Video
How much does it cost to make a commercial, and to put it on air?
Michele Caddeo ·
A commercial has two budgets: making it, and the airtime to show it. Production has no list price; the idea, shoot days, actors, music and versions make the figure. Airtime is separate and can dwarf it: 30 seconds in the 2026 Super Bowl went for about $8 million. With AI, expensive scenes are generated instead of filmed: Kalshi’s 30-second AI ad for the 2025 NBA Finals cost under $2,000 to generate, the director’s fee excluded.
A commercial is paid for twice: once to whoever makes it, and again for the time on TV or online.
How much does it cost to put a commercial on air?
On national TV, the figure that makes headlines is the Super Bowl.
Airtime, not production
The slot can cost far more than the ad
$8 million
the going rate for 30 seconds in the 2026 Super Bowl
$10 million
what some 2026 Super Bowl slots sold for
Source: USA TODAY Ad Meter. Local TV sells packages with its own rate card: ask the station’s sales team how many spots a package includes, in which time slots and for how many weeks. Online, you set the budget yourself in Google Ads for YouTube and in Meta for Instagram and Facebook.
How much does it cost to make the commercial itself?
There’s no list price. These lines push the quote up.
Production
What makes the figure
Professional actors
Fees and rightsTheir fee, plus the right to show their face on your channels for the months you plan.
Shoot days and locations
Crew per dayCrew and lights for each day, and permits to film.
Original or famous music
LicenceInstead of library music, with a licence that covers where the ad runs.
Lengths, formats, languages
Each one an editA 30 and a 15, landscape and vertical, every extra version.
What should the quote say?
You can ask a videographer, a production company or someone working with AI. To compare two or three, ask each to write these lines. If one is missing, ask before signing.
- Who writes the idea and the script, and whether they’re included.
- How many rounds of revision you get, on the script and on the edit.
- Which lengths and formats you get, such as 30 and 15 seconds, landscape and vertical.
- On which channels, for how long and in which territory you can use the music and the actors’ faces.
- Who films or photographs the product, if your images aren’t enough.
- Which files you keep: the master in high quality and, to adapt it later, the footage, voice and music as separate tracks.
- Whether the price includes airtime, which is usually paid separately.
What are the steps to make a commercial?
- The brief. What you sell, to whom, where it will run and how much you’ll spend to show it.
- The idea and the script. One idea, with the voice-over and what appears on screen. You approve it before any image exists.
- The storyboard. One drawing per shot, with its length in seconds.
- The images. Filmed by a crew, taken from photos and video you already have, generated with AI, or animated. Often a mix.
- Voice and music, with a licence that covers your channels.
- Edit and revisions, as many as the quote allows.
- The formats. Landscape for TV and YouTube, vertical for Reels and Shorts, and a shorter cut. Decide them in the brief: vertical needs shots framed for it.
How long should a 30-second commercial be, and how is it built?
Google sums up what makes a video ad work in four principles: Attention, Branding, Connection and Direction (Google Ads, the ABCDs of effective video ads). In order of the seconds:
- Open on the scene that matters, close up, with no preamble.
- Show the brand early and keep it on screen. Have the voice say it too.
- One message, the one in the brief, in a situation the viewer recognises.
- Close on what to do: call, visit, search your name. Say it and show it.
The length depends on where it runs. On YouTube a bumper ad lasts up to 6 seconds, and a non-skippable in-stream ad 15 to 60 seconds depending on the campaign; for Shorts, under 60 seconds is recommended (Google Ads, video ad formats). Cutting a 15 from the same footage costs little if you plan it.
How much does a commercial made with AI cost?
The steps are the same. AI comes in at step 4, for scenes too expensive to film: a lavender field in bloom, a city from above at night.
Generating is cheap. For Kalshi’s 30-second ad built around the 2025 NBA Finals, the director said the cost of prompting the AI was under $2,000, his fee excluded, and the ad took two days. It took him 300 to 400 generations to get 15 usable clips, and he added that cheap doesn’t mean anyone can do it (NPR).
So the quote counts attempts and the work to tie the scenes to your real product, instead of shoot days. The product comes from your photos and video, so the label is the one your customers know.
If the generated scenes look real, the ad has to say so: the rules are in the guide to the AI advertising agency.
What do you prepare before the brief?
Write in one line what the viewer must remember. Then where the commercial will run, the airtime budget, how many weeks and from which date. Collect the photos and videos of the product you already have, even phone ones, and the logo in good quality.
Send it all in the brief. On a free call we look at your material and choose which scenes to generate. Then I write the script, draw the storyboard, generate the scenes and edit the commercial with voice and music. You get the price in writing before I start, with the lengths and formats included.
