Production eats 18-30% of total creator budget

Production eats 18-30% of total creator budget

Share of campaign cost that is content creation, not media or fee.

— Talking-head UGC 18% ██████
— Lifestyle shoot 24% ████████
— Branded set + edit 30% ██████████

The more you art-direct, the more the post resembles an ad and the less the creator's trust signal carries — a hidden tradeoff between polish and authenticity. Spend can buy production value or buy reach, rarely both at once.

So what: keep production under ~20% unless the format demands it; redirect the rest to amplification.

Benchmark: n=175 campaign budgets, line-item analysis, 2024.