What You’re Actually Paying For: Inside a UGC Rate Card

“From £150” doesn’t tell you much on its own, so here’s what actually happens between a brand booking a single UGC video and it landing in their ads manager.

The brief. I ask for the product, the brand’s tone, and, critically, what the content is for. A video meant to run as an organic Reel and one meant to run as a paid ad behind a £2,000 media spend are not the same brief, even if they use the same product.

The concept. Either you come with a script and shot list, or I build one from the brief. Either way, it gets agreed before a camera comes out: no surprises when you see the edit.

The shoot. This is where the styling background actually earns its keep. A UGC video that “looks native” isn’t an accident: it’s lighting, wardrobe, framing and pacing all doing quiet work so the content doesn’t read as an ad, even though every second of it was planned.

The delivery. Usage rights and revision rounds are agreed upfront, which is also why paid-ad usage carries a separate fee (+30% of the base rate for 30 days): a video running organically on your own page is a different commercial arrangement to one running behind ad spend to a cold audience, and the rate reflects that.

The bundle logic. A 3-video bundle isn’t just a discount: it’s coverage. One video rarely tells a brand’s whole story; three gives you a product try-on, a lifestyle piece, and a straight-to-camera review, which is usually enough to run a small campaign without repeating yourself.

If you’re weighing a single video against a bundle, or wondering whether your use case is “organic” or “paid” pricing, that’s exactly what the first call is for, and I’m happy to talk it through before you book anything.