Short answer: less than a traditional shoot of the same length, but much more than the price of a software subscription. The cost of an AI commercial is driven by the number of shots, how exact your product has to be, how many versions you need and how much finishing the film gets — not by camera days.
This article explains what you actually pay for, using published industry benchmarks rather than my own prices, so you can budget and brief with confidence.
What a traditional commercial costs
Industry benchmarks give a useful frame. Advids put the average 60-second brand video at around $3,185 in 2026, and full-service brand agencies quote roughly $1,000 to $16,000 per ad, with three to six weeks of turnaround. A broadcast spot with a crew, cast and locations sits far above that.
Most of that money buys time: crew days, studio or location hire, casting, travel, equipment and the risk of reshoots.
What changes with AI
AI production removes camera days, locations and most logistics. Superside reported in 2026 that AI-assisted creative services cost around 60% of traditional agency pricing — a fair rule of thumb for professionally finished work.
What it does not remove is direction. A usable commercial still needs a script, a shot list, designed keyframes, many generations per shot, product checks, an edit, sound, music and a grade. Figures like “one AI video for a few dollars” count only the subscription — not the failed generations, the review rounds or the finishing.
The five things that set the price
1. Length and number of shots. A 15-second spot with eight shots and a 30-second spot with twenty are different projects.
2. Product accuracy. If your label, logo or packaging must be exact in every shot, that means more generations, compositing or 3D.
3. People. Recurring characters, dialogue and lip sync take longer than product-only scenes.
4. Versions. Every extra aspect ratio, language or hook adds edit time — though far less than reshooting.
5. Finishing. Voice-over, music, sound design and colour grading are the same work as for a filmed ad.
How to get an accurate quote
Send the length, the platforms, your product files, two or three reference films and your deadline. With that, a fixed quote is possible within a day — and the number of review rounds can be agreed up front instead of being discovered later.
See how I work on the AI commercials page, or the AI tools behind the films.
