User-generated content has moved from a side tactic to a core part of how brands sell, especially on social. The trouble with most "UGC statistics" lists is that they copy each other. The same numbers circulate between vendor blogs, often without the original study, the sample or the year.
For this 2026 edition we did it the other way round. Every number below links to the organisation that produced it: a research team, a survey publisher, a platform reporting its own data, or a regulator. Where the source is a company with something to sell (including platforms that sell ads or UGC), we say so. Sources were checked on 22 October 2026.
Read survey figures as what they are: answers from a defined sample, in a given year. They show direction. They are not a forecast for your account.
The size of the creator economy
The market numbers that get quoted most are forecasts. These come from the analysts who made them.
Goldman Sachs Research estimated the creator economy's total addressable market at $250 billion in 2023 and expected it to reach $480 billion by 2027 [1].
Goldman Sachs counted about 50 million creators worldwide and expected that number to grow 10% to 20% a year over the following five years [1].
Brand deals are the main source of creator revenue, at about 70%, according to the survey data in the same Goldman Sachs report [1].
Only about 4% of creators are professionals earning more than $100,000 a year, by Goldman Sachs' definition [1].
66% of creators surveyed by Linktree consider themselves part-time creators [2].
43% of creators in the same survey spend five hours a week or less creating content [2].
There were 5.66 billion social media user identities in October 2025, equal to 68.7% of the world's population, according to DataReportal and Kepios. User identities may not be unique people [3].
Internet users passed 6.04 billion in October 2025, a global penetration of 73.2% [3].
Social media use in Europe
For European brands, Eurostat is the cleanest starting point: official, comparable across countries and recent.
67.3% of people in the EU used social networks in 2025 [4].
Among 16 to 29 year olds the share was 89.3% [4].
In 19 of the 27 EU countries, more than 90% of young people used social networks [4].
Italy had the lowest share of young social network users in the EU (80.3%), followed by Germany (84.2%) and Luxembourg (84.8%) [4].
Point 12 is a useful reminder that "Europe" is not one market. Even the most social age group behaves differently from one country to the next.
Consumer trust and UGC
Bazaarvoice, which sells reviews and UGC software, publishes a yearly Shopper Experience Index. The survey work is done by Savanta, and the samples are large, which is why these numbers are worth knowing. Keep the publisher's interest in mind.
78% of shoppers feel more confident in a purchase when they see UGC (Bazaarvoice, survey of 7,000+ consumers in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Australia and Canada, September 2023) [5].
74% trust UGC more than brand-provided content on product description pages [5].
55% say they are unlikely to buy a product without shopper content to inform their decision [5].
65% of shoppers rely on UGC such as ratings, reviews, photos and videos when they decide what to buy (Bazaarvoice, 8,000+ consumers, September 2024) [6].
86% of shoppers engage with creator content before making a buying decision [6].
80% of Gen Z consider UGC crucial to their decisions [6].
48% of shoppers describe themselves as "Creator Devotees": they weren't looking for a product but a creator or another shopper convinced them. Among Gen Z it is 52% (Bazaarvoice Shopper Experience Index Vol. 20, 2026, 1,500+ shoppers in North America, EMEA and APAC) [7].
Only 16% say traditional commercials and advertising drive their shopping habits [7].
Social commerce and discovery
Social platforms are now where many products are found, and increasingly where they are bought.
49% of shoppers say they are more likely to find products on social media than through any other channel [5].
42% say social media influences their purchasing decisions [5].
73% of shoppers aged 18 to 24 bought something on social media in the past year, against 25% of those aged 65 and over [5].
39% use social media for product discovery and research, and 31% buy directly on social platforms [6].
The share of respondents who had never shopped on social media fell from 55% in 2021 to 24% in 2024 [6].
26% of shoppers describe themselves as "AI Adopters", who know roughly what product they want but not which brand, and 67% are comfortable with some AI involvement in their research [7].
Bazaarvoice's 2026 report makes a point worth repeating: AI shopping tools draw on the same reviews and customer content that persuade people on social feeds. One investment, two audiences.
Reviews and conversion
The most cited academic work on reviews and sales comes from Northwestern University's Spiegel Research Center, built on PowerReviews retailer data. It is from 2017 and observational, but the method is published.
A product with five reviews has a 270% greater purchase likelihood than a product with none [8].
Showing reviews lifted conversion by 190% for lower-priced products and by 380% for higher-priced ones [8].
Marking reviews from verified buyers improved the odds of purchase by 15% [8].
Paid social and creator ads
These figures come from the platforms themselves, which sell the ads. They are averages across many advertisers, so test before you shift budget.
Adding partnership ads to business-as-usual campaigns delivered 19% lower cost per acquisition and 13% higher click-through rates on average, according to Meta (December 2025) [9].
Ads featuring a testimonial drove a 7.5% higher off-site conversion rate and a 9.6% higher off-site click-through rate than business-as-usual campaigns, on average [9].
76% of Gen Z are open to hearing about brands from creator content, Meta reports [9].
71% of consumers say they make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content across Meta's apps [9].
In TikTok's own 2022 A/B tests, Spark Ads, which run from organic posts, had a 134% higher completion rate and a 157% higher 6-second view-through rate than standard In-Feed Ads [10].
Billo, a UGC ads platform, compared its creator ads with all other ads in the same Meta accounts (1.41 million ads, $1.24 billion in spend). It reports a cost per acquisition of $82 against $92, or 11% lower, and says its ads were cheaper per acquisition in 17 of the last 20 months [11].
Billo also reports a click-through rate of 2.0% against 1.6% in the same accounts, and a hook rate of 30% against 24% averaged across its top five categories. It gives the period only as "the last 20 months", without dates; the figures were on its homepage on 22 October 2026 [11].
Rules for creator content in Europe
If you work with creators in Europe, disclosure rules are part of the brief. These numbers come from regulators.
In a sweep whose results were published in February 2024, the European Commission and consumer authorities from 22 Member States, Norway and Iceland checked the posts of 576 influencers. 97% of them published commercial content [12].
Only one in five systematically disclosed that their content was advertising [12].
40% promoted their own products, services or brands, and three in five of those did not disclose it consistently or at all [12].
In Italy, AGCOM's rules apply in full to "relevant" influencers: those with at least 500,000 followers or 1 million average monthly views on at least one platform [13].
In Spain, Royal Decree 444/2024 treats creators as "users of special relevance" when they earn more than €300,000 a year from the activity, have more than 1 million followers on one video platform or 2 million across platforms, and publish 24 or more videos a year [14].
What UGC costs
Price lists are the most practical benchmark, and also the most volatile. These are published prices on 22 October 2026.
Influee puts the average price of a 30-second UGC video in the US at $92, based on its active campaigns [15].
Published starting prices for a UGC video range from $25 on JoinBrands to $83 on Influee and $100 on Insense, before platform fees [15][16][17].
On ScoutBerry's pricing page, a worked example with a €600 video, a €70 extra hook, €25 shipping and €80 travel costs the brand €909 on the free Discovery plan, €875.50 on Navigator and €842 on Partner. The creator receives €670 in every case [18].
What this means for European brands
Three patterns stand out. Shoppers look for content from other people before they buy (points 13 to 20). Discovery has moved to social feeds and, more and more, to AI tools that read the same content (21 to 26). And in Europe the rules on disclosure and the habits of each country differ enough that a single global approach leaves gaps (9 to 12, 37 to 41).
That is where native creators help. On ScoutBerry, you brief once in a Pod and choose between an Open Pod, where vetted creators apply, and a Private Pod, where you invite the ones you picked from The Roster. You set a Campaign Rate or work at each creator's own rate card. Every collaboration runs on Deal Terms with the deliverables, revisions and usage rights written down; by default that means organic use on your own channels, and paid usage, whitelisting and Spark Ads are added with their months. Creators are in Italy, Spain and the UK.
Discovery is free. Navigator (€199 a month) adds The Compass, which suggests creators for a Pod with reasons, and Mellow AI. Creators keep 100% of their agreed compensation and the brand pays a Service Fee of 20%, 15% or 10% depending on the plan. Details are on the pricing page.
Want native UGC for Italy, Spain or the UK? Start free with ScoutBerry and set up your first Pod.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
How big is the creator economy in 2026?
The most cited forecast is Goldman Sachs Research's: $250 billion in 2023, rising to about $480 billion by 2027. Treat it as a forecast. Many "UGC market size" figures online come from paid market reports we could not check, so we left them out.
Does UGC increase conversion rates?
The best-documented evidence is on reviews: Northwestern's Spiegel Research Center found a 270% higher purchase likelihood for products with five reviews versus none. For video, the platforms' own data shows lower acquisition costs for partnership and creator ads, but results vary by account.
Do shoppers trust UGC more than brand content?
In Bazaarvoice's 2023 survey, 74% said they trust UGC more than brand-provided content on product pages, and 78% feel more confident buying after seeing it.
How can European brands source quality UGC?
Look for native creators in the countries you sell in, and get the usage rights in writing before production. On ScoutBerry you can work with vetted creators in Italy, Spain and the UK, with prices and rights set in each deal's terms.
Sources
[1] Goldman Sachs Research, "The creator economy could approach half-a-trillion dollars by 2027", 19 April 2023. goldmansachs.com
[2] Linktree, Creator Report 2022 (survey of 9,576 Linktree users, 2021). linktr.ee/creator-report
[3] DataReportal and Kepios, Digital 2026 Global Overview Report. datareportal.com
[4] Eurostat, "89% of 16-29-year-olds used socials in 2025", 9 April 2026. ec.europa.eu/eurostat
[5] Bazaarvoice, Shopper Experience Index 2023, press release. bazaarvoice.com
[6] Bazaarvoice, Shopper Experience Index Vol. 18, press release. bazaarvoice.com
[7] Bazaarvoice, Shopper Experience Index Vol. 20, 2026 (PDF; findings announced 23 June 2026). media.bazaarvoice.com
[8] Spiegel Research Center, Northwestern University, "How Online Reviews Influence Sales", 2017. spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu
[9] Meta for Business, "New AI-powered tools to scale creator and brand partnerships", 11 December 2025. facebook.com/business
[10] TikTok for Business, "Spark Ads 101: Make TikToks into Ads" (data: TikTok internal A/B tests, 2022). ads.tiktok.com
[11] Billo, homepage performance data, checked 22 October 2026. billo.app
[12] European Commission, press release IP/24/708, 14 February 2024. ec.europa.eu
[13] AGCOM, "Influencer: linee guida, codice di condotta e FAQ". agcom.it
[14] Government of Spain, Ministry for Digital Transformation, press release of 29 April 2024 on Royal Decree 444/2024. digital.gob.es
[15] Influee, pricing page and homepage, checked 22 October 2026. influee.co
[16] JoinBrands, pricing page, checked 22 October 2026. joinbrands.com
[17] Insense, pricing page, checked 22 October 2026. insense.pro
[18] ScoutBerry, pricing page, checked 22 October 2026. scoutberry.io/pricing