Are Brands Quietly Shifting Budget from Paid Ads to UGC Creators?

More ecommerce brands seem to be allocating larger portions of their ad budget toward UGC creators instead of running traditional in-house ad creatives.

Rather than building campaigns internally, they’re:

• Partnering with niche creators
• Repurposing organic creator content as ads
• Testing multiple creator-style hooks

This approach blends social proof with paid media in a way that often feels less intrusive to audiences.