Glossary
UGC glossary: the terms in a creator deal, explained
66 short definitions, each with a worked example and sources. Written to be quoted.
A
- Ad spend share Ad spend share is one of the two kinds of commission in UGC: the creator earns a percentage of the ad spend the brand puts behind their video.
- Affiliate link An affiliate link is a trackable URL that credits sales to the creator who shared it, usually within a cookie or attribution window.
- Affiliate program An affiliate program is a standing offer from a brand or marketplace to pay anyone who sends it a sale a set commission, tracked by links or codes.
- AOV (average order value) AOV, average order value, is total revenue divided by the number of orders over the same period.
- Attributed sales Attributed sales are the orders a tracking rule credits to a specific creator, link, code or ad, and the base on which sales commission is paid.
- Attribution window An attribution window is how long after a click or view a sale can still be credited to that click or view.
B
- Bonus structure A bonus structure is an extra payment a creator earns when a video passes an agreed threshold, such as a sales count or a views mark, on top of the base deal.
- Branded content Branded content is a creator post that promotes a brand for something of value, such as money, free product or a commission, and it must be labelled.
C
- CAC (customer acquisition cost) CAC, customer acquisition cost, is the total spent on marketing and sales in a period divided by the number of new customers won in it.
- Canvas UGC Canvas UGC is a model where creators film and post videos on a brand-owned social account rather than their own, paid mostly on views or results.
- Chargebacks and returns Chargebacks and returns are orders that are reversed after the sale, and commission deals must say whether the creator's share is reversed with them.
- Clawback A clawback takes back commission already paid on an order that was later refunded, returned or charged back.
- Clipping Clipping is cutting short videos from longer content and posting them for a brand or creator, paid per 1,000 views the clips get.
- Commission cap A commission cap is a ceiling on what a creator can earn from a deal or a video, set as a total amount, a per-order maximum or a time limit.
- Commission only Commission only is a creator deal with no base pay: the creator earns a share of the ad spend behind their video or of the sales it brings, and nothing else.
- Commission-based UGC Commission-based UGC: the creator earns a share of the ad spend behind their video or of the sales it brings, instead of a fee for making it.
- Conversions API The Conversions API sends purchase and other events from a brand's server to Meta, alongside the browser pixel, so attribution survives blocked scripts.
- CPA (cost per acquisition) CPA, cost per acquisition, is what a brand pays for each conversion it gets, such as a sale, a sign-up or an install.
- CPC (cost per click) CPC, cost per click, is what an advertiser pays for each click on an ad, or total spend divided by clicks.
- CPM (cost per 1,000 views) CPM is the cost per 1,000 impressions or views; in creator deals it also names paying a creator a set amount per 1,000 views of their post.
- Creative fatigue Creative fatigue is Meta's label for an ad whose audience has seen it too many times, so cost per result climbs until the creative is replaced.
- Creative testing Creative testing is running several ad videos against each other on a small budget to find the ones worth scaling.
- Creator brief A creator brief is the one-page document that tells a creator what to film, what to say and not say, what to deliver, and how they are paid.
- Creator earns commission Creator earns commission is the label TikTok Shop shows under a video when the creator is paid a share of sales made through the product link in it.
- Creator marketplace A creator marketplace is a platform where brands find, brief, hire and pay creators in one place, run either by a social network or by an independent company.
- Creator program A creator program is a brand's standing offer to creators: how to join, what to make, how they are paid, and the rules, run as one ongoing campaign.
- CTR (click-through rate) CTR, click-through rate, is clicks divided by impressions: the share of people who saw an ad or link and clicked it.
D
F
- First-party attribution First-party attribution is a brand counting creator-driven sales with its own data, such as a pixel, links or codes, instead of the ad platform's report.
- Flat fee A flat fee is a fixed payment for a creator's work, agreed in advance and paid whatever the video goes on to do.
- Flat fee per order A flat fee per order pays the creator a fixed dollar amount for each attributed sale, instead of a percentage of the order value.
- FTC disclosure An FTC disclosure is the clear statement, in a post or video, that the creator was paid, given product, or earns a commission from what they recommend.
G
H
- Hook The hook is the first one to three seconds of a video, the line or shot that decides whether the viewer stays or scrolls.
- Hook rate Hook rate is the share of ad impressions that turn into 3-second video plays; it measures how often the opening stops the scroll.
- Hourly UGC Hourly UGC is booking a creator for a set number of hours, with the session producing several videos, instead of paying per video or per result.
- Hybrid pay model (base plus commission) A hybrid pay model pays a creator a small base for the video, per video or by the hour, plus commission on the ad spend or sales it brings.
L
M
N
O
P
- Paid partnership label The paid partnership label is the platform tag showing a post is branded content, added by the creator with Instagram's or TikTok's disclosure tools.
- Paid usage Paid usage is the right to run a creator's video as an advertisement, priced separately from making the video or earned through a share of the ad spend.
- Partnership ads Partnership ads are Meta ads that run from a creator's handle with the creator's permission, formerly called branded content ads.
- Pay per view (pay per 1,000 views) Pay per view pays a creator a fixed amount for every 1,000 views their post gets, counted on their own account over an agreed window.
- Payout terms Payout terms say when and how a creator is paid: the trigger, the delay, the minimum, the method and who pays the fees.
- Per-video pricing Per-video pricing pays a creator a fixed amount for each video the brand approves, with declined videos costing nothing.
- Performance-based UGC Performance-based UGC is any creator deal where pay depends on results, such as sales, ad spend or views, rather than on delivering a video.
- Product seeding Product seeding is sending free product to creators with no fee and often no posting obligation, in the hope that they post about it.
R
- Raw footage Raw footage is the unedited video files a creator delivers so the brand can cut, caption and test its own versions.
- Retainer A retainer is a fixed recurring payment, usually monthly, that reserves a creator's time for a brand and typically covers an agreed set of content.
- ROAS (return on ad spend) ROAS, return on ad spend, is the revenue attributed to ads divided by what those ads cost.
S
T
- Thumb-stop ratio Thumb-stop ratio is another name for hook rate: the share of impressions where the viewer stopped scrolling long enough for a 3-second video play.
- Tiered commission Tiered commission raises the creator's rate as volume passes set thresholds, or sets different rates for different creator groups or products.
- TikTok Creative Center TikTok Creative Center is TikTok's free public library of top-performing ads, trends and creative tools that brands and creators use to study what works.
- Tracking pixel A tracking pixel is a small piece of code on a website that records visitor actions, such as a purchase, and reports them for attribution and ad delivery.
U
- UGC (user-generated content) UGC is content that looks like it was made by a customer rather than a brand; in marketing it usually means short videos a brand commissions from creators.
- UGC creator A UGC creator makes short, customer-style videos for brands on commission and is paid for the footage or its results rather than for their audience.
- UGC marketplace A UGC marketplace is a platform where brands post campaigns, creators apply, and the videos, approvals and payments run in one place.
- Usage rights Usage rights say where, how and for how long a brand may use a creator's video; the creator owns it, and paid use is priced on top of the base rate.
- UTM parameters UTM parameters are tags added to a URL, such as utm_source and utm_campaign, that tell analytics tools where a visit came from.