You send a creator a product and ask for a short video. Nothing fancy. Open the box, demonstrate how it works, explain what they think.
The reply comes back: “Sure. My rate is two hundred dollars.”
You look at their profile. Four hundred followers.
Since when do you pay someone with four hundred followers?
Since you asked them to do a job.
Here’s my take, and you may not like it: brands need to swallow the bitter pill. The product-only era is over for a content program you expect to run on demand.
Your product is not a production budget.
In this episode of Winfluence with Jason Falls, I explain what that means for small-business owners, lean marketing teams and brands trying to source creator content at scale.
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A small audience doesn’t make the work free
If I hire a creator to post to their followers, I care about that audience. Who are they? Do they trust the creator? Are they likely to become my customers?
If I hire someone to make a video my business will publish or run as an advertisement, I’m buying production.
Their storytelling. Their delivery. Their ability to demonstrate a product and explain why it matters.
A photographer doesn’t become free because nobody follows their Instagram account. Neither does a video creator.
The portfolio, professionalism and fit for the assignment matter more than follower count when the assignment is to deliver content.
We’ve made this harder by calling several different activities UGC. An unsolicited customer photo, a product-seeding campaign and a commissioned video with a brief, deadline and advertising rights are different arrangements. Calling all of them UGC doesn’t erase the work—or the invoice.
Gifting still exists. Dependability needs a budget.
Product-only collaborations haven’t disappeared. Insense continues to offer product-exchange campaigns. Cohley explains how to judge whether a product is attractive enough to be the creator’s compensation.
Those options matter. If someone genuinely wants your product and agrees to the exchange, it can be a useful way to build a relationship and obtain content.
But that possibility shouldn’t be the foundation of a production plan that must deliver twenty approved videos next month.
The more specific you become about deadlines, revisions, production standards and rights, the more you should expect a conversation about payment.
“Maybe somebody will like the free stuff” is a fairly adventurous production schedule.
Why your costs can rise when marketplace prices fall
Collabstr’s 2026 Influencer Marketing Report analyzed more than 21,000 collaborations and more than 200,000 creators on its marketplace. Its average UGC campaign cost fell 5.7%, from $209 to $197.
That finding describes its marketplace. It isn’t a universal per-video rate, and it doesn’t prove every brand is paying less.
It does challenge the claim that UGC prices are rising everywhere.
A brand that previously paid no creator fee can face a higher cash requirement when creators begin charging. Meanwhile, a brand already buying content may find more competition and lower quotes.
Both experiences can be real.
For the gifting-dependent brand, the change is from no production fee to a production fee. That changes the budget even if somebody else’s rate goes down.
Budget the assignment, not the advertised starting price
JoinBrands advertises UGC videos from $25. Insense says UGC campaigns start at $100 per video.
I work most closely with Entribe for scalable UGC programs. Their recent guidance has been to budget at least $150–$250 per engagement, but that can include 1–2 videos.
Those are different offerings and scopes. They are reference points, not interchangeable quotes.
Ask what the fee covers: concepts, scripts, finished videos, raw footage, revisions, turnaround and usage rights. Also ask whether posting to the creator’s audience or running an ad through their account adds costs.
Some platforms bundle broad rights. Others handle rights separately. Read the agreement.
Then budget the whole program: product, shipping, creator compensation, platform fees, internal management, editing, adaptations, rights and paid media where applicable.
Insense’s Brand plan, for example, starts at $500 a month, billed quarterly, with a 10% marketplace fee. Creator payments are separate. The subscription price alone doesn’t tell you what your content program will cost.
Count usable assets
Here’s a hypothetical example.
You commission twenty videos at $200 each: $4,000. Your entire program costs $5,000 after the other expenses you account for.
If twenty videos are approved and usable, you spent $250 per usable video. If only ten are usable, you spent $500.
Same spending. Different result.
Usable means the content fits the brief, works in the intended format, has the permissions you need and is approved to publish.
Cohley’s writing on quality versus volume makes a useful point: approval, rights and activation can constrain a program even when plenty of content arrives.
Ask your provider how it helps you move from submission to publication. And assign someone on your team to make the decisions.
A folder full of files is not the same thing as a working content library.
Build a program that gets smarter
Marketing Happy Hour’s recent conversation with Vidovo co-founder Elijah Khasabo emphasizes testing multiple hooks, angles and creators, alongside repeat relationships.
That’s a better way to think about scale than buying fifty videos that all say the same thing.
Start with distinct reasons a customer might buy. Find creators who can communicate those reasons credibly. Test the content and commission more of what works.
Separate seeding from production. Give each a purpose and a budget.
Evaluate portfolios before obsessing over followers.
Write a clear brief. Agree on deliverables, deadlines, revisions and usage before work starts.
Build a repeat roster. Give useful feedback and pay as agreed.
Measure cost per usable asset and the business results once you put it to work.
Small businesses can start with fewer pieces and a manageable test. Growing brands need an owner for the process. Large brands need approval capacity that keeps pace with production.
Creators have responsibilities, too
A professional fee deserves a professional explanation.
Show the brand what you can deliver. Be clear about scope and permissions. Don’t promise sales you can’t guarantee. And don’t confuse a course telling you what to charge with evidence that your work is worth that price.
Brands should pay fairly. Creators should deliver professionally.
Swallow the bitter pill
Product-only payment is a thing of the past as the default assumption for reliable content production at scale.
Will somebody still accept a product they want? Sure.
Should your entire content calendar depend on that? I wouldn’t build a business plan around it.
If you need a defined piece of work, at a defined time, with defined rights, put money behind the assignment. Then make the content earn its place in the budget.
Your product might be wonderful. It alone, however, still isn’t a production budget.
What are you seeing?
Are creators who used to accept product now quoting a fee? What does your program cost when you include your time, revisions and the content you can actually use?
Email me at jason@jasonfalls.com. Share this episode with the person who approves your content budget.
Need help putting this into practice? Bring us the problem you’re tired of having at Falls+Partners.
Referenced resources
Collabstr’s 2026 Influencer Marketing Report
Cohley’s product-seeding fit test
Cohley on quality versus volume in UGC
Marketing Happy Hour: The 2026 Creator Playbook
Winfluence with Jason Falls is a production of Falls+Partners and a proud member of the Marketing Podcast Network.
Episode chapters
- 00:00 — Winfluence opening
- 00:25 — Your product is not a production budget
- 01:51 — Budget for the work
- 02:41 — Buying production versus buying an audience
- 04:04 — Where product seeding still fits
- 05:13 — Why your costs can rise while UGC prices fall
- 06:28 — What brands should budget for UGC
- 08:36 — Calculate cost per usable video
- 09:49 — Test hooks, angles and creators
- 10:30 — Build a dependable creator program
- 12:28 — Scale the budget and the approval process
- 13:08 — What creators owe brands
- 13:41 — Swallow the bitter pill