Cost guide, prices checked November 4, 2026

How much does a commercial cost?

The short answer. A 30-second commercial costs about $1,500 to $10,000 from a local production company for a simple spot, $5,000 to $50,000 and up from an agency, $60 to $250 from a done-for-you AI service or a creator. Airtime is extra. Sources and the math are below.

Work it out

Work out what your commercial would cost

Describe the ad. The bars show the published range for a filmed shoot and for an agency, on one scale.

A filmed shoot$1,000 to $3,000 project minimum

A freelance producer's project minimum; you bring the script, the talent and the location.

An agency or production company$5,000 to $50,000 and up per 30-second commercial

Concept, crew, talent and post-production, with a project minimum of $5,000 to $15,000.

Here, at customcommercials.ai

Commercials are not taking new orders right now. The price, a set price for each format and finished length, is shown on the storyboard before anyone pays.

A filmed shoot and an agency add talent fees for each person on camera, not in these ranges.

Market figures checked November 4, 2026 from each source's published prices; the table and the sources are below. None of them is a quote.

What a commercial costs, option by option

Every row is the source's own published range, read on November 4, 2026, with a link. None is a quote. The last row is our live price.

What a commercial costs, option by option
Option	Price	What you get	Source
Do-it-yourself AI ad tools (Creatify, HeyGen, Captions, Higgsfield, ClipLoft) ≈	$1 to $12 of credits per raw 30-second ad; on plans of $15 to $280 a month	You write the script, pick the takes, fix the misses and edit. Plans run $15 to $280 a month and credits expire. The per-ad figure is our arithmetic from each vendor's plan page; credit use varies by model.	creatify.ai pricing page; checked November 4, 2026
Done-for-you AI (Creatify Studio)	$100 to $200 per video	Their team directs the AI. Sold at 25 or more videos a month, with a 48-hour turnaround, by demo. The figure is Creatify's own comparison table, not a price list.	creatify.ai/creatify-studio; checked November 4, 2026
Done-for-you, taken together (human creators, AI services, freelancers) ≈	$60 to $250 per ad	The band every done-for-you option below falls in: a creator on Billo or Insense, Creatify Studio, a Fiverr gig or an Upwork package. Our own summary of the rows below.	billo.app pricing; checked November 4, 2026
Human creators filming UGC-style ads (Billo, Insense, Icon)	$88 to $200 per ad	A real creator films it on their phone. Usage rights and raw files often cost extra; one guide says rights add 30 to 100 percent. Icon charges $1,000 a month for six ads, about $167 each, delivered in 12 to 16 days. Billo's own blog puts the average 2026 creator rate at $198.	billo.app pricing; checked November 4, 2026
Fiverr "AI commercial" gigs	$55 to $245 per ad (the middle half of 49 gigs; median $125)	One freelancer's AI ad. What each gig includes varies. Fiverr's own "estimated price" labels, read on the first results page.	fiverr.com search for "ai commercial video ad", first page; checked November 4, 2026
Upwork AI video specialists	$300 to $800 for five 15- to 30-second vertical ads; about $60 to $160 an ad	About $60 to $160 an ad. Upwork's own project guide, not real invoices.	upwork.com hiring guide, AI video specialists; checked November 4, 2026
Freelance video producer	$1,000 to $3,000 project minimum	A shoot and an edit. You bring the script, the talent and the location. Day rate $600 to $1,200; editing $60 to $150 an hour.	vidico.com, video production cost, 21 Sep 2026; checked November 4, 2026
Small agency or production company	$5,000 to $50,000 and up per 30-second commercial	Concept, crew, talent and post-production. Project minimum $5,000 to $15,000; day rate $2,500 to $8,000; editing $100 to $300 an hour. Simple digital spots start around $5,000, broadcast quality around $15,000. Production companies' own marketing; no audited survey exists.	vidico.com, video production cost, 21 Sep 2026; checked November 4, 2026
Local TV spot from a local production company	$1,500 to $10,000 per simple spot	A small crew, one location, one day, a simple edit. A mid-range spot runs $10,000 to $50,000.	adwave.com, local TV ad cost (citing Moonb's 2026 guide); checked November 4, 2026
Station-made AI spot (Waymark at Spectrum Reach, Gray, CBS, Fox, Scripps and Cox stations)	$0 for the spot, tied to an airtime buy	A template spot with an AI voice, made in minutes, that lives with that station's airtime. Spectrum Reach averaged about $4,000 of ad spend per AI-made spot in 2023; today's terms vary by station.	waymark.com, Spectrum Reach case study; checked November 4, 2026
Airtime: local broadcast TV	$500 to $10,000 a month	Depends on the market, the time of day and the show.	adwave.com, local TV ad cost (citing Moonb's 2026 guide); checked November 4, 2026
Airtime: regional cable	$1,000 to $20,000 a month	Depends on the market and the channels.	adwave.com, local TV ad cost (citing Moonb's 2026 guide); checked November 4, 2026
Airtime: streaming TV	$500 to $1,000 a month to start	Ads inside streaming apps, bought by audience rather than by show.	adwave.com, local TV ad cost (citing Moonb's 2026 guide); checked November 4, 2026
What a small advertiser has for each creative ≈	$40 to $150 per creative	10 to 20 percent of ad spend on the ads themselves, spread over the roughly 12 creatives a month a small advertiser launches. Our own arithmetic from the Billo and Runneth figures below.	billo.app blog, 14 Oct 2026; checked November 4, 2026
customcommercials.ai	A set price for each format and finished length, shown on the storyboard before you approve. Not taking new orders yet.	The storyboard free; up to 2 AI spokespeople, cinematic B-roll, stills, a voice, music, three shapes, reshoots up to an included allowance, edits and re-renders free within the included limits.	our pricing page, live

Market figures checked November 4, 2026. ≈ Our own arithmetic from the source's figures.

Every figure is the source's own published range, not a quote. $0 rows are tied to something else you buy.

Where the money goes in a filmed shoot

A filmed commercial is paid for by the day and by the hour. A crew day costs $600 to $1,200 with a freelance producer and $2,500 to $8,000 with a small agency or production company. Editing costs $60 to $150 an hour freelance and $100 to $300 an hour at an agency (Upwork and Vidico, checked November 4, 2026).

Then come the costs around the day: actors and their usage fees, a location and its permit, equipment, music rights, and the cut-downs, which are the shorter versions of the same ad for other places it runs. Each one is more hours. That is why a quote for one 30-second spot can land anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 for a freelancer to $5,000 to $50,000 and up for an agency.

What changes the price

Length. A 60-second spot needs twice the footage and the edit of a 30. Market ranges on this page are for a 30-second spot.
People on camera. Every actor adds a fee, and often a second fee for the right to keep running the ad.
Locations. A second place is a second setup, and often a second day.
Cut-downs and shapes. A vertical version for a feed, a square one, a 15-second cut: each is more editing hours at an agency.
Revisions. A change after the shoot is an edit round; a change to what was filmed is a reshoot day.
Usage rights. Paid usage rights add 30 to 100 percent to a human creator's base rate.

TV commercial cost: how much does it cost to make one?

A TV commercial has two bills. Making it costs what any commercial of that length costs: a simple local spot from a local production company runs $1,500 to $10,000, and a mid-range one $10,000 to $50,000 (Adwave, citing Moonb's 2026 guide). Airing it is the second bill, below.

Some stations now make the spot for free. A template spot with an AI voice, made in minutes, that lives with that station's airtime. Spectrum Reach averaged about $4,000 of ad spend per AI-made spot in 2023; today's terms vary by station. The catch is in the word tied: the spot is the station's, made to win your airtime order, and it lives with that station. Our TV commercials page covers what a spot you own needs, and what a station asks for when you deliver it.

How much does it cost to air a commercial on local TV?

Per Adwave, checked November 4, 2026: local broadcast TV runs $500 to $10,000 a month, regional cable $1,000 to $20,000 a month, and streaming TV (ads inside apps like Hulu or on Roku) from $500 to $1,000 a month to start. The price depends on the market, the time of day and the show, and it is a separate bill from the spot itself.

Our post on commercial prices option by option goes deeper into local TV advertising costs and what airtime adds.

How AI changes the math

An AI commercial replaces the crew day, the actors and the location with generated footage: AI spokespeople (realistic presenters who say your lines on camera), cinematic B-roll (the footage that plays while someone talks), stills, a voice and music, planned in a storyboard (a shot-by-shot plan with a picture for most shots) that you approve before paying. Here the storyboard is free; you pay once, for the format and its finished length; reshoots (making a shot again with new words or a new description), about 1 per shot, and all three shapes, are included; edits and re-renders are free within the limits included with each commercial.

What it does not do: send a crew to your place, film your real product in motion, or put your own staff on camera. For those, a production company still wins, and many brands do both.

A commercial sends people to your website. If your site does not show up when they search for you, fix that first; our sister product NightShyft does SEO and AI-search visibility.

What should a small business spend on a commercial?

52 percent of small businesses spend under $1,000 a month on all their marketing (LocaliQ, 2026; the survey date is not stated).

Vendors put 10 to 20 percent of ad spend on the creative itself, the ads rather than the airtime. Advertisers spending under $10,000 a month on Meta launch about 12 new creatives a month, and about 5 percent of creatives win. The counts include image ads.

Our own arithmetic from those two figures: an advertiser spending a few thousand dollars a month has about $40 to $150 for each creative. At that budget the price of the ad matters more than its polish, because you will want a new one every few weeks. If you are an agency buying for clients, how it works for agencies covers client workspaces and white-label pages; our price for each format and length is the same for everyone.

Commercials open soon

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Questions

How much does a 30-second commercial cost?

A simple filmed spot from a local production company runs $1,500 to $10,000; an agency charges $5,000 to $50,000 and up; done-for-you AI services and creators charge about $60 to $250; here the price is a set price for each format and finished length, shown on the storyboard before you pay. Prices checked November 4, 2026.

How much does it cost to make a TV commercial?

Two bills: making it and airing it. Making a simple local spot is $1,500 to $10,000 filmed. Airing it is $500 to $10,000 a month on local broadcast. Some stations give away a template AI spot when you buy airtime.

How much does it cost to air a commercial on local TV?

About $500 to $10,000 a month for local broadcast, $1,000 to $20,000 for regional cable, and $500 to $1,000 a month to start on streaming TV, per Adwave. The spot itself is separate.

Why do production companies charge $5,000 and up?

A crew day costs $2,500 to $8,000, editing $100 to $300 an hour, then talent, locations and cut-downs, the shorter versions of the same ad. A freelancer is cheaper, with project minimums of $1,000 to $3,000 and a day rate of $600 to $1,200.

How much does an AI commercial cost?

Do-it-yourself tools cost $1 to $12 of credits per raw ad plus your time; done-for-you AI services cost about $60 to $250 an ad; here a finished commercial has a set price for each format and finished length, and you see the price on the storyboard before you pay.

What should a small business spend on a commercial?

Most small businesses spend under $1,000 a month on all marketing (LocaliQ 2026), and vendors suggest 10 to 20 percent of ad spend for the ads themselves. That leaves roughly $40 to $150 per creative, which is why price matters more than polish for a first ad.

Sources

Every figure above was read on November 4, 2026. † marks a figure not confirmed on the source's own page; ≈ marks our own arithmetic.