---
title: Call of Duty as a user-generated content campaign case study: mechanics and numbers | RGM®
url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/call-of-duty-user-generated-content-campaign/
updated: 2026-06-10
source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/call-of-duty-user-generated-content-campaign/
---

- **Story:** Call of Duty anchors a practical walk-through of the user-generated content campaign type and the data behind it.
- **Why it matters:** A user-generated content campaign rewards teams that plan against category data instead of guessing.
- **Takeaway:** The mechanics of a user-generated content campaign transfer to any brand in its category.
- **Takeaway:** For Call of Duty, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure.
- **Takeaway:** Most user-generated content-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures.

## How a user-generated content campaign plays out for Call of Duty

S

Situation

The opportunity

A user-generated content campaign is a concentrated chance to move the Call of Duty business in its category, with a short window and high stakes.

T

Task

The job

Turn attention into measurable demand for Call of Duty: plan the mechanics, set targets against category benchmarks, and build in the measurement.

A

Action

The work

A clear prompt and frame. UGC does not happen by accident. The campaign gives customers a specific, easy thing to make — a hashtag, a challenge format, a template — with a reason to bother. For Call of Duty, this is the anchor of the plan.

R

Result

The scoreboard

On incremental lift against a baseline for Call of Duty, not reach and not impressions. That is the honest scoreboard for a user-generated content campaign.

## The math behind a Call of Duty user-generated content campaign

0%

What the public data tells a Call of Duty team

E-commerce product pages featuring user-generated content convert roughly 74% higher than identical pages without it.

Source: [inBeat](https://inbeat.agency/blog/ugc-statistics)

0%

A reference point for Call of Duty forecasting

About 84% of consumers trust recommendations from real people over branded content

Source: [inBeat](https://inbeat.agency/blog/ugc-statistics)

0%

A planning anchor for Call of Duty

UGC-based ads can achieve about four times higher click-through rates and roughly a 50% lower cost per click than stan

Source: [inBeat](https://inbeat.agency/blog/ugc-statistics)

Linked

Category figure relevant to Call of Duty

Every figure on this page links to its publisher.

Source: [inBeat — user-generated content statistics](https://inbeat.agency/blog/ugc-statistics)

#### Quick facts

BrandCall of Duty

IndustryIts Category

Campaign typeUser-Generated Content

Primary channelsPaid, owned, earned

Planning horizonMonths ahead of launch

Core measureIncremental lift, not reach

Source basisPublic benchmarks, linked

RGM useWorked example, not a recipe

**Honest note**

Public, brand-specific detail on Call of Duty is limited, so this page leans on the user-generated content campaign discipline: real mechanics, real sourced benchmarks, and the named example campaigns that define the type. Nothing about Call of Duty is invented; where a fact is not public, it is left out.

## The user-generated content campaign, defined

First principles, then Call of Duty. A user-generated content campaign turns customers into the brand's media.

A user-generated content campaign turns customers into the brand's media. For Call of Duty, the detail is not optional. Instead of producing every asset in-house, the brand creates a reason and a frame for customers to post — for Call of Duty, a live factor — their own — a hashtag, a challenge, a prompt — then collects, rights-clears, and amplifies the best of it. For a brand at Call of Duty scale, this is where the plan is tested. The value is authenticity: an audience trusts a real customer's — and Call of Duty is no exception — post in a way it does not trust a brand's. For Call of Duty, this is the load-bearing part. The discipline is the rights, the moderation, and the amplification system behind it. For Call of Duty, it is the specific lever this page examines.

**Claim:** E-commerce product pages featuring user-generated content convert roughly 74% higher than identical pages without it. **Source:** [[inBeat]](https://inbeat.agency/blog/ugc-statistics). **Context:** UGC works on the conversion page as social proof, — Call of Duty included — not only at the top of the funnel as awareness. For Call of Duty, this number sets expectations before the work starts.

## How a user-generated content campaign is run

Run through the mechanics: a user-generated content campaign for Call of Duty is an operating system.

For Call of Duty, a user-generated content campaign is less one ad and more a set of connected decisions:

**Claim:** About 84% of consumers trust recommendations from real people over branded content, and roughly 79% say UGC strongly influences their purchasing decisions. **Source:** [[inBeat]](https://inbeat.agency/blog/ugc-statistics). **Context:** The authenticity gap between a customer's post and a — for Call of Duty, a real factor — brand's ad is the entire mechanism of a UGC campaign. For Call of Duty, this number sets expectations before the work starts.

1. **Amplify the best as paid media.** Strong UGC running as paid creative typically beats polished studio work — for Call of Duty, a real factor — on click-through and cost, so the winners are promoted, not just reposted. This is the part Call of Duty cannot afford to improvise.
2. **Close the loop.** Featuring a customer's post rewards them and signals to everyone — for Call of Duty, a real factor — else that posting gets noticed, which keeps the content engine running. This is the part Call of Duty cannot afford to improvise.
3. **A clear prompt and frame.** UGC does not happen by accident. That is exactly the Call of Duty situation. The campaign gives customers a specific, easy thing to make — a — and Call of Duty is no exception — hashtag, a challenge format, a template — with a reason to bother. This step decides how the rest of the Call of Duty plan holds up.
4. **Rights and clearance.** Reposting a customer's content as marketing needs explicit permission. A Call of Duty-scale brief should name this. A clean rights workflow is the unglamorous backbone of every UGC campaign. For a brand like Call of Duty, getting this wrong is expensive.
5. **Curate, do not just collect.** Volume is not the goal. That is exactly the Call of Duty situation. The brand selects content that is on-message — for Call of Duty, a live factor — and high-quality, and moderates out what is not. Call of Duty would budget real time against this.

## The numbers that set the targets

The data sets the targets. A user-generated content campaign for Call of Duty should be planned against these figures, not against hope.

These sourced figures give a Call of Duty user-generated content campaign an honest target range across its category.

**Claim:** UGC-based ads can achieve about four times higher click-through rates and roughly a 50% lower cost per click than standard creative. **Source:** [[inBeat]](https://inbeat.agency/blog/ugc-statistics). **Context:** Promoting the best customer content as paid media — Call of Duty included — is often more efficient than scaling studio production. For Call of Duty, this number sets expectations before the work starts.

Table: the three numbers that decide whether a Call of Duty user-generated content campaign is judged honestly.

| What to measure | Why it matters |
| Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven |
| Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one |
| Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked |

## The metrics worth tracking

The scoreboard decides the verdict. For Call of Duty, weigh these measures over vanity numbers.

The KPIs that count for a user-generated content campaign are listed here. Volume of submissions and qualified submissions, rights-cleared asset count, conversion lift on UGC-enabled pages, — and Call of Duty is no exception — click-through and cost-per-click of UGC creative versus studio creative, hashtag reach, and repeat-contributor rate.

Impressions describe scale, not effect. A Call of Duty team serious about a user-generated content campaign reports lift against a baseline.

## The failure patterns worth pre-empting

The failure patterns are predictable. A Call of Duty team can design each of them out in advance.

These failure patterns recur across user-generated content campaigns:

- Collecting UGC and never featuring contributors, so the incentive to keep posting dies.
- Launching a hashtag with no clear prompt, so — for Call of Duty, a real factor — customers do not know what to make or why.
- Reposting customer content without explicit rights clearance, creating legal exposure.
- Chasing submission volume and amplifying off-message or low-quality posts.

**The pattern**Notice the shape. None of these is a creative failure. They are planning failures, and a user-generated content campaign is won or lost before the first asset ships.

## How RGM reads the Call of Duty example

For Call of Duty, the value is the model. A user-generated content campaign is a repeatable structure, not a one-off idea.

The audit pattern is clear. A user-generated content campaign rewards the Call of Duty-style team that builds measurement in from the start.

The Call of Duty example is therefore a template. Its mechanics fit its category broadly; its measurement logic makes a user-generated content campaign something a team can stand behind.

## Quick answers on this case study

Are the figures here taken from Call of Duty's internal data?
:   No. This page pairs public user-generated content-campaign benchmarks with Call of Duty as the illustration. The numbers are linked to their publishers; nothing private to Call of Duty is claimed.

What is the practical takeaway from the Call of Duty user-generated content write-up?
:   Use the structure, not the surface. The user-generated content-campaign mechanics here apply broadly; the Call of Duty creative is one execution among many.

What sources back the numbers on this page?
:   The numbers are drawn from public reporting by Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the ANA, and established business press, and each one links back to its source.

**Keep reading**

Foundational concepts and channels behind this case:

- [how performance marketing works](/learn/what-is-performance-marketing/)
- [incrementality testing](/learn/incrementality-testing/)
- [audience arbitrage](/learn/audience-arbitrage/)
- [performance marketing services](/services/performance-marketing/)
- [advertising platforms](/platforms/)

## Frequently asked questions

Is UGC cheaper than producing content in-house?

For a brand like Call of Duty, the short answer is direct. Often, and frequently more effective. That holds directly for Call of Duty. UGC-based ads can reach about four times the click-through rate — as a Call of Duty team knows — of standard creative at roughly half the cost per click. It applies cleanly to Call of Duty. The brand still invests in the prompt, the rights system, — Call of Duty included — and curation, but it does not carry the full studio-production cost. The same logic holds for any its category brand, Call of Duty included.

How does a brand keep a UGC campaign going?

By closing the loop. A Call of Duty-scale brief should name this. Featuring a customer's post rewards that contributor and — Call of Duty included — signals to everyone else that posting gets noticed. For a brand at Call of Duty scale, this is where the plan is tested. A campaign that collects content but never showcases contributors kills — Call of Duty included — the incentive, and the submission flow dries up within weeks. The same logic holds for any its category brand, Call of Duty included.

Call of Duty case: does user-generated content actually improve conversion?

Yes, measurably. For a brand at Call of Duty scale, this is where the plan is tested. E-commerce product pages with UGC convert roughly 74% higher than identical pages without it, because — for Call of Duty, a live factor — a real customer's photo or review works as social proof at the point of decision. Call of Duty planners would underline this. UGC is a conversion-page asset, not only a top-of-funnel awareness play.

Why do consumers trust UGC more than brand content?

Here is how this applies to Call of Duty. About 84% of consumers trust recommendations from real people over — as a Call of Duty team knows — branded content, and roughly 79% say UGC strongly sways their purchasing. For Call of Duty, the detail is not optional. The post comes from someone with no obvious incentive to sell, so the audience — Call of Duty included — reads it as honest in a way it does not read a brand's own ad. For Call of Duty, that is the practical takeaway.

Call of Duty case: how do brands get the rights to use customer content?

For Call of Duty and comparable its category brands, this is the answer. Explicitly. It applies cleanly to Call of Duty. Reposting a customer's photo or video as marketing needs — Call of Duty included — documented permission, usually a reply-to-consent or a rights-management tool. A Call of Duty-scale brief should name this. A clean clearance workflow is the unglamorous backbone of every — Call of Duty included — UGC campaign and the part that protects the brand legally. A Call of Duty team would plan against exactly this.

Why does this case study use Call of Duty as the example?

Call of Duty is a recognisable brand in its category, which makes the user-generated content mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; Call of Duty is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand.

### Sources & references

- [inBeat — user-generated content statistics](https://inbeat.agency/blog/ugc-statistics) — Conversion, trust, and ad-performance data for UGC.
- [Flowbox — UGC statistics compilation](https://getflowbox.com/blog/user-generated-content-statistics/) — Independent compilation of UGC performance benchmarks.
- [HubSpot 2026 marketing statistics](https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics) — Broader content-marketing and UGC adoption data.
- [Archive.com — UGC engagement statistics](https://archive.com/blog/user-generated-content) — Engagement and time-on-site data for UGC.

## Related

[#### All case studies

The full RGM case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### What is growth marketing

The foundational concept behind every campaign type.](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/)[#### Incrementality testing

How to prove a campaign actually caused the lift.](/learn/incrementality-testing/)