UGCStars
The short version
To charge for UGC usage rights, keep your starting rate for the video and organic use, then add a separate fee for paid ads that grows with the length of the license, plus separate fees for running ads from your account, for exclusivity and for a buyout.
Usage rights decide what a brand can do with your video after you deliver it: where it can appear, for how long and in which countries. An ad shown to people who have never heard of the brand is worth more to that brand than a post on its own feed, and it puts your face in front of far more people. That’s why it costs more.
There’s no official price list for usage. This article gives you a method instead: price each right as a share of your starting rate, then adjust for the channels, the countries and the time. The percentages are an example method, not a market rate, and they match the ones in the Creator Hub pricing guide.
If you’re a brand, the section for brands explains why usage changes the price and how to buy only what you’ll use.
- Ask where the video will run, for how long and in which countries.
- Keep organic use in your starting rate and price paid use on top.
- Scale the paid fee by length, and quote a buyout only when asked.
- Add separate fees for ad access, exclusivity and raw footage.
- Put every right on its own line, with an end date and a renewal price.
Before you quote: what the brand will do with the video
You can’t price usage until you know the use. Before you quote, ask the brand five questions. Most brands can answer them in one email, and the answers decide every number that follows.
| Question | Why it matters | Example answer |
|---|---|---|
| Organic, paid or both? | Paid use is priced on top of your starting rate | Paid social, plus our own accounts |
| Which channels? | TV, billboards and packaging go beyond social and are priced on their own | Meta and TikTok ads only |
| For how long? | Longer use is worth more to the brand | 90 days from the first ad |
| Which countries? | More markets means more people see your face | United States and Canada |
| From whose account? | Ads from your account use your name and handle | Spark Ads from your TikTok for 30 days |
Add two questions if they apply: will they edit or re-cut your video, and do they want you to avoid working with competitors? Edits and exclusivity get their own lines, covered below.
If a brand doesn’t know yet, quote organic use now and give a price to add paid use later. The brand can accept that without guessing, and you’re not locked into a price for a use you didn’t know about. The Creator Hub brand email templates include a reply that asks for these details.
You’re ready to quote when you can write the use in one line: “Paid social on Meta and TikTok, US and Canada, 90 days from the first ad, from the brand’s account.”
Price organic and paid use separately
Organic use means the brand posts your video on its own channels: its social accounts, website, emails and product pages. Paid use means it pays a platform to show your video as an ad. Keep the two apart in every quote.
Organic use: inside your starting rate
Set your starting rate to cover one video with a standard edit and organic use on the brand’s own channels, as the Creator Hub guide How to price your first UGC videos suggests. Then anything beyond organic use is a clear extra, and a brand can see exactly what it adds.
Write down whether organic use ends. Open-ended organic use is a reasonable choice, as long as it’s a choice and not something you forgot to mention.
Paid use: a separate fee
When a brand runs your video as an ad, it reaches people who don’t follow the brand, often several times each. It’s the same work for you, but it does a bigger job for the brand, and your face is in front of far more people. Price it as its own line, so the brand can see it and decide.
Channels beyond social
TV, streaming, billboards, in-store screens and packaging are different again. They’re priced case by case. If a brand asks for them, get the channels in writing and price them separately, rather than folding them into “paid use”.
Price by length, from 30 days to perpetual
The longer a brand can run your video, the more it’s worth to them. A simple way to price that is a share of your starting rate for each period, added on top. The table shows one method. Adjust the shares to your market and your work.
| Usage | Add to your starting rate | Total on a $150 starting rate |
|---|---|---|
| Organic only, on the brand’s own channels | Included | $150 |
| Paid ads, up to 30 days | 20 to 30% | $180 to $195 |
| Paid ads, up to 3 months | 30 to 50% | $195 to $225 |
| Paid ads, up to 6 months | 50 to 75% | $225 to $265 |
| Paid ads, up to 12 months | 100% | $300 |
| Perpetual, no end date | 2 to 3 times your rate | $450 to $600 |
Example method, not a market rate. Shares of your starting rate, added on top of it. Totals rounded to the nearest $5.
Three rules keep the method clear:
- Say when the clock starts: on delivery, on the first day the ad runs or on a fixed date. Without it, nobody knows when the license ends.
- Price per video, not per order. Three videos with 90 days of paid use each is three usage fees.
- Price the territory. One country is the baseline. Add a share for each extra market, and more for worldwide.
Buyouts and perpetual licenses
A buyout or perpetual license lets the brand use the video with no end date, sometimes in any channel. It’s the most a brand can ask for, so price it as your most expensive option, or don’t offer it.
Before you agree, check three things: whether it includes paid ads, whether it lets the brand edit your face and voice into videos you haven’t seen, and whether it covers channels beyond social. A buyout that means “forever, anywhere, edited any way” should cost much more than one for social ads only. Put the terms in writing. The Creator Hub Simple UGC agreement is a starting point.
When a brand asks for a buyout, a long license may be all it needs. This is how the two compare from your side.
For most social ad work, a time-limited license with a renewal price is the better default. Offer a buyout when the brand needs one and pays for it.
Price ad access: whitelisting, Spark Ads and partnership ads
Some brands want to run ads from your account, not theirs. The ad shows your name and handle, so the brand is borrowing your identity and your account as well as your video. That’s a different right from usage, so price it on its own line.
| Name | Platform | How you give access | What to price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spark Ads | TikTok | You create an authorization code for a post and choose how long it’s valid | A fee for each period the code is valid |
| Partnership ads | Instagram and Facebook | You give the brand permission for a post or for your account | A fee for each period of access |
| Whitelisting or allowlisting | Several platforms | You let the brand run ads through your account or as you | A monthly fee, plus limits on what they can run |
Charge for ad access per period, such as every 30 days, because the brand gets ongoing use of your account. One example method, not a market rate: 20 to 30% of your starting rate for each 30 days of access, on top of the paid use fee. Some brands call this a whitelisting fee. Match the access period to the usage period, or keep it shorter.
What to agree before you give access
- Which posts the brand can run, and whether it can create new ads that appear as you.
- Whether the brand can change the caption or add text, and whether you approve it first.
- How long access lasts, with an end date.
- Who handles comments on the ads, since they can appear under your post.
- How either side can end access early if something goes wrong.
Platform steps change often, so follow each platform’s help pages when you set up access. Never share your password or a login code. Codes and permissions exist so you don’t have to.
Price exclusivity and raw footage
Exclusivity
Exclusivity means you agree not to work with the brand’s competitors for a period. It costs you work you have to turn down, so price it by how much it rules out.
| Scope | Example | Add to the order |
|---|---|---|
| Named competitors, short | No work for two named gummy brands for 30 days | 10 to 25% |
| One category, medium term | No other supplement brands for 90 days | 25 to 50% |
| Broad or long | No health or beauty brands for 6 months | 50 to 100% or more, or decline |
Example method, not a market rate. Shares of your total fee for the order.
Watch for two things: a category defined too broadly, and exclusivity that runs longer than the usage. Ask the brand to name the competitors, or the narrowest category that protects them, and make exclusivity end when the usage ends unless they pay for longer.
Raw footage
Raw footage is the unedited clips from your shoot. With it, a brand’s editor can cut new ads from your work without you. Price it as a flat add-on, and say in the quote that the same usage terms apply to anything cut from it. Otherwise a 90-day license on one video can turn into a year of new edits.
Edits
If a brand wants to re-cut your video, add text or translate it, write whether that’s allowed and whether you see the edit first. You can include simple edits in the usage fee. Price heavier changes, such as dubbing or AI edits of your face or voice, separately, or decline them.
Worked example: one video, four usage quotes
A creator with a $150 starting rate gets requests from four brands, each for one 30-second video. The numbers are hypothetical and use the example method above.
- Video with organic use$150
- Video with organic use$150
- Paid use, 3 months$75
- Video with organic use$150
- Paid use, 6 months$100
- Spark Ads code, 30 days$40
- Video with organic use$150
- Buyout$375
- Category exclusivity, 90 days$150
Brand A pays the least, and that’s right: posting on its own feed is the lightest use. If Brand A later wants to run the video as an ad, the creator sends one line, “90 days of paid use in the US: $75,” and the brand can approve it in a reply.
Brand D asked for a buyout without naming channels. The quote names the channels it covers and leaves out TV, billboards and packaging, so if the brand needs those later, it’s a new line, not a dispute.
| Line | Price | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| 1 video, 30 seconds, standard edit | $150 | One round of changes, delivered 7 days after the product arrives |
| Buyout | $375 | Organic and paid use on social, web and email, worldwide, no end date. No TV, billboards or packaging. |
| Category exclusivity | $150 | No other supplement brands for 90 days from delivery |
| Total | $675 | 50% before filming, 50% on delivery |
When the usage period ends
A license with an end date only helps you if someone notices the date. Track it, and contact the brand before it arrives.
- Ask the brand for the date the first ad runs, if the clock starts then, and put the end date in your calendar.
- Two weeks before the end, email the brand with the end date and the renewal price.
- Offer a renewal at the same fee, or a longer term at a better rate, such as 12 months for less than four 90-day renewals.
- If the brand doesn’t renew, ask them in writing to stop the ads by the end date.
- If ads keep running after the end date, send the renewal invoice with a copy of the terms. Assume it’s an oversight first.
| Part | Example |
|---|---|
| Subject | Paid use on your morning routine video ends 14 January |
| Opening | Hi Ana, the 90 days of paid use on the morning routine video end on 14 January. |
| The offer | If you’d like to keep it running, another 90 days is $75, or 12 months is $150. |
| Next step | I can send the invoice today. If you’d rather not renew, could you pause the ads by the 14th? |
A renewal price agreed in the first quote makes this email easy to send and easy to say yes to. Brands can use the usage rights extension template to put the renewal in writing.
For brands: why usage changes the price
If you’re hiring, usage is the line you control most. The video costs the creator the same to make whether you post it once or run it as an ad for a year. What changes is how much value you get from it, and how much of the creator’s face and name ends up in front of your audience.
- Tell creators the use up front: channels, period, countries and ad access. They can’t quote without it.
- Buy a short paid period first, then extend the videos that work. You pay for long use only where it pays you back.
- Ask for renewal prices in the first quote, so extending is a reply, not a negotiation.
- Ask for exclusivity only against named competitors, and only for as long as you run the ads.
- Keep the end dates in one place, and pause or renew before they pass.
How much do UGC creators charge shows what a full quote looks like, with current starting rates. The UGC content agreement and usage rights extension templates put the terms in writing.
Before you send a usage quote
Use these lists before your next quote, or before you ask a creator for one.
For creators
- Do I know whether the use is organic, paid or both?
- Do I know the channels, the period and the countries?
- Is paid use on its own line, with a start and an end date?
- Is ad access priced per period, with an end date?
- Is exclusivity limited to named competitors or a narrow category?
- Do the usage terms cover edits and anything cut from raw footage?
- Have I included a renewal price?
- Is the end date in my calendar?
For brands
- Have we told the creator every channel, the period and the countries?
- Do we need ads from the creator’s account, and for how long?
- Is exclusivity limited to named competitors?
- Did we ask for a renewal price?
- Are the end dates where the team will see them?
Price the video once and the rights separately, and every request a brand makes becomes a line you can quote in a sentence.