UGC Statistics Brands Can’t Ignore
Updated · Apr 22, 2025
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
UGC Statistics: UGC–aka user-generated content–is any content created by customers. As our social media feeds are increasingly crowded with marketing messages, UGC’s authenticity allows brands to stand out with real stories from real people. As a result, UGC has gained notoriety in marketing circles.
But does it live up to the hype?
The answer is YES. UGC is more than a marketing buzzword. It’s a highly effective medium for creating trust and brand loyalty. It’s also a HUGE driver of sales, especially among younger audiences. And it doesn’t have to be super expensive to source.
If you’re looking for a way to increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns in 2025, you can’t ignore UGC. In this article, you’ll learn the statistics behind:
- What UGC is & why it’s so effective.
- How UGC compares to influencer marketing and more traditional forms of advertising.
- Market trends that drove the creation and acceptance of UGC.
- The ROI you can expect from UGC-driven campaigns.
- How to use UGC effectively for your brand in 2025, including best practices and legal considerations.
Let’s get to the UGC Statistics!
What is UGC?
User-generated content, or UGC, is anything customers create about a product–videos, photos, reviews, blog posts, etc. Short-form video is the most popular content form, with customers creating unboxing videos, reviews, product showcases, and more.
Because real customers make UGC, it’s generally considered more authentic and trustworthy. As a result, it drives more sales.
If you want to know more about how UGC affects consumer decision-making, consider:
- 86% of consumers say authenticity is the top factor they consider when purchasing or forming an opinion on a brand.
- 66% of customers list “transparency” as a brand’s most desirable trait.
- 82% of consumers say they’re more likely to buy from brands that use UGC.
- 93% of consumers say that UGC helps them make better shopping decisions.
- 79% of consumers describe UGC as “highly influential” in buying decisions.
- 70% of consumers consult UGC–ratings or reviews–before deciding what to buy.
- 75% of marketers agree that UGC makes your marketing more authentic.
So what does UGC look like? There are three main types of UGC: videos, photos, and reviews. We’re assuming you know what text-based reviews look like, so we’ll focus on videos and photos in this article.
A UGC video might look something like this:
Video UGC example: makeup tutorial.
Video UGC example that’s been turned into an ad by a clothing company.
A UGC photo, on the other hand, will look something like this:
Photo UGC example. The product is easily visible.
UGC vs. Influencer Marketing
UGC is not influencer marketing. UGC creators don’t post about your products on their personal social media accounts. Influencers do. That’s the main difference–but the lines get blurred a bit because you can hire influencers to create UGC using platforms like Social Cat.
Here are a few more differences between UGC and influencer content:
- When compared to influencer-created content, UGC is 8x more impactful.
- In a 2023 survey, 86% of people said they trusted brands that used UGC more than brands that hired influencers.
- In that same survey, 42% of the people who had purchased products recommended by influencers regretted those purchases.
- Nano-influencer and micro-influencers have 2x-5x better engagement rates than mega-influencers.
- In 2020, only 14% of influencer posts complied with FTC guidelines–i.e., disclosing their relationships with brands. To this day, this is a massive barrier in influencers’ fight to win consumer trust.
- UGC has fewer legal breaches since UGC creators are real users, and the brands post the UGC, making the relationship clear.
UGC vs. Brand-Created Content
UGC is also very different from brand-created content. The main reason? UGC is authentic, not scripted. As a brand, you want to find UGC creators who can connect with your audience, using their words to discuss their problems and how your product can help. You might be surprised at the returns:
- 70% of customers can spot the differences between brand-created content and authentic UGC.
- 56% of consumers want to see UGC from brands. Only 15% want to see brand-created content
- A 2021 study found that customers see UGC as authentic 4X more than branded content.
- The same study found that marketers tend to believe the opposite is true, that brand-created content looks more authentic, prompting one commentator to say, “The disconnect between brand advertisers and consumers has never been wider.”
The Evolution of UGC
UGC is older than you think. Since the advent of the internet, people have been exchanging ideas and recommendations via message boards and blogs. When social media arrived on the scene, the UGC industry exploded.
Here are some benchmarks in the rise of UGC content:
- 1995: Amazon launches its “customer review” feature, one of the first examples of online UGC. It’s so popular that it still shapes how we make online purchases.
- Early 2000s: Influencing and UGC as a profession becomes a thing, with bloggers creating content and amassing followings.
- 2005: YouTube launches.
- 2006: Facebook opens to the public. Twitter (now X) launches. Time’s Person of the Year is “You,” emphasizing the role of regular people in the growth and popularity of content on the internet.
- Late 2000s: Brands start using the term “UGC” and integrating it into their online ad campaigns.
- 2010: Instagram launches.
- 2014:ly, the app that will later become TikTok, launches.
- 2015: Apple’s #shotoniphone campaign launches. The UGC created using this hashtag has helped cement the iPhone’s reputation as a leader in camera technology.
- 2018: GoPro launches the #MillionDollarChallenge. 25,000 people participate, making it a hugely successful way for GoPro to get UGC.
- 2019:l.f. Launches their first #EyesLipsFace TikTok challenge. A year later, they won a Shorty award for their TikTok presence.
- 2024: The UGC software market reaches $343.6 billion. Brands value UGC and are willing to invest in it.
- Future: Nielsen estimates that by 2033, 78% of online content will be UGC. The UGC software market is expected to reach $2,559.9 billion.
UGC Market Growth and Adoption
How many companies are using UGC? How relevant is it? Check out these stats for answers:
- 5 billion people currently use social media, and that number is expected to reach 6 billion in 2028.
- Generally speaking, brands can expect to spend 20-25% of their marketing budget on UGC–whether hiring influencers to create it or paying for software to collect it. Allocate additional spending for ads.
- This year, 67% of retailers intend to spend more on UGC.
- The UGC content industry is expected to reach $32.6 billion by 2030.
Consumer Trust and Engagement
One of the main advantages of UGC is that it increases customer engagement and sales. Here are a few stats to back that up:
(Source: nosto.com)
Graph depicting consumer trust by content type.
- Visual UGC ranks as the most trustworthy content in social media advertising. It ranks higher than professional images and influencer posts.
- It’s 2x more trustworthy than AI-generated visual content and 4x more trustworthy than stock photos and videos.
- On YouTube, UGC generally has 10x more views than brand-created videos.
- For Millennials, UGC is 20% more effective at influencing their buying decisions than other forms of content.
- For Gen Z, UGC is the most significant influence for 13% of buyers purchasing directly from social media.
Social Media and UGC
Social media is one of the places you’re most likely to encounter UGC. Here’s how to make the most of UGC on social media for your brand:
- Short-form videos (TikToks, Reels, YouTube shorts, etc) deliver the highest return on investment for brands.
- 81% of customers want to see short-form videos from brands.
- 28% of digital marketers believe Instagram births the most compelling UGC.
- 60% of people have discovered new products on Instagram.
- 50% of TikTok users buy something after seeing it on a LIVE TikTok video.
- 78% of marketers believe social media is the most effective way to reach new customers.
- 28% of people say researching potential purchases is their primary reason for using social media.
- Over 50% of Gen Z users visit social media to research brands.
- 57% of millennials say a social media post influenced or inspired their travel plans.
UGC for Brands – Performance and ROI
If you need some hard stats about the return on investment, here you go:
Chart showing UGC performance across channels. Social media ads rank as the most effective.
- Adding UGC to a product page can increase conversion rates by 150%.
- Adding UGC anywhere on your website can increase conversions by 29%.
- Adding UGC to emails increases click-through rates by 78%.
- Adding UGC to a social media ad 4Xs your click-through rate and costs 50% less than traditional content.
- 85% of marketers say that UGC minimizes costs (compared to influencer marketing and studio-created content).
- UGC will–on average–save your brand 72K annually.
How Brands Can Leverage UGC in 2025
If you’re ready to use UGC to grow your brand in 2025, keep the following in mind:
- Prioritize UGC: 72% of customers said they were looking for “real customer photos and videos” on websites. The same survey indicated that 80% of customers were more likely to purchase a product online if they saw UGC.
- Be prepared: 84% of e-commerce marketers said that sourcing UGC is difficult.
- Seek out short-form videos: 73% of people said they prefer videos about products that last between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.
- Make UGC into interactive ads: Include calls to action, clear buttons, and links to product pages featuring more UGC as part of your campaign. Interactive videos (those having clear calls to action) can increase conversion rates by up to 70%.
- Include captions: 80% of Americans reported that they’re more likely to finish watching a video if it includes captions. This also makes your content more accessible to people with hearing loss.
- Ask for permission: You can’t just take UGC you find online–that’s illegal. You have to ask permission to share other people’s creative work. Thankfully, most people are willing to let brands use their photos.
- Disclose gifts & payments: If you provide free products or other types of payment in exchange for UGC, make sure you disclose that.
- Get licensing (if you need it): If you pay someone to make UGC for you, make sure you have the proper licensing. Using a UGC or influencer platform that includes licensing can make this process smoother.
Conclusion
We’ve covered a lot of ground in this article. You’ve learned why user-generated content effectively builds trusting customer relationships. You’ve discovered that UGC has been around a long time and the events that made it the marketing powerhouse it is today. You’ve even learned what people think about it as it relates to social media.
But, if you want to use UGC for your brand, we recommend you focus on the last couple of sections: ROI and how to leverage UGC. Think about where you can see the best return on investment for your brand. Ask yourself:
- “Where can we put it on our product pages to increase sales?”
- “How can we incorporate more UGC into our email campaigns?”
- “What’s the next UGC-driven ad campaign we want to run?”
All the while, make sure you’re focusing on short-form videos, asking for permission to reshare content as needed, and disclosing any gifts or payments you send to creators in exchange for their content.
UGC is here to stay. You can’t ignore it, so you might as well use these UGC statistics to get smarter about how you use it. It’ll make a massive difference for your brand.
Sources
Tajammul Pangarkar is the co-founder of a PR firm and the Chief Technology Officer at Prudour Research Firm. With a Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology from Shivaji University, Tajammul brings over ten years of expertise in digital marketing to his roles. He excels at gathering and analyzing data, producing detailed statistics on various trending topics that help shape industry perspectives. Tajammul's deep-seated experience in mobile technology and industry research often shines through in his insightful analyses. He is keen on decoding tech trends, examining mobile applications, and enhancing general tech awareness. His writings frequently appear in numerous industry-specific magazines and forums, where he shares his knowledge and insights. When he's not immersed in technology, Tajammul enjoys playing table tennis. This hobby provides him with a refreshing break and allows him to engage in something he loves outside of his professional life. Whether he's analyzing data or serving a fast ball, Tajammul demonstrates dedication and passion in every endeavor.
