Follower distribution, engagement benchmarks, real rates, and geography, aggregated from 297,105 creators on the UGC Roster marketplace. Not survey answers: platform data. Free to cite with attribution.
Creators tracked
297,105
in the UGC Roster directory
Published portfolios
25,721
live UGC portfolios
Brand hires
314
completed on-platform
Countries
33
10,415 cities
Verified contact
28.6%
of creators have a verified email
Largest niche
Lifestyle
156,431 creators
Source: UGC Roster marketplace data, August 2026.
Over three quarters of UGC creators have fewer than 50,000 followers. Macro accounts are a rounding error, which is exactly why brands buy UGC on authenticity and volume rather than reach.
| Band | Creators | Share | Median engagement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nano (1K to 10K) | 152,822 | 51.4% | 4.5% |
| Micro (10K to 50K) | 74,367 | 25% | 7.3% |
| Mid-tier (50K to 500K) | 55,478 | 18.7% | 6.75% |
| Macro (500K+) | 7,743 | 2.6% | 5.01% |
Micro creators (10K to 50K) post the highest median engagement at 7.3%. Source: UGC Roster marketplace data, August 2026.
Median engagement rate and interquartile range (25th to 75th percentile) for the twelve largest niches. Creators can tag multiple niches. Use the median to sanity-check a creator's numbers; the p75 column shows what the top quartile looks like.
| Niche | Creators | p25 | Median | p75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lifestyle | 156,431 | 2.35% | 5.33% | 22.63% |
| Fashion | 68,789 | 2.53% | 5.71% | 20.86% |
| Travel | 58,584 | 2.48% | 5.46% | 18.75% |
| Beauty | 41,836 | 2.3% | 5.31% | 24.36% |
| Entertainment | 32,999 | 2.38% | 5.04% | 19.08% |
| Parenting | 32,918 | 2.28% | 5.16% | 24.71% |
| Fitness | 29,022 | 2.46% | 5.36% | 18.29% |
| Photography | 28,428 | 2.51% | 5.13% | 15.95% |
| Business | 27,142 | 2.16% | 4.62% | 23.15% |
| Art | 27,071 | 2.27% | 4.54% | 14.59% |
| Health | 25,639 | 2.23% | 5.04% | 24.92% |
| Food | 23,575 | 2.33% | 5.41% | 24.54% |
Source: UGC Roster marketplace data, August 2026.
These figures come from actual paid deals in the UGC Roster hiring ledger, not from what creators say they charge. For live offer data from public brand listings, see the UGC Rates Report.
Nano and micro, per video
$70 per video
Flat fee observed across real one-off hires of nano and micro creators on the platform.
Monthly retainer, high volume
$600 to $700 per month
6 to 12 posts per week, which works out to roughly $14 to $28 per post effective.
Mid-tier, per video
$100 to $300 per video
The practical ceiling for one-off mid-tier UGC videos in observed deals.
Managed retainers
$3,000 to $10,000 per month
Fully managed creator programs covering sourcing, briefs, and content operations.
Source: UGC Roster real-hire ledger, August 2026. Usage rights, exclusivity, and raw footage push rates above these baselines.
City counts merge name variants (for example Greater London and London). Source: UGC Roster marketplace data, August 2026.
The UGC Roster directory alone tracks 297,105 creators across 33 countries and 10,415 cities, with 25,721 published UGC portfolios. Most of the market is small accounts: 51.4% of creators sit in the nano band (1K to 10K followers) and another 25% in the micro band (10K to 50K). Source: UGC Roster marketplace data, August 2026.
Across 297,105 creators, the median engagement rate is roughly 4.5% to 7.3% depending on follower band. Micro creators (10K to 50K followers) post the highest median at 7.3%, while macro accounts (500K+) drop to 5.0%. Anything above about 2.3% clears the bottom quartile; above 11% puts a nano creator in the top quartile. Source: UGC Roster marketplace data, August 2026.
Based on real paid hires on the UGC Roster marketplace (not survey answers): nano and micro creators commonly work for a $70 flat fee per video, mid-tier creators run $100 to $300 per video, and high-volume monthly retainers of $600 to $700 (6 to 12 posts per week) bring the effective cost down to $14 to $28 per post. Fully managed retainers run $3,000 to $10,000 per month.
Lifestyle is by far the largest niche with 156,431 creators (creators can tag multiple niches), followed by fashion (68,789), travel (58,584), and beauty (41,836). Source: UGC Roster marketplace data, August 2026.
Among the twelve largest niches, fashion leads on median engagement at 5.71%, followed by travel (5.46%), food (5.41%), and fitness (5.36%). Business and art trail at 4.62% and 4.54%. The spread between niches is smaller than the spread between follower bands, so size matters more than subject.
The market is concentrated in English-speaking countries: the United States has 160,890 creators in the dataset, the United Kingdom 73,878, Australia 38,086, and Canada 17,459. London and Los Angeles are the two biggest creator cities. Source: UGC Roster marketplace data, August 2026.
Figures are aggregates computed on 2026-08-28 across 297,105 creator profiles in the UGC Roster directory plus on-platform hiring records. Engagement rates above 100% are excluded as scraper noise; medians and quartiles are reported instead of means because engagement distributions are heavily right-skewed. Rate benchmarks come from real paid hires recorded on the platform. No individual creator data is published: aggregates only.
Free to cite with attribution and a link: "Source: UGC Roster, ugcroster.com/ugc-statistics". The dataset is refreshed quarterly.
Brands hire from 297,105 tracked creators. Creators pitch brands directly with verified contacts.