Models for UGC
- Open: anyone can upload, as on social video platforms
- Curated: approved creators upload, and each item is reviewed before publishing
- Community: members of a paid service contribute alongside the professional catalog
- Marketplace: creators upload and set a price, and the platform takes a share
What hosting UGC requires
- Upload and processing that copes with any source format
- Moderation: review before or after publishing, automated screening and a way for viewers to report
- Rights handling: terms that grant you a license, and a takedown process for copyright complaints
- Creator tools: a dashboard for uploads, performance and earnings
- Payouts: a method for sharing revenue and paying creators
- Age and safety controls suited to the audience
UGC vs professional content
UGC costs nothing to commission and can grow without limit, but its quality is uneven, it earns lower advertising rates and it carries legal and reputational risk that someone has to manage. Professional content is the reverse.
Services that mix the two usually keep them visibly separate and apply stricter review to anything shown beside premium titles.
Last reviewed