“Why would I add to my CPA when I can just pay $200 to $300 a video?”
Because you do not have to choose. A UGC creator commission structure has two parts: a base that pays for the filming (per video, per hour, or nothing) and a commission that pays for the result (a share of the ad spend behind the video, or a share of the sales it drives). Set the base low enough that creators film, set the commission from your margin so it never eats the order, and the videos that win pay their creators more while the videos that lose cost you almost nothing.
Why “just pay per video” costs more than it looks
A $250 video is a $250 bet with no information. If nine out of ten never beat the control, as the brand above put it, the brand pays the same $250 for each of the nine. The one that wins is then scaled for months at zero extra cost to the brand, and the creator who made it has no reason to make another.
Adding commission does raise the cost of the winner. It also lowers the cost of the nine losers, because the base can drop once there is a share on top. And it changes what the creator writes for: a share of spend is paid only when a media buyer scales the video, so the creator writes for the media buyer, not for the approval.
The fix: build the structure in three decisions
1. Pick the base
| Base | Pays for | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Per video | Each approved file | You need breadth, auditions, or a tight brief |
| Per hour | A block of filming time, any number of takes | You trust the creator and want iteration or raw footage |
| None | Nothing up front | Your product already sells and you can count results |
Public data on the per-video base: a median advertised offer of $100 in Pitchlo’s report of 670 briefs (December 2025 to November 2026), half of listings between $50 and $200. With a commission on top, the base can sit at the low end of that range.
A base of none gets fewer applicants, and sometimes none: a brand asked on X (12 October 2026) why no creator wanted to film for a share of sales alone (@Bbruhis). The base is the answer to that. $50 to $75 per approved video with a share on top changes who applies without changing the model.
2. Pick what the commission pays on
- A share of ad spend. A percent of what you spend running the video as a Meta ad, read per ad from your ad account. No attribution. Works for brands with no checkout.
- A share of sales. A percent of each attributed order, or a fixed amount per order, for when your margin is a number rather than a percentage or there is no cart to share. Needs links, codes, a pixel or the ad platform’s count.
Many structures carry both: spend share on the ads you run, sales share on the creator’s own posts and links. One order is never paid under both.
3. Set the numbers from margin, then check them
Example. A supplement brand sells a $60 tub. Product $12, shipping and packaging $8, payment fees $2: contribution margin $38. The brand decides a creator can have a third of the margin on a first order, $12, which is 20 % of the order. It writes “20 % of every order, $12 on a full-price tub.” Stress-test with a 15 % discount code: the order is $51, margin about $29, and 20 % is $10.20. A fixed $12 would now be 41 % of margin. Pick which risk you prefer; the percent shrinks with discounts, the fixed amount does not.
For a share of ad spend, decide how much more than media you will pay for creative that beats your own. The only published payout data we found is Lumanu’s analysis of $500M in creator payouts, which says brands typically reimburse creators 1 to 7 % of the ad spend run through creator accounts. Trybe’s founder suggested on TikTok (8 June 2026) 5 to 10 % of ad spend when a brand cannot share revenue. On HourlyUGC the range brands can set is 1 to 30 %. Start under 10 % with a cap per video; raise it for creators whose videos keep scaling.
Benchmarks you can check
There is no public dataset of UGC commission rates. Affiliate programs are the nearest reference, and they pay for less: a link, not a video.
| Reference | Published rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Associates, Luxury Beauty | 10 % | Amazon rate table |
| Amazon Associates, Apparel, Shoes, Jewelry | 4 % | same |
| Amazon Associates, Beauty, Pets, Home, Toys | 3 % | same |
| Amazon Associates, Grocery, Health & Personal Care | 1 % | same |
| YouTube Shopping affiliate (Shopify merchants) | median “around 15 %”; bottom quarter “10 % or less” | Google Merchant Center Help |
| Share of ad spend through creator accounts | 1 to 7 % typical | Lumanu, $500M payouts |
| Share of ad spend, one brand’s public program | 7 % of spend for as long as the ad runs, they say | Hector Serrano, Wispr Flow, on X, 8 October 2026 |
| One agency’s sales-share ladder for the brands it runs | never under 10 %; 15 % core; 20 % for top creators plus $5 per approved video, they say | Phil Kiel on X, 29 October 2026 |
Amazon’s rates are low because Amazon supplies the traffic and the checkout. YouTube Shopping’s median is higher because the creator supplies a video and an audience. A UGC creator on commission supplies the video, the rights, often a post, sometimes their handle. A rate at Amazon levels gets no applicants.
Three structures that work, with numbers
Example. The same $60 tub, three creators, one month.
| Structure | Terms | Creator whose video flops (8 orders, $400 spend) | Creator whose video wins (200 orders, $6,000 spend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per video only | $200 | $200 | $200 |
| Low base + sales share | $75 + 15 % of orders | $75 + $72 = $147 | $75 + $1,800 = $1,875 |
| Low base + spend share, capped | $75 + 8 % of spend, cap $600 | $75 + $32 = $107 | $75 + $480 = $555 |
| Commission only | 20 % of orders | $96 | $2,400 |
Read it from the brand’s side. Per video only, you paid $400 for two videos and the winner cost you nothing more, so its creator leaves. Low base plus a share, the loser cost you less than a flat fee and the winner’s creator is now your best supplier. Commission only, the loser cost $96 and the winner’s creator earned $2,400 on $12,000 of revenue you would not have had.
Write it in money, not just percent
Creators accept what they can picture. State the rate, what it means on one order, how sales are counted, when money arrives:
You earn 15 % of every order your video drives, $9 on a full-price tub. Orders are counted by your link and code, last click within 7 days. Paid 30 days after the order, once the return window closes.
If the creator will post, add that they must disclose the deal. The FTC’s sample wording for commission links is “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post” (FTC FAQ).
How HourlyUGC does it
On HourlyUGC the structure above is the campaign form. You choose a base: hourly, per video, or none. You add commission: a share of Meta ad spend from 1 to 30 % with an optional cap per video, a share of sales from 1 to 50 % of each order or a fixed $1 to $500 per order, or both. The form shows the share in dollars on a round figure as you type, which is what the creator sees in the brief.
Two mechanics matter for the objection at the top of this page:
- Terms freeze per video. The term a creator sees when they upload is the term that video keeps. Lower the share next month and only new videos take the new share; the campaign shows how many delivered videos keep the old one before you confirm.
- Spend is read per ad. When you build ads from approved videos into your own Meta account, spend on each ad is read from the network and matched to the video and creator it came from. The Ads tab shows upcoming charges by video and by creator before they are taken.
So the per-video fee and the commission live in the same campaign, on the same video, with no second tool.
Mistakes that break a commission structure
- Copying an affiliate rate. 4 % pays for a link in a blog. It does not pay for a filmed, edited video with ad rights.
- Paying on revenue you cannot see. Fix counting first. See how to track creator sales.
- Repricing delivered videos. The fastest way to lose a roster. Forward only.
- One rate for everyone forever. Start equal, then raise the share for the few whose videos keep selling. Cheaper than a high rate for all.
- Forgetting the platform’s cut. Shopify Collabs charges 2.9 % on each automatic commission payment (Shopify); Trybe’s FAQ lists 1.5 % of attributed sales or 1.25 % of ad spend (Trybe, checked 7 November 2026). Add it to your cost per order.
Next step
Start a campaign on HourlyUGC with a per-video base and a commission on top. Next round, lower the base for the creators who sold and keep the share. Pricing is on https://hourlyugc.com/pricing.