How much should I budget for video?

So how much should you budget for a video in 2023? Giving an over-simplified answer runs the risk of inaccuracy… but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to shine a light on a ball park figure.

Before we land on a figure, we need to answer some basic questions.

What are the deliverables?

More deliverables equals more editing time, which equals more cost. We would always suggest maximising the value from each shoot through proper planning; this ensures that you have a set number of deliverables, and you’ll be able to repurpose the footage – a great way to make your video budget stretch further.

Think about how you can re-use the content, splice the content and apply the video to different uses in order to maximise your budget.

How complex is the shoot?

Models? Location hire? Multiple cameras? Drone? All of these things, along with many more, affect the complexity of the shoot.

A single-camera shoot with two interviews and B-roll in one location is considerably cheaper than a shoot with multiple locations with a Set Designer, a Costume Designer, Hair and Make Up Artists and catering options.

How much do you want to budget for?

Everything is relative. John Lewis won’t flinch at spending £800,000 on their Christmas ad. Not everyone will have that kind of budget of course, but it should be tied into your expectation of ROI… even if that ROI is hard to attribute directly.

If you’re a B2B service provider who’s average lifetime client value is £30,000, then having a £12,000 video budget with some additional money for ad spend is still pretty sensible.

If you’re a B2C product brand whose average sale is much lower, you’ll probably need to push the distribution budget much higher; which means reducing the production costs where possible.

What video strategy will actually provide you with value?

This is the final question, which is often overlooked. Spending £75,000 on a TV advert might be the right thing for your business. That might be only a small percentage of your content budget, in which case, fine. But if you’re going all-in, then does it really make sense to go all-in on one massive video?

We’d argue the point that no, it probably doesn’t! Adverts are still the most expensive video type in the market – mainly because they are made by ad agencies. The costs can easily go past the £50,000 mark.

What about a consistent stream of video content, produced each month, which targets different buyers, promotes different products or services, and is reliably fresh and relevant? That might only cost you £30,000, but you’d get 12 months of ongoing video content instead of one big push.

So what’s the answer?

In terms of how much you should budget for video, here’s a rough guide:

If you want a big fancy TV-style ad to use across multiple channels, you can be talking from £30,000 upwards for one ad.

If you want a simple corporate video with a single-camera one-day shoot, you’ll be looking at between £2,500 – £5,000.

If you want a full video retainer, which gives you consistent video content each month, you’ll be look at £12,000 upward.

Here’s an example of one of our recent promotional films…