Free report · Real platform data
UGC Study 2026
The study that reveals how brands buy, use and rate UGC in 2026
1,012 real platform requests and a survey of marketing leads at brands such as Iberdrola, Flexicar and Impress, in one report.
- 1,012content requests managed in 2026
- 500+active brands create UGC with HICARI
- 53marketing leads surveyed
- 7,000+creators registered on the platform
Featuring brands such as
500+ brands already create UGC with HICARI
The study in 6 key findings
Data you won’t find in any other report
We combine real platform data with the views of the people already buying UGC in Spain.
01Performance
7.32/10
is the score brands give UGC for real results, versus 6.53 for strategic importance.
02Demand
53%
- Weekly 21%
- Monthly 32%
- Several times a year 30%
- One-off 17%
of brands need UGC every month or every week. It’s no longer a one-off.
03Performance
−65%
- €80Historical TikTok CPL
- €28.15CPL with UGC
cost per lead on TikTok in a real case from the education sector after adding UGC.
04Investment
€160
- €50
- €100
- €150
- €200
- Fair price according to brands
- Real average on HICARI
is the real average price per video on HICARI. Brands put a fair price at €100–150.
05The creator
79%
say quality or finding the right creator is their biggest challenge, well ahead of price.
06The future
68%
- AI will boost UGC 68%
- 32%
0% think AI will replace creators
believe AI will boost the use of UGC. Not a single brand thinks it will replace creators.
- <10% of requests on HICARI include posting on the creator’s profile. The rest is content the brand uses on its own channels: social media, website or ads.
This is the summary. The full report breaks down every figure by sector, budget and creator level.
Real case · Education sector
UGC cuts cost per lead by up to 65%
An education-sector client already working with HICARI added UGC pieces to its lead-generation campaigns on Meta and TikTok. The result: cost per lead (CPL) fell below the account’s historical average on both platforms.
Real HICARI client case. The maximum reduction compares CPL with UGC against the top of the account’s historical range.
| Historical CPL (range) | CPL with UGC | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta | €45–70 | €41.58 | up to −41% |
| TikTok | €55–80 | €28.15 | up to −65% |
Expert view
“Only real people connect with real consumers.”
We started out thinking about organic content and ended up using a lot of the pieces in paid too, because they perform better in ads than more “branded” creative.
In a sector like ours, where buying a used car raises a lot of doubts, seeing an ordinary person talk through their experience carries far more weight than any TV spot.
Pablo PeñaltaFree download
Get the full report
29 pages of platform data, a brand survey and price benchmarks by creator level.
- Who demands UGC in Spain, by category
- Brands’ UGC prices and budgets
- Performance in paid and organic campaigns
- What brands think about AI vs. human creators