When it comes to finding an explainer video company such as video explainers, the possibilities are endless. The main question every customer asks, in the end, is, how much do they cost? Well, the prices range from $150 to $50,000. So, how would you know how much to spend and whether or not your investment will pay off?
Many animated explainer video companies’ websites will give you an idea of what to expect in terms of the total cost, but not how that cost translates into the things you care about, such as quality, service, and results.
So, we’re lifting the curtain on how it all works to give you an inside look at how pricing works and how to get the most bang for your buck.
Labor
Labor is a calculation of the time it takes a group of employees assigned to your project to create your video, multiplied by the hourly rate that these people need to earn a living. There’s no getting around this one. This is the primary cost in your explainer video.
Time
Let’s examine where the time spent on your video goes as we dive into the dynamics of an animated explainer video. The more time you put into the animation, as with most creative endeavors, the greater the degree of complexity, richness, intricacy, and engagement. There is no such thing as a standard amount of time.
That being said, a decent creative should expect to spend 40-60 hours illustrating and animating 60 seconds of custom-designed 2D animated explainer video.
This is based on two assumptions:
- They are developing unique assets (not stock or templated assets).
- They offer professional motion design services. In other words, the assets move smoothly and purposefully, with no obvious flaws. (If you ‘notice it,’ it means that a professional job was not completed.)
You can probably reduce this to 20 hours (or even less) per 60 seconds if you use stock assets and don’t mind seeing things move robotically across the screen.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is no real limit. If the style, design, and motion demanded it, you could have a room full of animators working for a month on 60 seconds of animation (think Pixar).
But that isn’t relevant to our conversation. Folks, we’re talking about explainer videos here! In this case, the high end would most likely be 80-100 hours.
So to recap, for 60 seconds of high-quality, custom-created animated video, you’re looking at 40-60 hours on average, 20 on the low end of the quality spectrum, 80 on the high end.
Other Channels Involved
Finally, someone must manage the project, communicate with the client, coordinate the creatives, and ensure that everything runs smoothly throughout the process.
You can reasonably expect 10-15 hours of project management to be required throughout a 4-6 week video project. On the low end, you might see 5, and on the high end, you might see 20-25.
Scriptwriting
Before you can bring all of the aforementioned fancy animations to life, you must first write a script. The dirty little secret about scripts is that they are more than just sitting at a desk and typing words.
Finally, the pricing of animated explainer videos is influenced by three factors:
- Time required to complete the work of creating the video
- Costs the direct costs associated with producing the video (primarily labor) Profit margin built into the studio’s pricing
- In most cases, if a video costs less than $5,000, the studio is either using overseas labor or not devoting enough time to your video.
Videos According To Price Range
Videos priced between $8 and $10,000 are considered average. While videos in the $15-20,000+ range are a premium product, indicating that a significant amount of time has been invested in your project.
To Sum It Up
If you hire an explainer video company that charges you less than $5,000, remember, the quality can be compromised. Quality animated explainer video requires extensive time, labor, scripting, intermediaries, all of these are dedicated to the project to design a perfect high-quality video. If you have any doubts, then visit to get the answers.
