UGC Content Platforms: A Percentage-of-Spend Whitelisting Model

Ryan Waranauskas, founder of Vault Agency and a paid media veteran who has managed three to four million dollars a month in Facebook and TikTok spend for brands like Athletic Greens, Fabletics, and Hero Cosmetics, shares the influencer whitelisting model that actually aligns incentives for both brands and creators. His core argument: flat-rate usage fees for whitelisting are a losing structure, because brands pay upfront regardless of performance. Instead, Ryan implemented a percentage-of-spend model where creators earn more only when ads perform, meaning a brand cuts a small check on a flop and a large one on a winner.

This structure also generated a useful feedback loop. After a few months of data, Ryan's team went back to top-earning creators, showed them which content drove the highest commissions, and used those examples to lift organic performance, which in turn improved paid results. Brands loved it because they stopped paying for videos that delivered nothing.

If you want the exact framing Ryan used to convince creators to accept this deal instead of upfront payments, watch the full breakdown.