UGC glossary: 47 terms every brand and creator should know
UGC vocabulary falls into six families: the basics, formats, rights and ads, payment, measurement and platforms. Three mix-ups are worth avoiding: buying a video without the right to run it as an ad, treating a Spark Ads code as a licence, and reading CPM as a cost when a content rewards program uses it as a pay rate.
Each term has its own anchor (for example #spark-ads) and links to the guide on this site that goes further. Platform rules and laws are sourced and dated.
Jump to: The basics · Formats and production · Rights and advertising · Payment models · Measurement · Platforms and tools
The basics
UGC (user-generated content)
Content about a brand made by people outside it: customers, fans or paid creators. In marketing, mostly short vertical phone videos that look like a real person talking, not like an ad. More in what is UGC.
UGC creator
A person paid to make UGC-style videos for brands, hired for the video rather than for an audience. Some deliver files, others also post on their own accounts; past work sits in a UGC portfolio.
Influencer
A creator paid mainly for reach: the brand buys an audience and the trust it places in that person. Compare in UGC vs influencer.
Brief
The document that tells creators what to make: goal, audience, message, format, what to say and avoid, deliverables, deadline. Start from our UGC brief template.
Script
The lines and shots of a video, beat by beat: hook, problem, demo, proof, call to action. Structure in our UGC script template.
AI UGC
UGC-style videos generated with AI avatars and synthetic voices, with no one filmed. Cheap at volume, but with no lived experience behind them. See AI UGC vs real creators.
Formats and production
Hook
The first seconds: the spoken line, first frame and on-screen text that stop the right viewer. TikTok advises introducing the proposition in the first 3 seconds and placing the hook within the first 6. Examples in our UGC hooks guide.
CTA (call to action)
The closing instruction: download the app, start the trial, tap the link, use the code. One action per video is easier to follow than three.
Product demo
The product doing its job on camera: the app on screen, the tool in hand, the result. For software, the most direct proof; other formats in UGC video formats.
Faceless UGC
UGC where the creator's face never appears: screen recording with voice-over, hands only, text on screen. Six formats in faceless UGC.
9:16 (vertical format)
The full-screen vertical ratio of TikTok, Reels and Shorts. TikTok recommends shooting vertically at 9:16, in at least 720p, with sound.
Safe zone
The area of the frame that the app's buttons and captions do not cover. For Instagram Reels ads, Meta asks to keep at least 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on the sides free of text and logos. Specs in UGC ads on TikTok and Meta.
Raw footage
The unedited clips behind a video, B-roll cutaways included, that let a brand cut its own ad versions. Check whether the price includes them.
Variation
A version of a video that changes only one element, usually the hook. It tests an angle cheaply and replaces an ad worn out by creative fatigue.
Sources: TikTok Ads, creative best practices (June 2025), Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Reels (no date shown). Checked 2 October 2026.
Rights and advertising
Usage rights
What a brand may do with a video, where and for how long. Influee's guide puts 3-month paid ad rights at an extra 20 to 30% of the base rate and lifetime rights on all channels at 100 to 150%; it says rights are typically limited to 6 to 12 months. See usage rights and whitelisting.
Licence and assignment
A licence lets the brand use the video while the creator keeps the copyright; an assignment transfers rights. In France, article L131-3 of the Intellectual Property Code requires each assigned right to be mentioned separately, limited in extent, purpose, place and duration. Clauses in our UGC contract guide.
Exclusivity
A clause that bars the creator from working with competing brands for a set period. It costs the creator income, so it is usually priced separately.
Whitelisting
Running ads from a creator's account, with their name and photo on the ad. It names a practice, not a tool: TikTok's tool is Spark Ads, Meta's is partnership ads.
Spark Ads
TikTok's ad format built on organic posts, including posts by creators who authorize it. The creator turns on Ad authorization in the post's ad settings, picks 7, 30, 60 or 365 days and shares the code. Steps in TikTok Spark Ads with creators.
Partnership ads
Meta's ads that show both the creator's and the brand's accounts in the header. The creator generates a partnership ad code that the brand uses to run the post.
Branded content
As TikTok defines it, content that promotes or reviews a third-party brand in exchange for payment or any other incentive. Creators must turn on the commercial content disclosure toggle, and the post is then labelled.
Ad disclosure
A clear signal that a post is paid. The FTC wants it in the video itself whenever there is a relationship with the brand, free products included. In France, article 5-2 of law 2023-451 treats a missing mention of commercial intent as misleading unless the context makes it clear, and cites "publicité" or "collaboration commerciale".
Influence contract (France)
Since 1 January 2026, decree 2025-1137 requires a written contract once one advertiser's payments and benefits in kind to one influencer reach €1,000 excluding tax in the same year for the same promotional objective. Whether a UGC job counts as commercial influence depends on the facts.
Sources: Influee, UGC usage rights (5 January 2026), Légifrance, article L131-3 (in force since 3 July 1992), TikTok Ads, Spark Ads (June 2026), TikTok Ads, creating Spark Ads (October 2025), Meta for Developers, partnership ad codes, TikTok Branded Content Policy (4 August 2026), FTC, Disclosures 101 (November 2019), Légifrance, article 5-2 of law 2023-451 (in force since 8 November 2024), decree 2025-1137. Checked 2 October 2026.
Payment models
Flat fee
A fixed price per delivered video. Ask what it covers: rights, raw footage, extra hooks, revisions. Ranges in our UGC pricing guide and, for creators, UGC creator rates.
Content rewards
A brand funds a budget and pays creators per 1,000 views on approved videos that follow its brief. On Whop, the brand sets that rate, the total budget, a minimum a video must earn before it enters review, and a cap per video. See how content rewards work and what they really pay.
Clipping
Cutting existing long videos (podcasts, streams, interviews) into short clips and posting them, often paid per view. It recycles content; UGC films something new. See content rewards or UGC.
Canvas UGC
Videos a creator films and posts directly on the brand's account, usually paid on results. Trade-offs in canvas UGC.
View threshold
A number of views to reach before pay starts. At UGC Pocket, pay depends on the views of videos published on declared accounts, beyond a threshold of cumulative views, and each challenge shows its pay conditions before you start.
Source: Whop docs, Content Rewards (no date shown). Checked 2 October 2026.
Measurement
Views
Plays started. TikTok Ads Manager counts one each time the video starts to play in an impression, replays excluded; other platforms count differently. Method in how to measure a UGC campaign.
2-second and 6-second views
TikTok's stricter counts: plays of at least 2 or 6 seconds (for 6 seconds, a full play of a shorter video or an engagement in that time also counts). They show who stayed past the hook.
Reach and frequency
Reach: unique accounts that saw the content at least once. Frequency: how many times each saw it, on average. If it rises while results fall, that is often a sign of creative fatigue.
Creative fatigue
The drop in an ad's results once its audience has seen it too often. A frequency that rises while results fall is a common sign. The usual answer is new variations: TikTok's Smart Creative pauses videos that show signs of fatigue and puts new ones in their place.
Engagement rate
Likes, comments, shares and saves divided by views or by followers. State the denominator, or two reports will not match.
Hook rate
Short views divided by impressions, for example 2-second views. A weak hook rate points at the opening, not at the offer.
CTR (click-through rate)
Clicks divided by impressions: does the video make people want to know more?
CPM
In ads, the cost per 1,000 impressions, which TikTok Ads Manager uses for bidding and reporting. In content rewards, the rate paid to creators per 1,000 views.
CPA and CPI
Total cost divided by actions (sign-ups, purchases) or by app installs. Count the content, not only the ad spend.
ROAS
Return on ad spend: revenue attributed to ads divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 3 means €3 per €1 spent, before content costs and margin.
UTM parameters
Link tags that tell analytics where a visit came from. Google Analytics advises always setting utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign; utm_content can separate creators or videos.
Attribution window
The period after a click or a view in which a conversion is credited to an ad. TikTok Ads Manager offers 1 or 7 days after a click, 1 or 7 days after an engaged view, and off or 1 day after a view.
Sources: TikTok Ads, video play metrics (November 2025), TikTok Ads Manager glossary (November 2025), TikTok Ads, Smart Creative (November 2025), TikTok Ads, attribution window (February 2025), Google Analytics Help, URL builders. Checked 2 October 2026.
Platforms and tools
For You feed
TikTok's recommendation feed, a stream of videos curated to each user's interests. In 2020, TikTok said neither follower count nor past high-performing videos are direct factors in its recommendations.
TikTok Content Suite
TikTok's tool that connects brands with creators to request ad authorization for videos, which the brand can then run as Spark Ads.
Creator Rewards Program
TikTok's own program paying eligible creators, with no brand involved. Toptal lists 18 or older, 10,000 followers, 100,000 views in the last 30 days, a personal account and original videos over one minute. Other routes in make money on TikTok with no followers.
UGC platform
A service that connects brands and UGC creators and handles some or all of the brief, delivery and payment. Compared in best UGC platforms.
UGC agency
A firm that runs strategy, creators and production for a brand, and can work alongside a platform: see UGC agency or platform.
Declared account
On UGC Pocket, a TikTok or Instagram account that a creator registers in the app and posts from. Views are read on its public statistics.
MCP server
A server that opens a service to AI agents through the Model Context Protocol. On UGC Pocket, an AI agent can prepare a campaign draft that the brand then confirms: see AI agents.
Sources: TikTok Newsroom, how TikTok recommends videos (18 June 2020), Toptal, TikTok Creator Rewards Program (no date shown, secondary source), TikTok Ads, Content Suite and Spark Ads (December 2025). Checked 2 October 2026.
Five pairs people mix up
Two words that sound alike, or one word used two ways: here is the difference.
| Often confused | The difference |
|---|---|
| UGC and influencer content | UGC buys the video; influencer marketing buys the audience. |
| Whitelisting, Spark Ads, partnership ads | Whitelisting is the practice; Spark Ads (TikTok) and partnership ads (Meta) are the tools. |
| Usage rights and an ad code | The contract sets what the brand may do and for how long; the code only switches the ad on. A 365-day code does not stretch a 3-month licence. |
| Content rewards and clipping | Content rewards pay for new videos made to a brief; clipping reposts cuts of existing long videos. |
| CPM in ads and in content rewards | A cost per 1,000 impressions paid to the platform, against a rate per 1,000 views paid to creators. |
Put the vocabulary to work
The UGC Pocket app is free on iOS and Android, with no follower minimum; each brand accepts or refuses access requests to its challenges. Request access, declare your accounts, follow the challenge brief, post on your own account and paste the link in the app.
Where UGC Pocket fits
UGC Pocket, published by LOGICS STUDIO in Paris, sells campaigns. Our team builds the campaign and writes the video scripts, following the codes of the formats that work in your sector; it selects the creators and reviews every video. Creators publish on their own TikTok and Instagram accounts, and views are read from public statistics. Reusing the videos in ads or on your site is defined in the commercial proposal. Core target: software, apps, services and training. Price: from €2,000 per campaign, no subscription, price and terms set out in the commercial proposal.
It is not the right choice for a test of a few videos, raw files needed fast, a physical product to unbox or a budget under €2,000. Other platforms also offer posting on the creator's account.
FAQ
Which UGC terms matter before a first campaign?
Start with three: usage rights, which set where and for how long a brand may run a video; the ad code (Spark Ads on TikTok, partnership ads on Meta), which only switches the ad on; and CPM, a cost per 1,000 impressions in ads but a pay rate per 1,000 views in content rewards.
Does a Spark Ads code grant usage rights?
No. The code lets the brand run the creator's post as an ad for 7, 30, 60 or 365 days. What the brand may do with the video, and for how long, is set by the contract: a 365-day code does not stretch a 3-month licence.
Is a licence the same as an assignment of rights?
No. A licence lets the brand use the video while the creator keeps the copyright; an assignment transfers rights. In France, each right assigned must be mentioned separately in the contract. Influee's guide puts lifetime rights at 100 to 150% of the base rate.
Does a sponsored UGC video need an ad label?
When a creator posts it, in practice yes. The FTC asks for a clear disclosure in the video whenever there is a relationship with the brand, free products included. French law 2023-451 cites "publicité" or "collaboration commerciale" as valid mentions.
What does CPM mean in content rewards?
In advertising, CPM is a cost per 1,000 impressions. In content rewards, it is the rate a brand pays creators per 1,000 views on approved videos.
How much does UGC Pocket cost?
From €2,000 per campaign, no subscription, price and terms set out in the commercial proposal. Nothing is billed by an AI agent or before acceptance.