The cost of generating creative is really really low with AI now*.* And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Here are my rough benchmarks:
- Text-based/image graphic – should be ~$25 per asset. Anyone with 2 creative braincells, figma, and midjourney can do it for this price
- Creator-UGC – should be $80-100 per asset depending on how bespoke / how much production quality. Low end would be something that passes for organic on tiktok, but the sky’s the limit (follower count, camera presence etc.)
- Hyper-produced videos: previously probably ~$1000 but I think soon these will be <$100 easily (things flying in, quick cuts, cool sounds, etc. New AI models are quickly lowering barrier to entry
- B-roll eg mobile games – also <$20 per asset – mostly overseas video editors using AI-enabled editing tools
- Animated – this used to be the most expensive ($10k+) and I think will soon be <$1k as well. And this is pretty highend stuff: claymation, stopmotion, etc.
I’ve made probably ~1000 various AI ads, reels, etc. and these are the rough costs I’ve used for clients ranging a chain of chicken wing restaurants to DTC toy companies.
I feel for folks who have built careers in animation/graph design etc. but the reality is that the people watching ads really can’t tell the difference. I think the real value of an agency is in the composition & storytelling and less so in the video production.
Anyway the reason I bring all this up is that the raw cost of making media has gone down 10x while agencies are still holding on to prices from 3 years ago, and if you can find AI-native agencies you have more money for ads instead of creative production.
Happy to hear if others are seeing different numbers & open to chatting more of course!