What is a UGC retainer? Monthly deals explained
UGC retainer: A UGC retainer is an ongoing deal where a brand pays a creator a fixed monthly fee for an agreed volume of videos or posts, often with view-based bonuses.
A UGC retainer is a monthly deal where a brand pays you a fixed fee for an agreed amount of work. That usually means a set number of videos, or a posting schedule such as one post a day on the brand’s account. The deal renews each month until one side ends it.
How it works
A retainer spells out:
- Volume. For example, 30 posts a month, or one post a day.
- Fee. A fixed amount paid monthly.
- Bonuses. Some retainers add tiers, such as extra pay when a post passes a view count.
- Usage. What the brand can do with the videos. See usage rights.
- Notice period. How much warning either side gives before ending.
Retainers are common in Canvas UGC, where you run a brand-owned account and post daily.
Example
A note-taking app offers you $500 for one post a day for a month on a new TikTok account, plus a bonus for any post over 100,000 views. That is about $16.67 per post before bonuses. These figures are an example, not a market rate.
Retainer vs CPM vs per-video
- Retainer: steady monthly income. Pay doesn’t drop if views are low.
- CPM: pay tracks views. More upside, less certainty.
- Per-video: paid per accepted video, with no ongoing commitment.
Many deals mix these, such as a small retainer plus a CPM bonus.
Why it matters for UGC creators
Retainers give you a predictable floor. The trade-off is time: a daily-post retainer means filming, editing and posting every day for that client. Your hours, not demand, usually cap how many retainers you can hold.
“Stacking” retainers means running several at once, one per brand. It only works if each one takes less of your day. See how to post 3 times a day as a UGC creator for how creators handle the volume.
Related terms
- UGC CPM: UGC CPM is a pay model where a brand pays a creator a fixed amount for every 1,000 views their videos get, so earnings rise with total views.
- Per-video rate: A per-video rate is a flat fee a brand pays a creator for each delivered and accepted UGC video, regardless of how many views it later gets.
- Canvas UGC: Canvas UGC is short-form video a creator makes and posts on an account the brand owns, paid on output or views instead of the creator's own following.
- Ambassador account: An ambassador account is a social media account a creator runs and posts on to promote a single brand or app, usually created fresh for that brand and posted to on a set schedule.