JobStep AI resume / job search
$2M ARR
$0 to $2M ARR in under 8 months. The network grew from 16 to 70 creator accounts and nearly 9K videos (100M+ views).
The UGC field guide · 149 apps tracked
What actually works in UGC. With the numbers.
JobStep went from $0 to $2M ARR in under 8 months on a network that grew to 70 creator accounts . Symmetry posted nearly 80,000 videos across 500+ accounts in a year . We track 149 apps like them, big and small: revenue, views, creator pay, the formats and scripts they ran, and the founders’ own playbooks.
In the library · updated Oct 25, 2026
31.9Bviews counted on tracked accounts
349,078videos
5,084creator accounts
149apps
34formats with scripts
What brands pay creators right now
- $20per post
- $500a month
- $1per 1K views
Counted views sum the tracked accounts of 111 apps
Every number carries its source type. Tap a label for the detail and the date.
- founder-reported said publicly by the founder or team
- verified synced from the payment processor
- estimate a revenue tracker's bucket
- counted counted from public posts
What's working right now
Sixteen results worth stealing from.
Other companies' public numbers, from apps with millions of users to solo founders on a website. What we track in the market, not our client list.
Swipe for all 16
Symmetry gym tracker
~80,000 videos
Across 500+ accounts in a year, nearly 1B views, about $160K a month. One lock-screen format, localized to Spanish.
Potto meal planner
25.8M views
One supermarket video, 380K bookmarks. The meal planner reached $100K MRR in about 50 days.
Boothie AI photo look / digicam
$52.2K MRR
About 4 months after founding, from TikTok carousels on about a dozen persona accounts and no paid ads (the channel claim is the seller’s).
PushClock alarm / push-ups
347.6M views
In 4 months, and $40K MRR. One creator carried about 70% of the reach. The squat-alarm video did 80.5M on Instagram plus 33.4M on TikTok.
Ascension face rating
1.87B views
From 51 accounts, +62.5M in the 6 days to Oct 24, by living in the bios of big faceless edit pages instead of farming new ones.
Calyra AI calorie tracker
$80.6K / 30 days
$46K MRR and a $119.7K peak month in August, with TikTok as its only listed channel (channel is seller-written).
The Cringe chat analyzer
10.3M views
“Since WHEN can we do this on WhatsApp???” on an account with about 6K followers. The app was at $30K MRR by September.
Higgsfield AI video
166.9M views
In 30 days from 413 videos by 275 creators that name it. Its creator program says it has paid out more than $650K.
Career Hound hidden-jobs board
$28K month
From a website, not an app. Creators paid under $20 a video, 11.7M social views in 30 days.
Erly push-up alarm
$50K+ in 28 days
Paying creators on view guarantees at about $2-3 CPM, so spend is capped and the money comes from rare 1-5M videos.
Mise meal planner
$100K MRR
Five weeks after launch. 77.8M tracked views across 31 accounts and 4,441 videos, one hook with one noun swapped.
Flame couples daily questions
$1 a video
15-20 TikTok accounts on 3-5 phones, freelance videos at about $1 each, $3K to $10K MRR in under 8 months.
Cal Buddy calorie tracker (Israel)
$1K to $81K
A month, in about 10 months, by localizing a US calorie app for Israel and giving two influencers 50/50 of local revenue.
Vix AI manifestation audio
~25 accounts
Persona accounts posting daily took a manifestation audio app to about $30K a month with no personal brand.
101cam camera app
68.3M views
From 24 paid creator posts. About 60% of the views came from Portuguese posts.
The videos behind it
The biggest posts, and the hooks that opened them.
TikTok carousel“Glow-Up in One Month 📈”143.4MGoTall · @stargirl..42
TikTok“How I created these pictures with the grinch!! 😂😇”72.2MGlam AI · @glam.with.wi
Instagram“if you haven't air fried Camembert yet”67.8MReciMe · @recime.app
TikTok“Pranking my ASIAN dad I Hit a kid and ran (Watch till the end 😭😭💀)”34MHalo AI · @ryan.prank
Instagram“5 MINUTE LUNCH Tandoori Paneer Sandwich”29.7MOsta · @ostarecipes
TikTok“been shopping at Aldi literally for 7 years and I'm JUST NOWWW FINDING THIS????”25.8MPotto · @madi.spam111
TikTok“The FUNNIEST Ai prank Hypnosis Ai prank”24.7MMenace · @randy_savage98
Instagram“If only there was a page dedicated to Boys Getting Girls...”22.3MSmoothspeak · @rizzedgirls
TikTok carousel“high protein finds from COSTCO”21.7MGoodie AI · @assya.goodie.ai
TikTok“Le jeu s’appelle Insight, dispo gratuitement partout ❤️”17.7MInsight · @insight_game
TikTok“Pov: You were supposed to end up in jail, but one mugshot changed your whole life”16.7MAscension · @notabxne
TikTok“why did no one tell me there was a tiktok wrapped this year 😭😭”16.3M2025 Wrapped · @carlyslifexoxo
TikTok“pov: you found a game that lets you simulate being a UA student and you're getting…”16.2Mstatus · @inmydigitaldream
TikTok“husband’s reaction to finding out his Bumble date was actually me”14MCheaterbuster · @teatimewithsi
TikTok“I use Followpeek.com just in case I get a gut feeling. I always want to know the”13.2MFollowPeek · @maddygirlsgirl
TikTok“This is your sign to play guess who reposted at your ur next sleepover”13MWhoLiked · @imjoedohens
Views as counted on each post. Each tile opens the real video on TikTok or Instagram in a new tab. One tile per app.
Big brands and small brands
Same playbook, different scale.
Revenue, the UGC footprint behind it, the format that carried it, a hook that ran, and a link to the real video or creator account.
Swipe for all 12
Duolingo
Big brandlanguage learning · iOS + Android
about $10M/month
UGC footprint
5.78Bviews
112accounts
14,909videos
Best formatfull-screen text story
“Went on a ‘date’ with this guy and we decided to go on a cute little walk. Halfway through, my Duolingo notification went off so obviously…” 4.4M
Even the biggest brand runs 130+ UGC accounts with silent long-text storytime on Reels.
Cal AI
Big brandcalorie tracker · iOS
$2M MRR (Oct 2025); later acquired by MyFitnessPal, reportedly about $30-50M ARR
UGC footprint
8.1Mviews
13accounts
866videos
Best formatcreator-driven conversion
Volume of creators beats polish: price each creator against what a thousand views is worth to you, then recruit at scale.
Solid Starts
Big brandbaby food / parenting · iOS
$1M MRR
UGC footprint
1.22Bviews
2accounts
2,469videos
Best formatfounder educational content first
Founder-led educational content first: over 1B views from essentially two accounts.
Stella
Big brandmanifestation · iOS
over $300K MRR in two months, now about $350-360K MRR
UGC footprint
1.4Bviews
19accounts
4,788videos
Best formatfounder face-to-camera
“listen 3x before you sleep 💗” 743K
Audience first, product second; savable rituals ("repeat for 7 days") drive saves, and demos convert.
Symmetry
Big brandgym tracker · iOS + Android
about $160K/month (RevenueCat, founder)
UGC footprint
265.1Mviews
197accounts
27,522videos
nearly 80,000 videos across 500+ accounts, nearly 1B views in a year (founder)
Best formatbreakup 2-photo slideshow
“we were fine… then this happened” 13.3M
Localize (Spanish) and scale one notification-style format to hundreds of accounts, tracked by sub-format.
JobStep
Big brandAI resume / job search · web
$0 to $2M ARR in under 8 months (founder)
UGC footprint
100Mviews
70accounts
9,000videos
100M+ views over nearly 9K videos; 16 accounts in Germany and France in May, 70 creators across markets three months later
Best formatjob hunting pain points
“toxic advice to get a job” 1.1M
Account count was the lever; it localized to Germany and France before the US.
Glam AI
Big brandAI photo / video editor · iOS
about $900K/month
UGC footprint
310.6Mviews
136accounts
8,937videos
“How I created these pictures with the grinch!! 😂😇” 72189141
Revenue estimate near $900K/month on 310M tracked views, but 40 of 136 tracked accounts were removed: farms churn.
Knowunity
Big brandAI study · iOS + Android
about $700K/month
UGC footprint
479.3Mviews
240accounts
10,923videos
Best formatawkward interview skit
“what the average conversation in french class sounds like:” 1.6M
A 240-account network with a tracker estimate of about $700K/month: study apps buy volume.
Turbo AI
Big brandAI study · iOS + web
about $200K/month
UGC footprint
482.4Mviews
425accounts
19,127videos
Best formatmulti-part series
“Struggling Student vs Top Student” 4.6M
Story-first series ("Day 1 of...") let the product appear when it is relevant instead of in the hook.
Creed
Big brandfaith / Bible chat · iOS
$100K MRR (Jul 2026); $60K/month earlier (Jan 2026)
UGC footprint
647.4Mviews
46accounts
8,384videos
Best formatshort selfie with long text overlay
“Is it a sin to drink alcohol?” 6.9M
Faith content wins on frequency: confession and list text over calm video, app named like the author of the quote.
Higgsfield
Big brandAI video · web + app
run rate reported at about $200M ARR (end of 2025) rising to about $1B (2026); 30M+ users
UGC footprint
166.9Mviews
275accounts
413videos
Best formatoutput-is-the-content
“We chose the front row at a 4D cinema... then the movie came for us”
When the product output is the entertainment, "Made with X" in the caption does the marketing; demos of effects do not.
Pingo AI
Big brandlanguage learning · iOS
about $350-480K/month (press report, Aug 2026)
UGC footprint
197.2Mviews
69accounts
3,543videos
Best formatentertaining ai conversation
“So how do you say ‘Dragons laugh when they imitate weak dragons doing things like crashing off roofs’?” 10.6M
One repeatable joke ("How do you say X in Y?") with an angry AI tutor scales across creators and languages.
Gleam
Small brandsocial intelligence · iOS
past $100K MRR in 30 days; $120K+ in sales in 30 days (team)
UGC footprint
196.5Mviews
6accounts
548videos
Best format10-minute storytime
“the quiet friend” 2.6M
Long storytime with the app woven in, and the CTA placed on the emotional payoff.
Boothie
Small brandAI photo look / digicam · iOS + Android
$52,169 MRR, $48,797 in the last 30 days
emma.koah: 58 posts in 74 days, Posted/Deleted carousels 6 of 6 over 100K
Best formatPosted/Deleted carousel
“The effect everyone asks about on every post of mine (translated from Turkish)”
Posted/Deleted carousels from persona accounts, with the credit in the title, not the image.
Calyra
Small brandAI calorie tracker · iOS
$46K MRR, $80.6K in 30 days, 14,931 subs; peak $119.7K in Aug
The clearest TikTok-led subscription at scale among verified listings.
Erly
Small brandpush-up alarm · iOS
$50K+ in the last 28 days
UGC footprint
286.9Mviews
25accounts
2,683videos
Best formatclose-up reaction to demo
“CRASHING OUT because I had to take a picture of my LAPTOP just to turn this off” 9.3M (8.2% engagement)
Pay on view guarantees ($2-3 CPM) so spend is capped; the money comes from rare 1-5M videos.
PushClock
Small brandalarm / push-ups · iOS
$40K MRR in 6 months
UGC footprint
398Mviews
25accounts
2,284videos
Best formatclose-up crying reaction
“Crashing out bc my alarm won't turn off until I do 15 squats 😭😭😭” 80.5M Instagram, 33.4M TikTok
Find the one creator who works and clone the person, not just the idea.
The Cringe
Small brandchat analyzer · iOS
$30K MRR (Sep 2026); $10K MRR at launch (Jun 2026)
UGC footprint
66.4Mviews
16accounts
1,135videos
Best formatfake platform feature hook
“Since WHEN can we do this on WhatsApp ???😭😭” 5.90M
A fake-feature discovery hook ("Since WHEN can we do this on WhatsApp???") reused across a 23-account, multi-language persona network.
Career Hound
Small brandhidden-jobs board · web
$28K last month (MRR $12K, mix of yearly and weekly)
11.7M social views in the last 30 days
Best formatcompanies hiring remote and worldwide list
Timeless list formats and older, credible creators at under $20 a video.
Flashka
Small brandAI flashcards · iOS
crossed $40K MRR last month
UGC footprint
256.6Mviews
51accounts
10,293videos
Best formatface clip + laptop demo
“ahora entiendo porque todos se están borrando ChatGPT” 5.3M (140K saves)
Six languages from the start: 197M views across 51 creator accounts in one 3-month window.
ReGen
Small brandAI dating photos · iOS
$20K MRR last month
UGC footprint
56.5Mviews
5accounts
750videos
Best formatgreen screen dm funnel story
“I asked 100,000 [people] to crack.”
One creator, green-screen DM story: 52M views.
Clicked
Small brandcamera editor · iOS
$10K MRR in month one
UGC footprint
2.09Bviews
2accounts
1,178videos
Best formatfounder-led
Founder-led Instagram: 2.6M on one post, 20K downloads in month one.
Tethered
Small brandlong-distance couple games · iOS
$10K MRR
UGC footprint
116Mviews
14accounts
2,368videos
Best formatemotional reaction with relationship text
“POV you’re in a long distance relationship” 2.5M
One Reels creator repeating one emotional text setup carried the app.
Flame
Small brandcouples daily questions · iOS
$3K to $10K MRR in under 8 months
about 58M organic views; 250K downloads; 15-20 TikTok accounts on 3-5 phones
Best formatnano banana slideshow with text overlay
Scale only formats that are viral, cheap to mass-produce and make commenters ask for the app (VSC).
Format library
Twelve formats, beat by beat.
How each one is shot, the seconds it runs to, the hooks that went big with it, and the signal that it has stopped working.
01Discovery regret ("X years and NOW I find this")Best: 25.8M · Potto
A close-up shocked reaction in a real place (a supermarket aisle, a car) with a caption admitting years of doing it the hard way, then a hard cut to the app doing the job. Swap one noun (store, years, task) to make the next video.
Beat by beat
- 0-2 sclose-up face, big reaction, caption "been shopping at [store] for [N] years and NOW I find this???"
- 2-5 shold the reaction or show the store
- 5-12 ssecond phone screen-records the app (pick the store, budget, plan appears)
- Endno spoken CTA; app name in caption or a pinned comment
Hooks that ran
“been shopping at Aldi literally for 7 years and I'm JUST NOWWW FINDING THIS????”
“been shopping at Aldi for 10 years and NOW I FIND THIS ???”
“been shopping at Aldi for X years and NOW I FIND THIS”
“5 years living paycheck to paycheck and NOW you finally find”
When it stops working. Clones copy it within weeks (Edamame and Albo used the same line); meal-planner farms sit at 0.3-0.8K medians by October 2026, so it only pays as an outlier lottery at high volume.
02"Since WHEN can we do this?" fake-feature discoveryBest: 10.3M · The Cringe
Shocked selfie that treats the app as a hidden feature of a platform everyone uses (WhatsApp, Instagram), then shows the analysis or result screen.
Beat by beat
- 0-2 sshocked selfie, caption "Since WHEN can we do this on WhatsApp???"
- 2-6 sscreen shows the chat export or profile being scanned
- 6-10 sdramatic result screen (score, list)
- Caption2-word shock line; app only in bio
Hooks that ran
“Since WHEN can we do this on WhatsApp ??? 😭😭😭”
“4 años de stalkeo y RECIEN ME ENTERO QUE SE PUEDE HACER ESTO”
“I'm sorry, since WHEN did Instagram get this update???”
“NO WAY instagram can do this???”
When it stops working. The tracker calls it a dark, misleading pattern used for quick growth; The Ick and Katch were later removed and Katch lost 16 of 49 accounts. Expect platform and store enforcement.
03Posted / Deleted carouselBest: 626.5K · Boothie
Photo-mode carousel alternating the edited photo that was posted and the original that was deleted. The credit sits in the title or bio, never on the image.
Beat by beat
- Slide 1edited photo labelled Posted
- Slide 2original labelled Deleted
- ·Repeat the pair 4-6 times with different looks
- Title"for those asking: the effect is called [look]"; caption empty or "from the [app] app"
Hooks that ran
“For those asking: the effect is called sunset glow (translated)”
“English Posted/Deleted carousel”
When it stops working. Lenz AI ran templated slideshows and fell from $8.9K (Aug) to $1.1K (Oct): carousel traffic decays within 3-5 months unless the offer changes. English persona accounts did far worse than Turkish ones.
04Reply-to-comment predictionBest: 2.4M · Root
Answer a viewer comment with a video that runs the product on their details, so every comment becomes the next video and viewers comment to get theirs.
Beat by beat
- ·Overlay the viewer comment ("I'm 15, mom X, dad Y")
- ·Run the app on those numbers on screen
- ·Reveal the result (predicted height)
- ·Invite more comments
Hooks that ran
“Discord's gonna hate this”
“flex your height with your age”
When it stops working. Works while comments keep coming; GoTall later needed paid ads to pass $30K/month.
05Self-explaining mechanic POV (alarm / push-ups)Best: 80.5M IG · PushClock
The product mechanic is the joke: the alarm will not stop until you do squats; the frustration is the hook.
Beat by beat
- ·Close-up crying or panicked face
- Caption"my alarm won't turn off until I do 15 squats"
- ·Do the squats, app shows the check
- ·Comment replies with the app name
Hooks that ran
“Crashing out bc my alarm won't turn off until I do 15 squats 😭😭😭”
“POV all your apps are blocked 😭🥀💔”
“Crashing out because my alarm won’t turn off until I do 10 squats”
When it stops working. Push-up apps built a 342M+ view category in about seven months; the mechanic evolves every few months (blockers, boss fights, multiplayer).
06Urgency panic ("we leave in 1 hour and I see THIS")Best: 25M · Roamy
A travel-day panic close-up with a countdown, then the app that saved the trip.
Beat by beat
- ·Caption with destination flag and time pressure
- ·Panic close-up
- ·App demo
- ·Brand replies to "app name?" comments
Hooks that ran
“I could LITERALLY kiss the flight attendant that showed me this”
“We're supposed to leave for Dubai 🇦🇪 in 1 HOUR and I see THIS?????”
“we literally just got to our hotel in Bali and i see THIS? 🫣🫣”
When it stops working. Copied by Layla.ai, Travy, Latera, FlightDeck and MigoMap; Roamy keeps evolving the hook to stay ahead.
07AI photo / text prankBest: 34M · Halo AI
Send an AI-made image or clip to a parent or partner and film or screenshot the reaction; the app is the tool in the caption.
Beat by beat
- Hook"Pranking my dad I ..."
- ·Show the AI edit
- ·Reaction texts or face
- Captionmade with [app]
Hooks that ran
“Pranking my ASIAN dad I Hit a kid and ran (Watch till the en”
“Parking my dad his 98 yr old mom is driving”
“my boyfriend has never seen twilight so i added extra clips 😭💀”
“I tried to prank my boyfriend with hot unknown man, I was scared while”
When it stops working. Fresh-account farms underperform (Cantina's 105 small active accounts median 447); recruited prank creators carry it.
08"How do you say X in Y?" angry-tutor jokeBest: 29M · Verbi
Creator asks an AI tutor how to say an everyday word; the joke is a sound-alike or the tutor's brutal reply.
Beat by beat
- Caption"How do you say [word] in [language]?"
- ·Creator tries, tutor roasts
- ·Punchline word
- ·App on screen throughout
Hooks that ran
“How do you say cat in Italian?”
“So how do you say ‘Dragons laugh when they imitate weak dragons doing”
“”
“How do you say chicken in Italian?”
When it stops working. Views are huge but revenue small (125M views for $20K MRR); the tracker calls it one of the most viral language formats and many apps now copy it.
09Lock-screen notificationBest: 14M across 37 accounts · Couple360
A phone lock screen shows a dramatic notification (a partner leaving) with the app's notification underneath as the answer.
Beat by beat
- ·Lock screen with the emotional notification
- ·App notification below ("go work out")
- Optionalthe drama as slides first, ending on the notification
Hooks that ran
“shocked reaction + lock screen reveal”
“relationship-drama slideshow ending on an app notification”
“girlfriend-leaving notification above a "go to the gym" notification”
When it stops working. Symmetry tracks it by sub-format because single variants fatigue.
10Long storytime with the CTA on the payoffBest: 4.4M · Duolingo
A long, gripping personal story with the app woven into the plot and mentioned at the emotional high point.
Beat by beat
- ·Open loop in the first line
- ·Story with escalating stakes
- ·App enters as part of the plot
- ·CTA on the payoff moment
Hooks that ran
“Went on a ‘date’ with this guy and we decided to go on a cute little w”
“the quiet friend”
When it stops working. Viewers notice when every story has an app; Gleam coaches storytellers on cadence and fatigue.
11Faceless advice slideshow (app as one item)Best: 21.7M and 19.2M · Goodie AI
A list of tips or finds as photo slides; the app is one item or the last slide, not the pitch. Built for saves.
Beat by beat
- Slide 1list title ("high protein finds from COSTCO", "5 ways to improve your life")
- Slides 2-5tips
- One slide"use this app"
- CTA"comment APP and I'll send it"
Hooks that ran
“high protein finds from COSTCO”
“Nano Banana slideshow”
“TikTok slideshow templates paid per view”
“five ways to improve your life”
When it stops working. Cheap to copy, so medians compress; Saner.AI shows a viral slideshow with no product mention converts almost nothing (1.2M views, under 5K downloads).
12Street interview / campus calloutBest: 34.4M across 5 accounts · Univerbal
Creator stops people with one repeatable question; the product is the reveal or the payoff.
Beat by beat
- ·Hook question on screen
- ·Two or three quick answers
- Payoffthe app reveals or solves
- ·Spoken CTA at the end
Hooks that ran
“Don’t tell me what language you speak, I’ll guess it in 5 questions.”
“”
“”
When it stops working. The tracker asked whether it is played out in mid-2025 and it still drove 34.4M; it moves between niches (study to jobs) rather than dying.
Founder playbooks
How the founders actually run it.
Account farms, posting cadence, creator pay models, comment-to-DM and paywall conversion, and when organic hands off to paid. In the founders' own numbers.
Mauro, Symmetry (gym tracker, Spain/Mexico)
About $160K/month (RevenueCat), about 3M downloads in a year
- Account farm
- 500+ accounts
- Posting cadence
- Nearly 80,000 videos in a year, nearly 1B views
- Creator pay
- Set by revenue per download, which varies by country
- Comment, DM and paywall conversion
- One commitment screen at the end of onboarding raised retention 3%; paywall tests run at least two weeks
- What failed
- Their own YouTube audience and influencer marketing did not grow the app
The system
- Sort every video into formats and sub-formats and track each
- Localize to Spanish-speaking markets
JobStep founders (AI resume platform)
$0 to $2M ARR in under 8 months; 100M+ views over nearly 9K videos
- Account farm
- 16 TikTok accounts in Germany and France in May, 70 creators across markets three months later
- Posting cadence
- Nearly 9K videos in about 3 months
- Comment, DM and paywall conversion
- Rejection hooks (a CV covered in corrections) with the tailored CV template as the payoff; four international videos at 0.9-1.1M with 7.8K-35K saves
The system
- Launch in Germany and France first
- Scale account count rather than chase one viral video
Michael, GoTall (height predictor)
About $100K/month on average; about 700K iOS downloads plus a couple hundred thousand on Android
- Account farm
- Two of his own accounts plus his girlfriend's, then cheap creators
- Posting cadence
- 10 TikToks a day for a month to find the format
- Creator pay
- Cheap flat fees (no figure); he priced creators against how many downloads 100K views produced
- Finding creators
- Cold DMs to about 50 people a day asking them to make the easy format
- Comment, DM and paywall conversion
- Very long onboarding quiz; Superwall paywall shown to about 91% of users; $5/week or $35/year
- Organic to paid
- Paid ads only after organic reached about $30K/month, then used to scale past $100K
- What failed
- Nothing specific named; month 5 at $30K came from exploring more formats
Nicole Cheung (Glam Up + Sprout)
Glam Up 1M users in 6 months, peak about $150K/month (ARR vs MRR said both ways); Sprout about $200-250K MRR; 400-500M monthly views across her apps
Result. More than 50% of creators who finish the course go viral within 2 weeks
- Account farm
- 150-200+ active trained creators at peak
- Posting cadence
- Not stated per creator; each strategy is run 2-3 weeks before judging
- Creator pay
- Not disclosed in the episode; a founder-interview synthesis lists Sprout at $10-30 per post
- Finding creators
- By skill ("yappers" for talking head, expressive faces for reactions); inbound forms in UGC group chats, IG, Reddit; outbound VAs to micro-influencers; a creator marketplace named as the easiest recruiting route; every creator gets a vibe-check interview
- Comment, DM and paywall conversion
- Hard paywall, weekly or monthly; onboarding designed to prime conversion
- Organic to paid
- No paid ads on Glam Up (per brief notes); influencer marketing that did not convert was one of the early mistakes
- What failed
- Tested 20-30 strategies before Glam Up took off; influencer marketing that did not convert; early onboarding and pricing designs
The system
- Test Reddit, faceless slideshows, AI UGC and real UGC for 2-3 weeks each
- Onboard creators with a Typeform, video course, content bank and a quiz per module
- Manage on Discord; promote top creators to managers; bi-weekly feedback calls
- Add a creator referral program and dashboards
An Nayal, Flame (couples questions)
$3K to $10K MRR in under 8 months, 250K downloads, about 58M organic views
- Account farm
- 15-20 TikTok accounts on 3-5 phones (TikTok, Lemon8, Instagram)
- Posting cadence
- Up to 150 pieces of content a day to test one hook; tracker sheet updated daily
- Creator pay
- About $1 per 60-second video from Eastern European / Russian freelance UGC, or AI video
- Finding creators
- A Russian freelance marketplace (rendered "quark ru" in the transcript)
- Comment, DM and paywall conversion
- Comment seeding from their own accounts asking about the app: about 1% conversion. VSC test: Viral (100K+ on several similar posts from accounts under 5K followers), Scalable (hundreds without burnout), Convertible (comments ask "what's the app?")
- Organic to paid
- None described
- What failed
- A 120K-view slideshow with no product questions in the comments produced only 8-9 trials
Benji Chen, Snag (10x Studio)
About $30K MRR in about 4 months, $80K total proceeds
- Account farm
- Interviewed creators: 9-10 good ones per 100 interviewed
- Creator pay
- Monthly retainer plus CPM
- Organic to paid
- Any creator video over 50K views goes to a Meta test at about $50/day; scale while ROAS is above 1 ($100, $200, $300/day); one ad absorbed about $3K before ROAS turned negative; about 100K views is worth $1-2K in subscription profit
- What failed
- Ad fatigue: winners stop working, so a steady flow of new creatives is needed
Jake, Erly (push-up alarm)
$50K+ in the last 28 days, 200K+ downloads in 2026; first $50K month in month four
- Account farm
- Lifestyle and day-in-the-life creators whose content already fits
- Posting cadence
- 2-4 videos per creator a month
- Creator pay
- View-guaranteed deals at about $2-3 CPM so spend is capped; accepts losing money on some creators because 1-5M-view videos carry the month
- Finding creators
- DMs on TikTok and IG, Instantly for email, a creator marketplace and Crowee for tracking and payments
- Comment, DM and paywall conversion
- Creators reply "Erly on the App Store" to app-name comments and pin it
Roman, Career Hound (hidden-jobs website)
$28K last month ($12K MRR), 779 active subs, 11.7M views in 30 days
- Account farm
- Creators found by DMing people already posting for fun; prefers older creators for credibility
- Posting cadence
- Timeless formats run for two years
- Creator pay
- Flat fee, "you don't want to pay more than 20 a video" in about 90% of cases
- Comment, DM and paywall conversion
- CTA to the website at the end; hard paywall $7/week, $20/month, $50/year
- What failed
- Trend formats get copied, read as ads and die within about a week
Creator pay benchmarks
What a UGC video costs in 2026.
From brand listings posted this month and from what founders say they pay. Medians, with the middle half of the market beside them.
Per post$20middle half $10-$3098 listings
Monthly retainer$500middle half $300-$750134 listings
View bonus$1per 1,000 views137 listings
High-volume monthly (2-3 videos a day)$7.50-$17
Monthly, 1 video a day$13-$20
Fixed per post$10-$35
New listings, middle half (median $20)$10-$30
Top of market~$90-$115
Show as a table
| Pay model | Per video |
|---|---|
| High-volume monthly (2-3 videos a day) | $7.50-$17 |
| Monthly, 1 video a day | $13-$20 |
| Fixed per post | $10-$35 |
| New listings, middle half (median $20) | $10-$30 |
| Top of market | ~$90-$115 |
- Typical view-bonus ladder
- $10 at 10K, $50-100 at 100K, $200-1,000 at 1M (highest tier only), or a flat $1-2 CPM (n: 20+ listings)
- Per-video rates founders say they pay
- about $1 (Flame, Eastern Europe) to under $20 (Career Hound); $100 for 10 videos to test (AbMaxx); $2-3 CPM view guarantees (Erly) (n: 4 founders)
- What app founders spend on creator programs and agencies
- First-month creator budget $2-4K; "creator manager" trials $2-4K plus 5% of bonuses; agencies from $10K/month; one founder paid $30K/month and it flopped (n: founder-interview synthesis (88 interviews))
- Listings that use a paid trial gate (e.g. "one post to 10K views in 14 days or you are removed")
- 40 of 284 (14%) (n: 284 listings)
- Applicants per creator listing (median)
- 302.5 (n: 284 listings from 250 brands)
What brands are offering creators this month
Collect (settlement finder)money / legal
$2,700/month retainer; listing says $30 per video plus bonuses and "$1M+ paid to creators"
Oct 24, 2026 · 13,446 applicants
Ryze AIAI tool
$50 per video, paid in batches of 10, plus a $1,000 bonus per batch if one video passes 100K views
Oct 24, 2026
Pump (app)finance
$1,500/month retainer for 30 original videos plus $2 CPM
Oct 23, 2026 · 1,681 applicants
Kalshiprediction market
$25 CPM, 10 videos a week across 4 platforms
Oct 23, 2026 · US, CA
Reachin (LinkedIn lead finder)B2B tool
$1,200/month guaranteed for 30 videos plus $1 CPM up to $1,000 per video; 2-week paid trial needs 28 posts and 28K views
Oct 22, 2026 · AU, CA, GB, IE, NZ, US
Pingo AIlanguage learning
$400-500/month retainer for 10 approved ad videos plus 5% of ad spend on ads made from your videos
Oct 22, 2026 · Bilingual Spanish/English listing
Youmealmeal planner
$700/month for 3 simple videos a day (30-45 minutes of work)
Oct 23, 2026 · US, UK, AU, CA, DE, FR · 1,489 applicants
Potto (meal planner)meal planner
$1,000 for 60 videos at 2 a day; up to $750 per viral video
Oct 19, 2026 · 4,966 applicants
HiggsfieldAI video
$20-50 per video plus bonuses; listing says "paid out more than $650K" and wants creators with 10M+ total views; Earn program up to $2,500 per video, IG repost $1 per 1K views
Oct 8, 2026
Cupie (couples video calls)relationships
$40 per video, paid only once a copy reaches 1,500 views within 7 days
Oct 19, 2026 · 173 applicants
Matchday (football card game)game
$500 for 30 videos plus $1 per 1K views up to $100; cohort stops on day 14 if the week-2 median is under 1,000 views
Oct 20, 2026 · UK
Packzapp
$30 guaranteed per video plus the higher of a view bonus or 1.5% of what Packz spends running your video as an ad (up to $500)
Oct 20, 2026 · US
As posted by each brand on public creator listings. All 75 listings
Spend vs revenue
What a view, a video and an ad dollar return.
Only where the founder made it public. Most do not, so this list is short on purpose.
AbMaxx Same creatives on TikTok ads4-5x ROAS
AbMaxx Meta ads2-2.5x ROAS
Dailyglowup TikTok and Meta ads (seller-written, unverified)2-3x ROAS
ChartDetector AI TikTok ads, April: $43.7K revenue on about $20K spendabout 2.2x
Glowly TikTok subscription campaigns: about $16 per sub vs $30-35 LTV~2x LTV/CPA
Dashed line: break-even, 1x
Show as a table
| App | Channel | Return |
|---|---|---|
| AbMaxx | Same creatives on TikTok ads | 4-5x ROAS |
| AbMaxx | Meta ads | 2-2.5x ROAS |
| Dailyglowup | TikTok and Meta ads (seller-written, unverified) | 2-3x ROAS |
| ChartDetector AI | TikTok ads, April: $43.7K revenue on about $20K spend | about 2.2x |
| Glowly | TikTok subscription campaigns: about $16 per sub vs $30-35 LTV | ~2x LTV/CPA |
When organic hands off to paid
Snag: any video over 50K views, $50/day test; GoTall: only after organic hit about $30K/month; AbMaxx: once 10-15 creators post consistently; budget increases capped at 20% every 3 days (ChartDetector, Glowly)
$1-2Ksubscription profit per 100K viewsSnag’s founder
$15Kfrom one plain demo ad on about 5M viewsChartDetector AI
~$1 CPMabout 7,600 slideshow posts for $2,600Cardstock, pay-per-view creators
1,965tracked views per $1 of monthly revenue, median appn: 53 apps with a reported monthly figure and counted views
10.7% vs 2.1%hard paywall on first open vs freemium conversiontracker figure
$7/weekmedian weekly price of UGC-grown apps (range $3.99-$12.99)n: 20 apps
What normal looks like
Most videos do not go viral. Plan for the median.
A new account posting promo content usually lands in the hundreds to low thousands of views. The money comes from volume and the rare outlier.
face rating / looksmax2.1K
follow trackers999
relationships / dating911
meal planners876
All tracked apps862
AI photo and video643
Show as a table
| Group | Median views | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| face rating / looksmax | 2,101 | 215 accounts across 10 apps |
| follow trackers | 999 | 252 accounts across 6 apps |
| relationships / dating | 911 | 176 accounts across 14 apps |
| meal planners | 876 | 265 accounts across 8 apps |
| All tracked apps | 862 | 1862 accounts across 89 apps |
| AI photo and video | 643 | 401 accounts across 11 apps |
Face rating: Mog Academy15.4K
Face rating: PSL App12.2K
Follow tracker: FollowOtter persona farm5.7K
AI video: Cantina pranks and characters5.1K
Rizz text stories: Plug / Wing4.6K
Face rating, whole category incl. copycats3.9K
Chat analyzer: The Cringe farm3.1K
Follow tracker: FollowPeek1.7K
Voice tutor: Pingo1.5K
Astrology: Starcrossed1.3K
AI video: Higgsfield effect/template style600
Show as a table
| Group | Median views | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| Face rating: Mog Academy | 15,400 | 21 accounts |
| Face rating: PSL App | 12,200 | 22 accounts |
| Follow tracker: FollowOtter persona farm | 5,700 | 15 accounts |
| AI video: Cantina pranks and characters | 5,100 | 21 accounts |
| Rizz text stories: Plug / Wing | 4,600 | 20 accounts |
| Face rating, whole category incl. copycats | 3,900 | 93 accounts |
| Chat analyzer: The Cringe farm | 3,100 | 18 accounts |
| Follow tracker: FollowPeek | 1,700 | 20 accounts |
| Voice tutor: Pingo | 1,500 | 17 accounts |
| Astrology: Starcrossed | 1,300 | 5 accounts |
| AI video: Higgsfield effect/template style | 600 | 28 accounts |
- How many videos before you drop a format
- 2-4 formats a week, about 40 videos per format (n: tracker guidance)
- What a healthy promo account looks like
- Videos range from 0.25x to 3x the account median, with one 5-10x outlier every 5-10 days (n: tracker guidance)
- Share of an app's tracked views that come from its single biggest account (median app)
- 47% of an app’s tracked views come from its single biggest account (n: 74 apps with 3+ active accounts)
- How long a format lasts
- Trend formats: about a week before copies kill them (Career Hound); about a month for most hooks (tracker read); templated carousel farms: 3-5 months (Lenz AI $8.9K to $1.1K); "timeless" list formats: 2+ years (Career Hound) (n: 4 sources)
- Caution: search-found medians vs promo medians
- Higgsfield fresh accounts in the top 60 authors: 541K median; a promo-post recheck of 28 small accounts: 0.6K (n: 24 vs 28 accounts)
- Which niches grew in the Oct 2026 read
- Finance +18.6% (to 64.07M views); education -46%, faith -33%, dating -28%, health -25% (n: monthly playbook)
- Highest-engagement niche
- Religion & Faith about 19% average engagement (Sep 2026 guide) vs about 5-6% for education and health (n: monthly niche reports)
- Trial cancellations that happen on day 0
- about 55% (n: tracker figure)
What failed
The other half of the story.
Saner.AI
1.2M views
On slideshows that never mentioned the app, and under 5K monthly downloads. Reach without the product converts almost nothing.
Cantina
447 median
252 tracked accounts, but its 105 small active accounts median only 447 views. Recruited prank creators did the real work.
Lenz AI
$8.9K to $1.1K
A templated slideshow farm, August to October. Carousel traffic decays within 3-5 months unless the offer changes.
AbMaxx
Thousands per video
Paid to big fitness influencers before a format was found: the founder calls it his biggest mistake. $100 for 10 micro-creator videos found the format instead.
B2B, verified
Content and distribution businesses with verified revenue.
Revenue synced from each company's payment processor on a public listing. Done-for-you video, AI ad tools, Reddit and AI-search agencies.
Swipe for more
Postiz
Open-source agentic social media scheduler (also used to auto-post TikTok slideshows)
$307,895MRR
$344,438last 30 days
Sep $248K vs Aug $193K
AEO Engine
"AI SEO agency": gets clients cited in AI Overviews and ChatGPT
$170,830MRR
$202,975last 30 days
Sep $164K vs Aug $80K (+105%)
Windmill Growth
Personal-branding agency for B2B founders on LinkedIn and X
$118,447MRR
$118,197last 30 days
White Glove Content
Done-for-you faceless short and long videos (script, AI voice, edit, thumbnails, upload)
$64,568MRR
$68,946last 30 days
$2K, $22K, $41K, $46K, $57K, $68K a month from April to September 2026
Gomotion AI
One-click AI documentary videos for YouTube-automation channels and content agencies
$58,189MRR
$71,734last 30 days
$18K, $48K, $62K (Oct partial) from a July 2026 start
Rank Prompt
AI-search visibility tracker (prompts, competitors, citations, content)
$43,721MRR
$48,857last 30 days
Sep $45K vs Aug $30K
Kolbo.AI
One credit pool for 100+ AI models with consistent characters and brands
$37,524MRR
$77,744last 30 days
Sep $60K vs Aug $36K
Reddit Agency
"We'll get ChatGPT and Google to recommend your brand or you don't pay"
$34,750MRR
$66,750last 30 days
$93K Sep vs $40K Aug (lumpy)
unfair.so
Turns X into a warm outbound channel: finds conversations, drafts replies, turns engagers into leads
$32,372MRR
$419,480last 30 days
Aug $28K, Sep $186K, Oct (to the 24th) $382K
Want these results?
We run this for brands.
Format research, creator sourcing and pay, account networks, posting cadence, and the handoff from organic to paid. Start with a free UGC audit: we look at your product and your category's numbers and tell you honestly whether UGC would work for you.
40 seconds to complete Written by a person No pitch unless you ask
About the data
Where these numbers come from.
No. Everything on this page is other companies' public results: what we track in the market. We credit the app or its founder and label each figure by where it comes from.
Founder-reported: said publicly by the founder or team in an interview, post, profile or listing. Not audited. Verified: revenue synced from the payment processor on a public revenue listing. Estimate: a third-party revenue tracker's bucket, directional only. Counted: views, accounts and videos counted from public posts.
Where a founder's number and a tracker estimate disagree, both are shown. Tap any label for its date.
The library was last rebuilt on Oct 25, 2026. Each number keeps its own as-of date, because a view count from July and one from last week are different facts.
Because the median small account gets under a thousand views, formats wear out in weeks, and account farms get removed. A plan built only on the outliers is a plan to be disappointed.