Video Production Costs: Pricing & Rates Explained (2025)

In today’s media landscape, video isn’t a “nice to have”. It’s the engine behind performance across CTV marketing, social, and search. If you’re wondering “how much does video production cost?”, the unsatisfying but honest answer is: it depends. Your budget is shaped by your concept, your goals, and the video marketing assets you need to ship across channels.

What’s changed is how far your dollars go. Lightweight workflows, creator‑led production, and AI video generators have lowered barriers, so you can get broadcast‑quality, performance‑ready video without a broadcast‑size budget.

The visual differences between a live-action and an animated video ad couldn’t be more apparent. But when it comes to the actual video production process, there are far more similarities than you may imagine. These are some of the standard video production cost drivers shared across the spectrum of video types.

1. Campaign Goals

Your campaign goals are one of the most important factors in determining the overall cost of your production. Are you looking to drive traffic to your ecommerce store? Do you want to raise awareness for your brand as you enter a saturated market? 

Determining these KPIs will help you decide what type of video you want to produce, the platforms you want your creatives to run on, and how many versions of the video you’ll need to generate to make the greatest impact on your objectives.

Align goals → formats → deliverables before you brief.

2. Concepting

Another important cost driver that goes hand in hand with your campaign goals is conceptualizing how you want your video to look and feel. Concepting is when you begin ideating the visual appearance, tone, and narrative approach of your ad. 

Your concept will determine everything from your shoot’s location to the kind of talent and production crew you’ll need to hire. These key factors you surface during concepting will influence the final cost of video production.

3. Scripting and Storyboarding

Scripting is exactly what it sounds like: writing the dialogue or voiceover for your ad. This script will help tell your message and sell your product or service. A compelling script is the meat of your commercial’s message. 

Storyboarding is when an artist creates a visual breakdown, shot by shot, of the individual scenes in your video. While storyboarding is vital for an animated ad, it isn’t always necessary for a live-action commercial. However, we still highly recommend it. 

Accurate storyboarding can help save time and money by giving directors and cinematographers a strong visual touchstone of the shots they need to capture on a shoot day. Scripting and storyboarding often require artists and writers with unique skill sets. This can affect your video production budget, so make sure to keep that in mind.

Learn More: How to Write a Video Script

4. Talent

The talent you need is determined by the concept and campaign goals of your video advertisement. This talent can range from professional actors and models to real-life customers and even animals. You might need on-screen, off-screen, and/or voiceover talent. Each kind of talent comes with its own unique cost drivers, from handler fees when working with animals to the day rates of professional union actors. In 2025, SAG‑AFTRA day rates start around $1,246, with higher fees for lead roles, endorsements, or permits, even for short‑form campaigns. 

5. Location

The location of your production will be determined by several factors, from the visual look and narrative arc of your ad to the video type you choose. Animated and stop motion video ads can easily be created in a home or professional studio, while live-action commercials often take place on location or in outdoor settings. 

The locations you choose will also affect the setup times for your production. If you are creating a live-action video, three scenes that take place in three unique locations will take longer to shoot than three scenes in one location. This is because, for each individual location, the crew will be required to set up lighting, audio, and camera equipment multiple times. The more locations you shoot, the more your ad will cost. 

Learn more about Location Scouting

6. Production Crew and Equipment

The type of video you choose will determine the kind of production crew you’ll need.

For example, a live-action production crew requires camera operators and sound technicians that you wouldn’t necessarily find on an animated production, and vice versa. An animated commercial won’t need to budget for transportation services to and from the set, but you likely will need to hire specialized artists, like 3D modelers, to bring your animated characters to life.

Similarly, each type of video production will require its own unique equipment. The standard gear needed for live-action production, like high-definition cameras and lighting equipment, won’t be the same as an animated video. Content makers will typically have their own personal equipment kits, but some gear might need to be rented. 

Many live-action social ads now use UGC formats, often filmed via smartphone under remote direction, letting brands skip traditional camera rental and crew costs altogether.

Tip: You can reduce crew and travel costs by embracing remote video production or hybrid shoots—creators on location can film themselves under remote direction, with local hire for essential support.

Related: In-House Video Production vs Outsourcing: Pros and Cons of Each

7. Post Production

Thanks to AI-powered editing platforms, standard cuts, color correction, and caption generation can be automated, often saving 50% or more off traditional post-production editing costs.

Depending on the amount of footage captured or animation produced, it can take anywhere from two days to two weeks to go from a rough cut to the final cut of your video ad. The rough cut is an assemblage of scenes that gives you a rudimentary idea of what the video will look like before the graphics and sound are finalized. The final cut is just that: the finished product, polished and ready to share. 

The more footage or animation that you have, the longer the editing process will take, which can increase not only the production cost but also the turnaround time for your ad.

Learn more: Social Media Video Ad Specs & Placements

8. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI has become a major variable in modern video production costs. Generative tools can trim time and labor on scripting, editing, and versioning, reducing overall spend on routine tasks. But relying too heavily on automation can backfire. AI still needs human direction for storytelling, accuracy, and brand alignment, which means keeping skilled creatives in the mix. The smartest budgets account for both: savings from AI-assisted workflows and investment in human oversight to ensure the final output feels intentional, not artificial.

Unique Production Costs by Video Type

Three of the most common video production types are live-action, animation, and stop-motion. While they all share the cost-drivers listed above, each type comes with its own unique slate of production requirements that can impact video production pricing.

Live-Action

Live-action videos capture real people, real settings, and real reactions. They’re the most flexible format, from simple creator-shot testimonials to high-gloss brand campaigns. They offer tangible authenticity and emotional connection, but can add logistical layers depending on scope.

Unique Cost Drivers:

• Talent & Usage Rights: On-camera actors or creators add costs for day rates, usage windows, and licensing renewals.
• Locations & Permits: Multiple or hard-to-access locations increase time and permit fees.
• Crew & Equipment: Specialized crew members (camera, lighting, sound) and rental gear escalate budgets quickly.
• Set Design & Art Direction: Dressing real spaces to look lived-in or on-brand adds prop and set decoration costs.
• Wardrobe, Hair & Makeup: Styling that fits your concept, from everyday to high-concept looks, impacts prep time and fees.

Rates & Pricing: A general estimated cost for a live-action video can range from $2,000 (a single maker shooting UGC content with their phone) to $50,000 or more (a major-scale broadcast-quality spot). Some larger companies can spend well over $100,000 on their live-action videos.

Animation

Animation is an incredibly creative tool that’s one of the most flexible styles of video production because it allows your ad to be as simple or as imaginative as you want. It’s a great way to showcase intangible products, such as apps or services. But even though you aren’t working with a typical production crew, you’ll still contend with different costs, ones you wouldn’t find on a live-action shoot.

Unique Cost Drivers:

• Character & Asset Design: Building custom characters, icons, or environments drives early-stage design hours.
• Animation Complexity: Frame-by-frame motion, 3D elements, or detailed transitions increase render time and software costs.
• Voiceover & Sound Design: Professional narration and custom audio tracks elevate polish and add studio expenses.
• Revisions & Versioning: Adjusting pacing or aspect ratios post-animation is labor-intensive and costly.
• Software & Rendering: Specialized tools and extended render times contribute to overhead.

Rates & Pricing: A broad estimated cost of an animated video, without discriminating based on the type of animation, can range from $1,000 to upwards of $100,000 per minute. However, for marketing-related animated explainer videos, that range is often much tighter, usually around $5,000–$15,000 per minute. The cost of an animated ad depends heavily on the complexity and length of your concept.

Stop-Motion

Stop-motion videos are a series of still photos that shift in rapid succession to create the illusion of flowing movement. They’re an amazing way to make live-action characters or objects do things that only animation might accomplish. 

This video type can be tough and time-intensive, requiring specialized artists you won’t find on any other production. Still, they are a surefire way to catch eyes and get shares, especially with product-focused advertisements.

Unique Cost Drivers:

• Set & Prop Fabrication: Every frame requires physical objects, which must be custom-built or sourced.
• Frame-by-Frame Labor: Each second may require dozens of stills, adding shoot and edit days.
• Lighting Consistency: Precise lighting control across hundreds of frames demands expert DP supervision.
• Motion Complexity: Complex “magic” effects or product transformations add technical rigging and time.
• Post Cleanup: Stitching, compositing, and correcting frames increases editing hours.

Rates & Pricing: A general estimated cost for a stop motion video can range from $1,500 to $5,000 or more. Similar to animation, the complexity and length of your concept can significantly affect price.

Learn more about the stages of video production.

How To Keep Video Production Rates More Affordable

As you can see, there is a wide array of pricing factors to consider in order to have a more affordable video production.

That being said, there are ways you can stay budget-conscious when planning video production to make it more affordable.

Repurposing Existing Assets

One of the best ways to keep video marketing production costs down is by repurposing assets through post-production editing. This allows you to take existing footage or stills from previous campaigns and create different variations. 

Post-production editing is a great option if you want to use the same creative assets on different platforms that only require simple resizing and length cutdown. You can also rework messaging on existing creative by changing on-screen text or adding a new voiceover.

Through post-production editing, you can also create cinemagraphs and motion stills. These video types are single photos animated to add texture and personality to an image. Both cinemagraphs and motion stills are particularly successful for product marketing and ecommerce as they can dynamically showcase your offering. Post-production editing does come with its own unique costs to consider, depending on how many raw assets you provide and how many deliverables you want.

Rates & Pricing: A general estimated cost of post-production editing can range from $20 to over $150 per hour, depending on the expertise and skill level of the editor.

Bundle Your Video Production

You should plan to capture all of the footage you might need for all of your campaign’s video assets, including multiple aspect ratios or different talent, in a single shoot. 

This takes some planning and organization at the beginning of your project. Identify as many production factors as possible before you shoot, including the platforms you intend to run on and the concepts you want to produce. Then, craft an exhaustive shot list to make sure you capture all the footage you’ll need. The payoff is worth the time investment — bundling assets like this will keep your production costs down by eliminating the need for reshoots or new animations.

Run a Multivariate Testing Plan

For performance marketing, a great way to optimize your creative budget is by creating a multivariate testing plan. With a performance marketing testing plan, you systematically test various creative variables to see which resonate most with your target audiences and drive your KPIs.

In just a matter of weeks, you will start to surface the creative approaches that work best for your brand. This process brings objectivity to creative concepting, saving you time and money in the long run. With each round of performance testing, you’ll zero in on the creative approaches that work for your brand. 

How QuickFrame AI Changes the Game

High-quality video doesn’t have to come with high production costs. With QuickFrame AI, you can create professional, on-brand video ads in minutes, without expensive shoots or lengthy timelines. Add music, narration, and your brand’s visuals, then publish directly to MNTN, Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads Manager, or Google Ads Manager to launch campaigns that deliver results and value.

Lower production costs, not your creative standards—with QuickFrame AI.

Video Production Costs: The Takeaway

Creating a marketing video can be costly and time-consuming. But keeping the video production cost-drivers in mind when planning your next video marketing campaign will help you turn what you want to do into what you can do. Planning ahead and moving forward with a realistic plan can help you stay within your production budget and timeline.

Producing a video has never been more affordable than it is today. But brands have also never needed as much video content as they do now. Being able to generate a stream of new and relevant video ads at scale will make your brand stand out against competitors. With the proper planning, you can start creating high-quality, better-performing, cost-efficient videos at scale to achieve your brand’s goals.