What Does a Video Case Study Cost?

Video case studies represent an excellent opportunity to reach your audience with content that will solve problems, limit distractions, and grow your brand. In a world where attention spans are shortened, time is of the essence, and focus is less and less on what matters and more on just scrolling — the steps you take to produce content that influences and interests your audience will literally make or break your business. Imagine producing a video case study that captures interest, acts as a goldmine for your brand, and fuels customer debate around your products or services — that’s a video case study! You’re probably thinking, “Okay, but what does a video case study cost to produce?”

A video case study will have costs similar to any other type of quality video production and should be produced for between $1,000 and $10,000 per finished minute. These costs are influenced by things like the professional working crew that is involved in the production, the locations that are filmed, the amount of time spent on the story, and the use of graphics or other add-ons.

The Cost of Holding Consumer Attention

Consumer attention spans are shrinking annually. We spend less time focused now than ever before and that timeline seems to be shrinking as we speak. One third of all online activity is spent watching videos and 9 out of 10 of those who are consuming videos are only sticking around for 2 minutes or less. If you’re going to capture your audience’s attention, you’re going to have to do it fast and you’re going to have to really work to keep their attention long-term. But how?

Visuals!

A great video case study will include great graphics! The visuals will keep your audience attentive. That, and of course a good story! This is where hiring a professional crew to produce your case study comes into play. You can’t just throw anything out there and expect it to convert, at least not anymore. With the digital age in full form (and ever growing) people have expectations and can see the difference in a quality video vs a haphazardly made video. 

Here’s a look at the potential expenses involved in hiring a full production crew to help you create a video case study:

• 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

Video Case Study Cost Considerations

Before you decide oh, this whole video case study thing isn’t for me, I can’t afford $5,000 per minute. Think again! There are several factors that play into the total cost of a video case study and what you can expect to pay per finished minute for the production.

Consider the following:

• Length of the case study video. A 1 minute video is roughly half the price of a two minute video. And a 2 minute video costs roughly half the price of a 4 minute video. Keep this in mind when budgeting your costs.
• Expertise involved. An expert director with 10 years experience will certainly cost more than a freelancer fresh out of film school. You can find great talent without paying the highest hourly rate. Just shop around, and ask!
• Graphics and special effects. You almost must have some in order to wow your audience, but you don’t need a full scale 3D animated feature with multiple characters. A few simple animations can go a long way in producing excitement without substantially overturning the budget.
• Location or locations for the shoot. You’re going to pay more to film in high traffic locations such as big cities than you would in a smaller town. Likewise, you’ll pay more travel and hotel or lodging costs for your crew if you have them in multiple areas so consider shooting in a single location or studio to curb costs.
• Post production editing time. More revisions will lead to more editing time and higher costs. Be clear with your goals, intent, and story vision upfront before filming begins to curb these costs.

What does a video case study cost? About $2,500 per finished minute is a good starting point that leaves opportunity to cover some essential graphics, editing, and all other related expenses involved. Need to know more? Give Beverly Boy Productions a call today, we’ll help you out!