Videos · Glossary
What is a UGC ad?
A UGC ad is a paid advert made in the style of an ordinary user post: shot on a phone, spoken to camera, unpolished on purpose. The initials stand for user generated content, though most are commissioned. The format works because it matches what people already watch, and it carries disclosure obligations for exactly the same reason.
The whole appeal of the format is that it does not look like an ad. That is also the entire reason regulators pay attention to it.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
3 min read · Published
What makes it read as UGC
A single person talking to a phone camera, in an ordinary room, with imperfect light and no music bed. The opening is a hook in the first second, usually a claim or a problem rather than a brand name. Captions carry the words because the feed plays muted. Polish is the enemy: a colour graded, tripod steady version of the same script reads as a commercial and loses the advantage the format exists for.
Disclosure is not optional
If somebody is paid, given free product, or has any other material connection to the brand, that has to be disclosed clearly in the video itself, not buried in a caption or behind a more link. Endorsement rules also require that any claim made is true and typical, and that the person actually used the product. A creator saying they love something they have never opened is the brand's problem as much as theirs.
Synthetic creators need saying so
If the person in the video is generated rather than filmed, the major platforms now require that to be labelled, and their advertising standards treat an undisclosed synthetic endorser as deceptive. A generated face delivering a testimonial is the highest risk version of this format, because it combines an invented person with a claim about a real product.
Questions people ask
Does UGC have to be made by a real customer?
Most is commissioned from creators rather than volunteered by customers, and that is legal as long as it is disclosed. What is not acceptable is presenting a paid creator as a spontaneous customer, or scripting a claim the person has no basis for. The disclosure is what keeps the format honest.
Where does the disclosure go?
In the video, early, in a form somebody sees without doing anything: spoken in the first line, or on screen as text that stays long enough to read. Caption only disclosure fails because captions are truncated and often unread, and a hashtag buried among nine others is not clear disclosure.
Why does UGC outperform polished ads?
Because it matches the format of the surrounding feed, so it is watched before it is recognised as an ad. That advantage is entirely about the first second. It disappears the moment the video looks produced, which is why adding music, transitions and a logo sting usually makes it perform worse.
Can I use AI to make a UGC style video?
You can generate the scene, the captions and the voice, and there are formats where that is fine. Where it stops being fine is a synthetic person delivering a testimonial without a label, because the platforms require disclosure of synthetic media in ads and the endorsement rules require an endorser who actually used the product.
How long should a UGC ad be?
Fifteen to thirty seconds for most feeds. The structure matters more than the length: a hook in the first second, the problem, the product doing the thing, and one clear next step. If the hook is not in the first second, the length is irrelevant.
Make one with videos
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own.
Create a video with OneCraftRelated questions
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- What is conditional logic?Conditional logic shows or hides a question based on an earlier answer, so people only see what applies to them. Where it helps and where it hurts.
- Do you have to disclose an AI generated video?The major platforms require realistic synthetic media to be labelled, and advertising rules treat an undisclosed synthetic endorser as deceptive.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .