Platform / Auto Format Testing

AUTO FORMAT TESTING

Test formats. Find the winner. Scale it automatically.

Launch a campaign with multiple content formats. ContentCraze tracks performance across every playbook, identifies the winner, and auto-scales new creators to your best-performing format. No manual optimization required.

3–5

playbook formats tested per campaign

48hrs

before auto-scale kicks in

Auto

routes new creators to the winning format

You're guessing which format works. Every time.

You film 20 videos in one format. Some perform. Most don't. You try a different format next month. Maybe it's better, maybe it's worse, but you're starting from scratch every time. There's no controlled test. No data. Just a gut feeling and a credit card.

The problem isn't the content. It's that you're running one format at a time and hoping it's the right one. By the time you know what works, the budget is gone.

What if you could test three, four, five formats simultaneously, in the same campaign, and let performance data pick the winner for you?

One campaign. Multiple formats. One winner.

Here's how a format test runs from start to finish.

Create Playbooks

Build 3 to 5 formats: Talking Head, Green Screen, POV, each with its own script and style

Launch Campaign

Creators are randomly assigned a playbook. Each person gets one format and one script.

Track & Compare

Views, engagement, and CPM earnings tracked per format in real time.

Auto-Scale Winner

After 48 hours, the platform identifies the top format and routes all new creators to it.

Every format is a Playbook.

A Playbook is a complete production system for one content format. It includes the script (what creators say, show, and overlay), the visual style (Talking Head, Green Screen, Snapchat Bar, POV, Slideshow), example videos, and production defaults like aspect ratio and duration.

When you launch a campaign with multiple Playbooks, each creator gets assigned one format with one specific script. They see exactly what to film, how to film it, and what the final product should look like. No confusion. No interpretation drift.

This is the key difference between format testing on ContentCraze and A/B testing anywhere else: you're not just changing a thumbnail or a caption. You're testing entirely different production approaches. Different hooks, different visual formats, different storytelling structures, all running head-to-head in the same campaign.

Talking Head

SAY: Start with the hook, 'I tried this for 30 days...'

Direct to Camera

Green Screen

SHOW: Product page behind you. SAY: 'Let me show you what happened...'

Screen Share Style

POV / B-Roll

SHOW: Close-up of product. TEXT: 'The results speak for themselves'

No Face Needed

Your campaign gets smarter every day.

Auto-scale is the intelligence layer that makes format testing actually useful.

Here's what happens after you launch:

For the first 48 hours, the platform distributes creators evenly across your playbooks. Random assignment. Equal exposure. Clean data.

Then the auto-scale engine kicks in. Every day, it evaluates which format is generating the most views. Once a playbook hits a 20% lead over the next closest format, the system declares a winner. From that point forward, every new creator who joins the campaign gets routed to the winning format automatically.

You don't have to check dashboards. You don't have to manually reassign anyone. The campaign optimizes itself.

And here's what makes this different from pausing underperformers manually: creators who were already assigned a format keep that format. Their scripts don't change mid-campaign. Only new creators get routed to the winner. This means your data stays clean and your creators aren't confused by mid-stream changes.

Launch

Creators split evenly across 3 formats

48 Hours

Auto-scale evaluation begins

Winner Found

Format A leads by 20%+ in views

Scaled

All new creators → Format A

Launch

Creators split evenly across 3 formats

48 Hours

Auto-scale evaluation begins

Winner Found

Format A leads by 20%+ in views

Scaled

All new creators → Format A

Every creator gets one script. Every result is attributable.

When a creator joins your campaign, they're assigned one playbook and one script. That assignment is sticky and doesn't change for the duration of the campaign. This means every video they produce is tied to a specific format, making your performance data clean and actionable.

If you're running gender-targeted scripts, the system handles that too. Male creators get scripts tagged for men. Female creators get scripts tagged for women. No manual sorting.

And because assignments are immutable, you can trust the analytics. When Format A outperforms Format B by 40%, you know it's because of the format, not because the best creators happened to get assigned there mid-campaign.

Creators earn per view. You only pay for results.

Auto Format Testing campaigns run on CPM-based payouts. You set a cost-per-thousand-views rate, and creators earn proportionally to how their content performs. Top performers earn more. Underperformers cost you less. Budget flows naturally toward the content that works.

Layer on first-post bonuses to incentivize quick turnaround. Add per-post bonuses for creators who submit multiple videos. Set platform-specific CPM rates if TikTok and Instagram have different value for your business. And activate elite CPM tiers to reward your best creators with higher rates.

Every dollar is tracked on an append-only ledger. Payouts process automatically via Stripe Connect. No invoices. No manual transfers.

See the full payout structure →

One format vs. format testing. The math is obvious.

Single Format Campaign

Formats tested

Creators

Total views

600,000

Auto Format Testing (ContentCraze)

Formats tested

Creators

Total views

1,100,000

Winning format views

780,000 (71%)

Auto-scaled after

48 hours

Cost (CPM)

$3,300

Learnings

"Format A outperforms by 3.2x. Talking Head with hook-first scripts wins."

Same budget range. Same number of creators. Format testing delivered 83% more views and a proven format you can reuse in every future campaign.

Stop guessing. Start testing.

Launch your first format test free. Build your playbooks, set your CPM rate, and let the platform find your winning format. No credit card required.

Start Your First Campaign Free Book a Demo

No credit card required · First campaign free · Cancel anytime

Frequently asked questions

Auto Format Testing lets you run multiple content formats, like Talking Head, Green Screen, and POV, in a single campaign. Each creator gets assigned one format. The platform tracks which format generates the most views and automatically routes new creators to the winner. You get clean data on what works without running separate campaigns for each format.

You can attach up to 5 playbooks (formats) to a single campaign. Each playbook can have its own script, visual style, and production guidelines. We recommend 3–5 formats for a meaningful test.

The auto-scale engine evaluates daily after the first 48 hours. It compares total views across all playbook formats. When one format has a 20% lead over the next closest competitor, it's declared the winner. From that point, all new creator assignments route to the winning format.

Nothing changes for them. Script assignments are sticky. Once a creator is assigned a playbook and script, it stays for the duration of the campaign. Only new creators who join after auto-scale triggers get routed to the winner. This keeps your data clean.

Yes. You can switch your campaign's routing mode to "best format" manually at any time without waiting for the auto-scale threshold. You can also set it to "winner only" to lock in a single format once you've seen enough data.

Creators see their assigned playbook, script, and production guidelines, the same experience as any campaign. They don't see other formats or comparative data. They focus on producing great content in their assigned style.

Format testing campaigns use CPM-based payouts. You set a cost-per-thousand-views rate, and creators earn based on how their content performs. You can layer on first-post bonuses, per-post bonuses, elite CPM tiers, and platform-specific rates. See our Performance Payouts page for the full rate structure.

Auto Format Testing requires attaching multiple playbooks to a campaign, which is available on Pro ($249/mo) and Pro Unlimited ($499/mo) plans. The Free plan includes one campaign with one playbook to get started.

Learn how this fits into the full system in What Is UGC Engineering?.

Explore related features: Performance Payouts and Script Engine.

Want pricing details now? Pricing.