Commercial or how-to video: which one do you need?
A commercial makes people want your product. A how-to video shows them how to use it. The one-question test, a side-by-side, and when you need both.
People ask us for "a video" and mean one of two very different things. A commercial makes someone want your product. A how-to video shows someone how to use it. They look different, they cost different amounts, and they fail in opposite ways when you mix them up. We make the first kind; our AI commercials page explains how. Our sister product howtovideos.ai makes the second. This post is how to tell which one you need, and when you need both.
The one-question test
Ask one question: do I want people to want it, or to be able to use it?
If the viewer has never heard of you, or has heard of you and has not bought, you want them to want it. That is a commercial. If the viewer already has the product (or is about to) and needs to get something done with it, you want them to be able to use it. That is a how-to video.
The test sounds too simple to be useful. It is useful because most bad videos come from answering it wrong. The three-minute "commercial" that walks through every menu is a how-to video wearing a suit. The ninety-second "tutorial" that spends a minute on why the product is great is a commercial that forgot to teach.
What a commercial is for, and what it looks like
A commercial sells one idea fast. It runs 6 to 60 seconds. It opens with a hook (the first two or three seconds that make someone stop scrolling or keep watching), shows a problem, shows the product, shows how the product helps, offers one piece of proof, and ends with a call to action (what you ask people to do, like "Start free at brightdesk.com") on an end card (the last screen, with your logo and web address).
It cuts often. Ads have cut fast for decades; a study of US TV ads from 1978 to 1991 found the average shot was under two seconds by the end of that period. People speak about 2.5 words a second, so a 30-second spot holds about 70 words with room to breathe. The camera moves with purpose, the product appears big and close at least twice, and nothing on screen is an accident.
Where it runs tells you the shape: wide 16:9 for TV, streaming and YouTube; vertical 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts; square 1:1 for feeds. Platforms agree on the start. TikTok asks for the proposition in the first 3 seconds and the hook in the first 6; Google's guidance for YouTube ads puts the brand on screen in the first 5.
What a how-to video is for, and what it looks like
A how-to video gets one task done. It runs as long as the task takes, which might be forty seconds or six minutes, and nobody minds, because the viewer came to finish something. It moves at reading speed. It shows the real screen or the real object, in order, with each step named. Captions matter because people follow along at their desk with the sound off. A written guide beside it matters because people skim for the one step they missed.
It does not need a hook, a proof beat or a sting on the logo. It needs to be right. One wrong click in a how-to video costs you a support ticket; one dull second in a commercial costs you the viewer. Those are different jobs, and they are made by different tools. howtovideos.ai makes how-to videos, written guides and help centers from a screen recording, which is exactly the thing a commercial should never be built from.
Side by side
| Commercial | How-to video | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Make people want it | Help people use it |
| Length | 6 to 60 seconds | As long as the task takes |
| Who is on screen | A spokesperson, generated scenes, your product big and close | Your real screen or product, step by step |
| Pace | A cut every 2 to 3 seconds, music, a hook | Reading speed, one step at a time |
| Where it runs | Ads on TV, YouTube, TikTok, Meta; your home page | Your help center, onboarding emails, support replies |
| What changes it | A new offer, a new audience, a new season | A new version of the product |
| Cost to change | Reshoot a shot or swap a line; cheap with AI | Re-record the steps that changed |
| Measured by | Views that turn into sign-ups or sales | Tasks completed, support tickets avoided |
When you need both: the launch
A launch is the one moment when you need both, in order. The commercial runs before the sign-up: on your home page, in the launch post, as a paid ad. The how-to video runs right after it: in the welcome email, on the first screen, in the help center. The commercial gets someone through the door; the how-to video makes sure they do not leave in the first ten minutes.
Make them in that order too. Write the commercial's brief first, because deciding the one message for the ad also decides what the first how-to video must teach. Our launch video checklist lays out the whole launch week, including the how-to video that needs to be ready for day-one users.
The mistakes
The three-minute "commercial." A founder records a demo of every feature, puts music under it and calls it a commercial. Nobody who does not already care will watch past the first ten seconds. If you want the feature tour, make it a how-to video and put it where users are, not where strangers are.
The how-to video that tries to sell. The first forty seconds explain why the product is wonderful. The viewer, who already bought it and has a question, scrubs forward and misses the step they needed. Teaching videos earn trust by starting at the task.
The launch video that is secretly a demo. The reveal, three features, who it is for, where to get it: that is the shape of a launch video, 30 to 90 seconds. Twelve features with the cursor moving is a demo, and it belongs in the help center.
Using one video for both jobs. It cannot do both well. It will be too long to stop a scroll and too vague to finish a task.
What each costs
Commercials have a wide price range, from a few dollars of AI credits you drive yourself to tens of thousands from a production company. Our post on what a commercial costs in 2026 has the ranges with sources, and the cost guide has a calculator. At customcommercials.ai the storyboard (the shot-by-shot plan with a preview picture for most shots) is free, and the commercial is priced by its format and finished length; today's prices are on the pricing page.
How-to video prices are howtovideos.ai's to state, and they are on its site. We will not quote them here, because they change and it is not our product.
Where to make each
If the answer to the one question is "want it," start a brief here. You will get a storyboard to approve for free, and a commercial in all three shapes when you do. If the product itself is the star, our product videos page explains product spots, and launch videos covers the video for launch day.
If the answer is "use it," go to howtovideos.ai. It makes AI how-to videos, written guides and help centers from a screen recording, and it is built by the same company we are, DigitalShyft. The two products are kept apart on purpose: a tool that is good at teaching steps at reading speed is the wrong tool for a two-second hook, and the other way around.
If the answer is "both," make the commercial first and the how-to video second, and keep them separate.
FAQ
Can one video do both?
Not well. A video short and fast enough to stop a scroll has no room to teach, and a video long and careful enough to teach will lose a stranger in seconds. Make a commercial for people who do not have the product yet, and a how-to video for people who do.
Is an explainer video a commercial?
Usually, yes. An explainer sells an idea in 60 to 90 seconds to someone who does not have the product, so it is built like a commercial: a hook, a problem, the product, the proof, a call to action. A video that teaches steps is a how-to video, whatever it is called.
How long should a how-to video be?
Long enough to finish the task and no longer, which is a different answer for every task. There is no target length the way there is for a 30-second spot. howtovideos.ai is built for that kind of video; its site has more on how it approaches length and structure.
Do I need a commercial if I have a demo video?
If the demo is for people who already signed up, you still have nothing for the people who have not. A demo shows how it works; a commercial makes someone want to find out. Most products need both, and the commercial is usually the one that is missing.
Which should a startup make first?
The commercial, in almost every case, because nobody can use a product they never heard of. The exception is a product with users and a support queue full of the same question: then one how-to video pays for itself faster than any ad.
Sources
- Our own production format notes, which summarize how agencies build a commercial (brief, script, storyboard, shoot, post-production, versions) from Robin Piree (https://robinpiree.com/blog/how-to-write-a-directors-treatment-for-a-tv-commercial), No Film School (https://nofilmschool.com/commercial-treatment) and StudioBinder (https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/shot-lists).
- MacLachlan and Logan, camera shot length in TV commercials, 1978 to 1991 (abstract): https://www.warc.com/Content/421e1376-baa5-472f-aa9d-adc58bea5146
- TikTok, creative best practices for performance ads: https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/creative-best-practices?lang=en
- Google, creative best practices for YouTube ads: https://business.google.com/us/think/future-of-marketing/creative-best-practices-youtube-ads/
- The 2.5 words a second pace is industry practice, not a platform rule.
- howtovideos.ai: https://howtovideos.ai
Questions about this post or about customcommercials.ai? Contact us or email support@customcommercials.ai.
