How much does a TV Advert cost? And why?
When we talk to our customers, one of the things they are most worried about is the cost of making a TV advert. The cost of creating a TV commercial can vary based on a variety of aspects involved in the ad’s creation as well as the ad’s concept.
To be clear we could say, ok, a tv advert costs between 15000 and 50000 pounds for its creation and production. And finish the blog right here.
But we wouldn’t be providing you with enough information to know why it costs that much. And also, you would not know why it costs that much, what makes the price vary so much and how understanding all aspects of it will help you make a more efficient, and therefore cheaper, advert.
So that is why in this blog we are going to help understand and then decide which is the best:
- Approach for your advert
- How many do you want in your production team
- What will be the distribution process of your TV Advert
Where does the investment for a TV Advert go?
You may have an idea of how you want your 30sec advert to look and feel, sound, and come across. However, a professional production team will know exactly how to produce it on time and on budget.
Through our research, we have found that a TV advert can cost anywhere between £5000 to good skies the limit. In fact, some adverts have gone into the millions in their budgets. On the contrary, modest adverts for TV broadcasts sit anywhere between £15,000 to £50,000 depending on the product or service. But the question is: Where does all this money go? Here it comes explained.
1. The Pitch of the TV Advert
Before producing an idea, it needs to be pitched. To tailor the pitch accordingly, the production company or creative agency will spend time researching your key target audience and your demographic audience.
Then, the pitch or pitches created will be presented to you and you will choose your favourite one based on taste, preference, knowledge of your sector, timeline and budget.
The next step is for the production company to make that pitch a reality through the use of storyboards and visual aids. In that way, you can see how the tv advert plays out within 30secs. Here, colour pallets, look tone and feel via mood boards, music styles and actor and location types will be presented. You will be able to choose, tweak and select accordingly.
Although it may surprise you, by now you have possibly spent a few thousand pounds in the ‘development’ stage. However, this stage is vital as it will ensure that the advert looks EXACTLY how you envisioned it in the planning stages.
2. Production & Filming the advertisement
Once you have signed everything mentioned above, you will be ready to shoot. Now it depends on how hands on you want to be with your advert, but as marketing manager/director/advisor, I would advise you to be very hands on. In this phase, we (or any other video production company) should inform you of all the stages of sign off. Furthermore, you will have your own production chair on set and will witness everything as it was sold to you.
Moreover, you may offer a few directional notes to the director. S/he may decide to ignore them. However, s/he shouldn’t as you are the paying client and your comments should be taken into account. Some typical examples are: I thought we were filming it like it was pitched or how about if we hold the product in this way?. (More on your input as a client will be included in another blog).
At this stage, you might have been on set for 1/2 days. In addition, you might have seen the filming playing out in different locations with one or more actors.
3. Post Production & Editing
Finally, we find the editing stage. Here, all the clips you or your team has filmed on set will be pieced together along with:
- Special effects – if any
- Animation
- Your logo animation and tag-line
- Music
- Jingle
- Colour grading
- Exporting for review
- Additional edits
- Exporting for final review
- Exporting for final delivery
4. ClearCast
It is also worth mentioning that throughout the advert making process all the aspects of the advert need to be signed off via ClearCast. All the stages- pitch and script, advert and final advert delivery- you need to present your TV Advertisement in the right format to ClearCast.
Concretely, ClearCast is an independent company which ensures that all TV adverts fit the purpose and meet the quality and delivery criteria for broadcast. More on Clearcast can be found here.
After these stages, your TV Advert is ready and you can now broadcast it on national TV. But for that to happen, first you will need to partner with a distribution agency that will send it to all the channels you want to advertise on. Here, the production company will ensure the advert is in the right format.
By now you should have an appreciation as to how and why adverts cost on average anything between £15,000 to £50,000.
It is our hope that after reading this blog you will be more informed about the cost of making a TV advert. Thank you for taking the time to read the blog,
Gurmit
Contact Impress Video now
If you would like to do a TV Advert with video production and marketing professionals, or any other type of video, we can help you at Impress Video. We make video production for businesses, the ones that impress. Don’t hesitate to contact us here!
