True crime content has exploded across platforms like YouTube and TikTok, becoming a dominating force in digital entertainment with videos, podcasts, posts, and more. As of 2024, a full 84% of the U.S. population consumes true crime content.
But it’s always been a top genre. For as long as crimes have been committed, eager audiences have gathered to hear about them. It’s one of humanity’s grisliest (and, some would say, most compelling) forms of storytelling–a medium that limelights the worst days of people’s lives and turns them into cautionary tales and sighs of relief: At least that’s not me.
So how do you sell sponsorships on it?
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Sure, true crime TV programs like America’s Most Wanted and Cold Case Files had commercial breaks, but every TV program has commercial breaks. Podcasts and YouTube take a similar role to TV networks, running its own stable of ads against tens of millions of streams and views it deems brand-safe.
Sponsorships, arranged between a brand and a channel, are a different breed of advertising. With those, a brand tacitly endorses a creator’s content, and in exchange, the creator endorses whatever product the brand is offering. They give that brand a custom-made ad targeted at their niche audience.
These sorts of partnerships happen across every content category, but it is understandably a lot easier to put a sponsored spot on a lighthearted video about a teenager’s trip to the mall than it is to put one on a video documenting a grandfather’s murder. There are serious potential pitfalls with advertising on true crime content–the subject matter can be gruesome, and these are situations where real people were affected. Loved ones or even the victim themself might see the video.
But Law&Crime Network says it’s been able to mitigate these pitfalls and run successful campaigns with a variety of brands.
Founded in 2015 by former NBC and ABC legal correspondent/analyst Dan Abrams, Law&Crime has 7.5 million subscribers on YouTube and brings in around 100 million views per month on its main channel alone. (It also made news recently with its reported $125 million acquisition of long-running broadcast channel Court TV, where Abrams started his career in true crime.)
Law&Crime’s content spans from live trial coverage and police car chases to bodycam case files with names like Mom Left Kids to Eat Spoiled, Raw Meat in House-of-Horror, Driver Mows Down Grandma in Hit-And-Run Horror, and Meth-Smoking Woman Snatched Child From Home. Its formula involves journalists hosting each piece nightly news-style, with a strong sense of sympathy to the victims.
The company has spent the past decade building a sustainable business on the world’s largest video-sharing site–which includes working with dozens of sponsors for long-term campaigns.
Sam Goldberg, Law&Crime’s Head of Sales, tells us the company has been able to “operate in a difficult but incredibly popular genre with credibility–driven by the caliber of our journalists and attorneys, and the editorial standards behind everything we publish.”
“Brands know their messaging will be delivered accurately and responsibly, and we only partner with advertisers that make sense for our audience and content,” he adds. “Moving from difficult subject matter to mattresses was never going to feel right for us. Partnering instead with law firms, personal safety brands, and digital security companies created a more organic alignment with our audience and drove far more conversions than brands that weren’t as well matched.”
One of its top partners is personal injury firm Morgan & Morgan, which to date has sponsored over 2,000 Law&Crime videos.
Shaul Wolf, Morgan & Morgan’s Senior Director of Social & Creators, tells us Law&Crime was a “natural partner” in the firm’s ever-expanding YouTube ad operation.
“Their audience is deeply engaged and compassionate. Their message of fighting for justice at every step aligns perfectly with ours,” he says. “They produce high-quality content and are a trusted, leading producer in the space. We’ve been thrilled to see their success and growth.”
A video sponsored by Morgan & Morgan.
Along the same lines, Law&Crime also works with People Connect, the parent company for public records search engine TruthFinder and identity protection platform OmniWatch.
Kristle Khoury, People Connect’s VP of Marketing, says Law&Crime’s content “closely aligns with TruthFinder.com‘s mission to promote transparency while helping people protect themselves through access to public record information. Law&Crime’s coverage of real legal cases complements our focus on empowering customers with background check data, including criminal records, so they can make more informed, confident decisions.”
She too praises Law&Crime’s audience as “highly engaged and detail-oriented, actively seeking facts and context around legal matters.”
“That makes them a strong fit for TruthFinder, as viewers are already thinking about safety, accountability, and understanding who they’re interacting with,” she says.
Rachel Stockman, Law&Crime’s president, chimes in that companies like Morgan & Morgan and People Connect, “which align perfectly with what we’re doing […] are certainly home runs for us.”
“Even though the content can sometimes be controversial depending on the case we’re covering, I feel like there’s an understanding that we’re all professional journalists and attorneys who make sure that whatever we’re doing is done with the utmost respect,” she says. “Some brands perhaps wouldn’t traditionally touch this, but they understand our process, our audience, how engaged they are, and how they’re really in that core buying demo. They trust our product.”
That product trust extends beyond companies operating in true crime-adjacent categories. It may be difficult to move from murders to mattresses, but Law&Crime has partnered with luxury bedding and loungewear company Cozy Earth, too.
A video sponsored by Cozy Earth.
Abby Poche, Cozy Earth’s Partnership Strategist, says sponsoring Law&Crime videos was “part of a broader effort to test into new, highly engaged digital audiences in premium editorial environments.”
“Law&Crime offers a unique intersection of news, analysis, and cultural relevance that made it an interesting opportunity for us to explore,” she says, adding that Law&Crime’s viewers “are actively consuming long-form content and following stories closely, which creates a meaningful environment for brand messaging–especially for brands looking to better understand how they show up alongside trusted media.”
So what has Cozy Earth learned from showing up alongside Law&Crime’s trusted media?
Poche says the sponsorships were valuable “from a learning and testing standpoint. They’ve given us insight into audience behavior, messaging resonance, and how our brand performs in a more news-driven context, which helps inform our broader media strategy moving forward.”
Law&Crime’s sponsorship strategy isn’t complicated, but it cuts against the instinct creators and sales teams may have when dealing with “difficult” content. If you have a professionalized production that attracts a leaned-in audience, marketers won’t mind the yellow tape.
