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What is a UGC video?
A UGC video is a short, usually vertical video that looks like it was filmed by an ordinary person on their phone: a review, an unboxing, a routine or a reaction. Brands use them on product pages, organic social and, most often, as paid ads on Meta, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
What makes a video "UGC"
It's the look and the voice, not who paid for it. A UGC video is filmed handheld or selfie-style, in a real setting like a kitchen, car or bathroom, with one person speaking naturally. There's no studio lighting, no voice-of-God narrator and usually no logo until the end. That's what lets it blend into a feed of content from friends and creators.
Common UGC video formats
- Review or testimonial: a person shares their experience with the product.
- Unboxing: first impressions as the package opens.
- Routine: the product shown in a morning, workout or bedtime routine.
- Problem-solution: a familiar frustration, then the product as the fix.
- Reaction or FAQ answer: responding to a comment or common question.
Specs most brands use
Vertical 9:16, which TikTok recommends for in-feed ads, typically exported at 1080 by 1920 pixels. Length is usually 15 to 60 seconds. Captions are burned in because many people watch muted, and faces and text stay away from the screen edges where app buttons sit.
Who makes them
Real customers, paid UGC creators, agencies and, increasingly, AI tools that generate a presenter. Only content from genuine customers is user-generated in the strict sense; the rest is UGC-style.
ScrollStop Labs scripts and produces UGC-style video ads with AI presenters for DTC brands. You can see spec examples, with the hook behind each one, on our work page.