What a brand really buys with a UGC video: rights, duration, channels

People buy a UGC video the way they would buy a photo: a file, delivered, ready to use. Except that a video in which a person appears, speaks and recommends a product involves two things the file does not contain: the right to use the work, and the right to use that person's image and voice. So the first question to ask is not “how much?” but “for what, where, and for how long?”

The three rights to tell apart

• The right in the work: the video itself (editing, script, music if there is any). It is assigned or licensed by the creator.
• The right to image and voice: the person who appears agrees to be shown, within a defined scope. It is never granted “forever and everywhere” without saying so.
• The right to modify: re-cutting, subtitling, adding a logo, changing the music. It is not automatic.

“Ad rights included”: what it means

On most platforms, “ad rights included” means you can run the video as paid advertising (on social media, as display video) and on your own channels (website, social accounts, emails), for a period and in a territory defined in the contract. Read both: “worldwide” and “twelve months” are not things you can guess.

What usually isn't included

• Television and cinema, which follow other rules and other rates.
• Reselling the video or assigning it to a third party (a distributor, another brand in the group).
• Use beyond the term: once it expires, you have to renew or take the video down.
• Using the creator as an “ambassador”: their video is not a commitment on their part not to work for a competitor.

Questions to ask before you order

• Which channels? (organic, paid advertising, website, email, point of sale)
• For how long, and starting when?
• Which territory?
• Can I modify the video (re-cuts, subtitles, logo)?
• What happens if the creator withdraws their consent?
• Do I have a signed document that says all of this?

What we do at ASLI

• Every delivered video comes with a copyright assignment agreement (no time limit, worldwide) and an image-and-voice authorization for listed uses — generated on approval, downloadable by the brand.
• Ad rights are included in the packages, within the written scope of the contract; anything beyond that scope has to be requested, and is stated.
• The creator keeps whatever they have not assigned, and the platform reminds them of it in plain terms.

A UGC video is a person lending you their voice. The contract says how far.