:
Hi Sam, I see the serum video is still running in your ads as of today; the license ended October 12. Happy to extend it, $225 for another six months, or could you pause it by Friday? Just want the paperwork to match what is live.
If it is neither renewed nor paused, you are in the same position as an unpaid deal, and the ghosting playbook applies: a formal notice, then a takedown request. This is rare, and it is rare because the thirty-days-before note made the brand aware of the date.
The reminder is the whole system. Almost every problem with expired licenses comes from nobody knowing the date. Put the dates on the license, put the reminder on a calendar, and the after-the-fact part of this guide mostly never happens.
Where the dates should live
Not in a DM, and not in your memory. A license should be a document both sides accepted that states the content, the channels, the term with a start and end date, the geography, and what happens at expiry. On Plug Pro that is the license certificate on the deal: it shows the days remaining, it can be extended in place so the new dates are on the same record, and a reminder goes out before the end so the offer above lands on time.
The short version
A month before: remind and offer. On the day: confirm. A month after: check. Price extensions at a fraction of the original fee, price perpetual as a buyout, and keep the dates on the license itself. An expiring license is not an ending; handled on time, it is the cheapest deal you will close this year.