How Much Does it Cost to Make a Video Ad?

How Much Does it Cost to Make a Video Ad? Video advertisements are one of the largest and most profitable forms of advertising for marketers, but they’re also pretty expensive to get started with and can have hidden costs if you’re unprepared for the next steps. Video production costs vary based on the production crew, the type of video being created, the length of the video, and the professional expertise required.

While video advertisements may be useful for your business online, on your website, in social media, and in outdoor advertising settings, many brands wonder, “how much does it cost to make a video ad?”

Instead of providing some half-hearted answer, we set out to define the production costs involved in video advertisements so that the initial cost of up to $20,000 per finished minute didn’t just scare everyone away. While an effective video ad can have cost this high, the truth is that most video advertisements are significantly less to produce and many can be achieved for $1,000 or $2,000.

How Are Video Advertisement Costs Defined?

How Much Does it Cost to Make a Video Ad? First we look at the way that advertisement costs are defined.

Your advertisement cost will be based on the following factors which will impact the total price of the video:

• Style and type of video being created. An animated explainer is more advanced than a testimonial or interview.
• How long the video will be. Most video ads are between 1 and 3 minutes but some ads only need to be 30 seconds long and others may run over 3 minutes.
• The size and expertise of the crew involved. A large expert camera crew will naturally have higher costs than a freelancer or an amateur videographer.
• The equipment and props that are involved. Equipment rental rates and the need to rent, buy, or build props can add significantly to costs.
• The location that the video is created in. Also, the number of shoot locations will play a role as more locations mean more travel for the crew.
• The talent involved. Expert talent can have a lot of costs and fees involved but lack of talent can leave a video looking amateur.
• The editing time involved. Fast deadlines may cause the need for multiple editors to work on the video and increase costs. Multiple revisions will cause the need for longer editing and higher costs.

Professional Production Crew Rates

Much of the total cost of a video advertisement is based on the skill set of the professionals involved in producing the video. You have more than just a cameraman and a script to work with when producing professional-quality video ads.

Typically, video advertisement costs include the following professionals:

• Film Director – >$250 per hour
• Script Writer – >$150 per hour
• Cameraman – >$400 per hour
• Editor – >$175 per hour
• Actors – >$500 per hour
• Equipment – up to 100s per hour
• Studio Shooting – up to $400 per hour
• Narrator – >$400 per hour
• Audio Files – up to $1000
• Video Rendering – up to $75 per hour
• B-Roll – expect to pay a percentage between 10 and 50% of your total cost
• Miscellaneous Fees – can cost very little up to 1000s extra

Beverly Boy Productions employs all of the above professionals. If you’re wondering about making a video advertisement for your business, give us a call and we’ll provide you a no-obligation estimate of what you can expect for it to cost to make a video advertisement for your brand.

Here is an example of a video ad produced by Beverly Boy Productions: