How much does it cost to make an advertising film?

03/20/2023 Optimize your media budgets

Launching your own advertising spot requires a certain budget: in addition to the purchase of TV advertising space, you must think about the cost of creating your advertising film. To help you anticipate these expenses, we suggest you discover how much it costs to make an advertising film.

>>> Discover all our advertising solutions to launch your TV campaign

Summary of the article: How much does it cost to make an advertising film?

What is an advertising film?
What are the factors that influence the price of an advertising film?
How much does a motion design commercial cost?
How much does it cost to make a commercial with actors?
Tips to optimize your advertising budget
The average price of an advertising film

What is an advertising film?

The term "advertising film" simply refers to an advertisement in video format. This term refers to an advertisement made in motion design, as well as to a commercial shot with actors.

What are the factors that influence the price of an advertising film?

There are many factors that influence the price of making an advertising film: just the nature of your advertisement will have an impact on the amount of the bill. Indeed, a motion design ad will cost you less than an ad with actors: these two video formats will not require the same skills and will require a different number of talents.

An advertising film with actor(s) requires a multiplication of expenses:

agency ;
director ;
shooting location ;
film crews ;
actors ;
filming equipment ;
etc.

The bill quickly becomes very expensive.

Another parameter that will influence the price of the realization of your advertising spot is the duration of your video. As you can see, the longer the video, the more time it will take to produce and the more expensive it will be. The duration of an advertising spot is not regulated. It is generally between 3 and 180 seconds.

>>> To learn more about TV advertising regulations

How much does a motion design commercial cost?

Although a motion design commercial is the least expensive alternative, the impact it can have on your advertising budget should not be underestimated: at a cost of €400 for about 2 weeks of work, you need to count at least €4,000 excl. tax to have an animated advertising video. And the prices can climb to a good ten thousand euros. The rates will obviously depend on the motion design studio you hire.

Adintime offers you to work with its graphic designer partner who will allow you to create your motion design advertising film for less than €3,000 excl.tax.

How much does it cost to make a commercial with actors?

The advertising film with actor is one of the most expensive creations of communication that you can be brought to carry out. As developed in the previous part, this advertising format requires a considerable work time and implies to call upon various actors of the advertising creation. Thus, it is necessary to count not less than €100,000 when you wish to carry out an advertising film with actor.

To give you an example (admittedly a bit extreme): the Chanel ad for its perfume Chanel n°5, directed by Baz Luhrmann (director of Moulin Rouge) and starring Nicole Kidman cost no less than 33 million dollars...

>>> Discover who are the directors of advertising films?

Tips to optimize your advertising budget

In order not to blow your budget in creation for your commercial, you can follow these four tips:

Set your budget: it's very simple, but having a well-defined budget will allow you to better control your expenses and to find less expensive solutions for your commercial.
Reduce the length of your commercial: the longer a commercial is, the more expensive it is to produce. You should therefore determine the shortest length of commercial that will allow you to get your message across.
Use classical music for its soundtracks: indeed, most of its compositions are in the public domain, you will not have to pay royalties for their use (a work falls in the public domain 70 years after the death of its author). As for social networks, you can even use no music: According to Digiday, 85% of videos on Facebook are viewed without sound.
Think about the different formats before starting the project: having a clear idea of all the formats you want to broadcast will allow you to adapt the shootings accordingly. You will avoid multiplying the days of shooting for formats that were not initially planned.