The Video Engagement Industry Report (which we discuss in detail here) claims that marketers and CMA member agencies see the video as a medium of the future in content marketing, they only have one problem – the return on investment (when asked about the biggest obstacle in the development of this sector the answer “ROI“ was given by 43% of the respondents). The report refers to the results of the Web Video Marketing Council research from 2015, according to which 36% of companies have not set annual budgets for video production. Among those which have, 30% of the budgets amounted to less than 10,000 dollars annually (which usually allows to produce one or two videos), and only 13% has a budget of over 50,000 dollars or more.

Video: how much and for whom?

Albert Hupa: The video is not the choice for companies with low budgets, but it doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. It’s the specificity of the Polish market that production companies use such high margins.

Olga Jurek: I can’t agree that production companies have high margins, we can’t generalize like this. The market has changed in the past few years. Customers are comparing offers, use negotiation tools such as auctions. It is a service that you pay for like for any other product. This explains the costs of a video production. Depending on the idea and the needs a customer is paying for the cast, location, equipment, postproduction, etc, but most importantly – for a team of professionals with lots of filming experience and adequate education.
Olga ads that no matter what the size of the production is, she thinks it is good to give the job to people who know what they are doing. Even with little equipment and the existing location experienced professionals will be able to achieve good quality.

Albert: The thing is, is super high quality really that important? You can hire a studio at a low price, it doesn’t have to be professional – vloggers can do with smaller budgets.

Olga: I still think it’s not enough to rent a studio and make a recording with your smartphone, unless that is the company’s idea and strategy. It’s customers who decide how they want to build the image of their company or brand.

Albert: Videos are expensive because we expect from them that they are highly creative and bring results instantly. Meanwhile, its effectiveness is comparable with other advertising formats. Sooner or later this will change – the Z generation is already getting used to videos for mobile devices, which is going to be their rich media standard; and that’s why more and more companies are going to make videos. Apparently, there is room for competing in cheap and medium video productions.

Spending money wisely – and saving some

This trend is the outcome of the lowering camera prices and the increasing quality of smartphone videos (making a video at home has never been so easy). We can see initiatives such as YouTube Unlock the space program, which gives creators with over 5,000 subscribers access to highly specialized online tools. Nevertheless, Olga Jurek advises to be careful: “Obviously you can produce home-made videos, but I wouldn’t promote or recommend that,” she says. “I had the doubtful pleasure of trying to save such videos and there are no miracles when the foundation is poor (poor framing, lack of light, soundtrack with noises, etc.), so the customers had to pay for the job done anyway, only they did not get a good product. A well-produced material is always better to watch, “well-served” content is seen as better. As consumers, we like good quality and not only when it comes to videos,” Olga says and adds that production costs can be lowered by cumulating shooting days, limiting the number of locations, the choice of cast.

“You can also lower the costs if you plan the content carefully and define what the goals of the video are. If we know from the start what the final video is going to be used for, it’s easier to choose the best execution method,” she explains. “When we have a series of videos to make it is really much better to devote more time to getting well prepared and organized, so that the project can be carried out economically. It’s worth finding subcontractors for regular projects, as this can additionally lower the costs.”