Guides · 13 August 2026
What Is UGC? Definition, Formats, and What Brands Use It For
UGC is content in the style of real customer videos, produced for a brand's own ad channels. What it means, which four formats count, and what it costs.
UGC stands for user generated content. In marketing, the term today almost always means something narrower than the literal translation: a video in the style of a genuine user post that a brand commissions from a creator, receives the usage rights for, and runs as advertising through its own channels. The contradiction is already in the name, and that is exactly what causes most of the misunderstandings in first conversations.
The term and what became of it
Originally, user generated content described everything users put online unprompted: reviews, forum posts, photos, videos. At best, brands could collect it and reuse it. What they could not do was plan for it.
What brands mean today when they order UGC is something else. It is commissioned production modeled on the style of genuine user posts. Paid, briefed, with a delivery date and usage rights. The term stuck because it describes the look you want, not how the content came about.
In practice that means two things. First: you get predictability, you can specify formats, hooks, and messages. Second: it stays advertising, with everything that comes with it, including the labeling requirement as soon as the video runs as an ad.
The four formats brands actually order
In practice, most requests come down to four formats. The rest are mixtures of them.
Testimonial
One person speaks straight into the camera and talks about what the product changed for her. It works like a recommendation from someone you know, it lives entirely on the speaker’s credibility, and it collapses the moment the text sounds read off a page.
Product demo
The product is used, and what happens is explained along the way. This is the format with the lowest failure rate, because it works even when the brand is unknown. Viewers see what they are getting.
Unboxing
Unpacking in real time, with the effect a parcel simply has. Strong for physical products with good design, useless for software.
Hook test
Not a format of its own in the narrow sense, but a way of ordering: several different openings for the same product, so your media team has A/B material on day one. If you order only one video, you have no basis for testing, you have a bet.
What UGC is not
Two distinctions save you the most common misunderstandings.
UGC is not influencer marketing. With influencer marketing, you pay for a post to appear on someone’s channel and reach that person’s followers. With UGC, you get the video file and decide yourself where, for how long, and with what budget it runs. The detailed comparison is in a separate article: UGC vs. influencer marketing.
UGC is not a genuine customer review. A review is written unprompted. A UGC video is paid production in the style of a review. That is permitted and common, it just must not be passed off as a spontaneous customer opinion.
Where UGC runs
By far the most common place is paid ads on Meta and TikTok. The reason is simple: the feed there consists of everyday videos. A polished commercial stands out immediately, but in the wrong way, and the thumb scrolls on. A video that looks like a normal post holds attention a few seconds longer, and that feeds straight through to the cost per thousand impressions.
Alongside that, the same files run organically on the brand’s own channels, as a video element on product pages, and in the newsletter. Whether that is allowed depends on the usage rights you agreed.
An example from my own work
So that this does not stay abstract: a brand storytelling video I produced for Femtasy reached 636,000 views. Two cashback clips for Shopback came in at 189,000 and 122,000, an app UGC for Lifesum at 57,000. I have also produced for L’Oréal, Maybelline, Wolt, Sofatutor and SumUp.
The numbers are organic views, not conversion figures. I name them anyway, because they are what I can prove. Anyone showing you revenue figures from someone else’s ad account has, as a rule, not measured them personally.
What UGC costs
With me, a single video starts at 250 euros, a three-video bundle at 700 euros, and a five-video bundle at 1,150 euros, each including organic and paid usage rights for twelve months. Prices checked on 13 August 2026.
On the market, a single UGC video mostly sits in the low to mid three-figure range. What drives the price up is above all the script, the number of variants, and the usage rights. The detailed breakdown is under What does UGC cost?.
When UGC fits you, and when it does not
UGC fits if you want to test and scale ads, if you need several variants in a short time, and if your product can be shown.
UGC does not fit if you need a single polished shot for a trade fair stand, if your product stays incomprehensible without a three-minute explanation, or if what you actually want to buy is reach. In that last case you are looking for influencer marketing, not UGC.
If you want to know how a collaboration works in concrete terms, it is set out step by step under Booking a UGC creator. And if you want to get started right away, send me a short note about what you have in mind: info@lapotta.com.
Tell me briefly what you have in mind. I will get back to you with an honest assessment and a quote.
Send a requestFrequently asked questions
What does the abbreviation UGC stand for?
UGC stands for user generated content, meaning content created by users. In marketing, the term today usually means something narrower: videos in the style of genuine user posts that a brand commissions from a creator and then runs as advertising itself.
Is UGC the same thing as a real customer review?
No. A customer review is written unprompted. UGC in the marketing sense is paid commissioned production that only borrows the style of a genuine user post. If the video runs as advertising, it has to be labeled accordingly.
Do I need a creator with a large following for UGC?
No. With UGC you are buying the video, not the reach. It runs through your own channels and your own ad budget. The creator's follower count does not matter for that, her craft does.
How long should a UGC video be?
For Meta and TikTok, most deliveries sit between 15 and 45 seconds, vertical in 9:16. Shorter cuts of 6 to 10 seconds make sense as additional variants for first contact.
Can I use UGC outside of ads as well?
Yes, if the usage rights cover it. Common uses are organic posting on your own channels, paid ads, product pages in the shop, and the newsletter. What exactly is allowed is set out in the agreement and should be settled before production.
What is the difference between UGC and a production company?
A production company delivers a commercial: team, lighting, direction, high effort per shot. UGC delivers several everyday-looking variants for testing, filmed by one person with a phone. Both have their place, but in the ad feed the second one usually wins.