The short answer
- Slideshows
- 0.85xprogram median, 3.8% hit 10x
- Videos
- 1.00xprogram median, 9.4% hit 10x
- Share of program posts
- 1.8%are slideshows
- Programs posting them
- 16 of 73fully scanned, last 30 days
- Slideshows break out less than half as often. 3.8% reached 10x the program median against 9.4% of videos.
- The typical slideshow trails too: 0.85x against 1.00x.
- Few programs use them. 16 of 73 fully scanned programs posted any in 30 days; the heaviest users are consumer brands such as Celsius, Bloom Nutrition and Glow Recipe.
- Engagement is similar (6.4% for slideshows, 6.2% for videos), so viewers who see them react; fewer see them.
Slideshows against videos
| Segment | Videos | Programs | Median vs program median | Reached 10x | Median views |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video | 11,637 | 46 | 1.00x | 9.4% | 750 |
| Photo slideshow | 212 | 14 | 0.85x | 3.8% | 821 |
The raw median looks the other way (821 views for slideshows against 750 for videos) because slideshows come mostly from programs with higher medians. Compared with their own program, they do worse.
Who posts UGC slideshows
| Program | Type | Slideshow share | Posts in 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Celsius | Consumer brand | 14.8% | 573 |
| Bloom Nutrition | Consumer brand | 7.8% | 232 |
| Glow Recipe | Consumer brand | 7.4% | 27 |
| Alani Nu | Consumer brand | 7.1% | 323 |
| Poppi | Consumer brand | 6.0% | 348 |
| Wispr Flow | App | 4.0% | 148 |
| Bubble Skincare | Consumer brand | 3.8% | 133 |
| Jenni AI | App | 3.5% | 29 |
| AG1 | Consumer brand | 3.0% | 99 |
| Rise Science | App | 2.8% | 250 |
| Native | Consumer brand | 2.4% | 85 |
Slideshows are cheap to make, but in the programs we measure they are a small format, used mostly by consumer brands. See how consumer brands run UGC.
When a slideshow still makes sense
- Cheap volume. A slideshow takes minutes, so it can fill a posting schedule between videos.
- Lists and comparisons that read better as frames than as a talking head.
- Not as your main format. If you pay per post, pay for video; see how long it should be.
Method
Posts: 11,849 brand posts (11,637 videos, 212 photo slideshows) from 46 fully scanned programs, 1 August 2026 to 30 October 2026, each compared with its own program's median (UGC video benchmarks 2026). Slideshow shares by program: the last 30 days of 73 fully scanned programs in UGC Brands, measured 1 October 2026 to 30 October 2026.
Download the numbers on this page as a CSV file. Free to reuse with a link to this page under CC BY 4.0.
Cite this answer: UGC Agent, "Do UGC slideshows work as well as videos?", UGC Agent answers, published 1 November 2026, https://ugcagent.app/answers/do-ugc-slideshows-work/
Limitations
- 212 slideshows from 14 programs: enough to report, but a smaller sample than videos.
- Correlations, not tests.