How Much Does Corporate Video Editing Cost?
Almost every video company answers this question with "it depends." That is true, and it is also useless when you are trying to build a budget. So here are real numbers, what drives them, and how to spend less without ending up with something you cannot use.
One note on scope. This covers editing and post-production, meaning turning footage that already exists into a finished video. It does not include hiring a film crew. If you need a shoot, budget that separately.
The short answer
Corporate video editing is priced by the day, not by the finished minute. A working day of professional post-production runs roughly $900 to $1,500, and most corporate videos take between half a day and three days. That puts a typical finished video between $900 and $4,000.
What that looks like in practice
| Project | Effort | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Short promo or social cut from footage you already have, 60 to 90 seconds | Half a day | $900 and up |
| Standard corporate video with titles, music, color and sound work, 2 to 3 minutes | One day | $1,400 and up |
| Multi-source video with motion graphics, interviews and several delivery versions | Two to three days | $2,800 to $4,200 |
| Text or numbers changed on an existing video | Two hours minimum | $400 to $600 |
Rush and after-hours work typically carries a premium of around 35%.
Why "per finished minute" pricing misleads you
You will see studios quote a per-minute rate. It sounds simple and it is usually wrong, because runtime has almost nothing to do with effort.
A three-minute video cut from one clean interview can take half a day. A 45-second video built from twelve sources, with animated statistics and a logo build, can take three days. The second one is shorter and costs five times more.
What drives cost is the number of decisions, not the number of minutes.
The seven things that actually move the price
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Volume of raw footage | Someone has to watch all of it. Four hours of source for a two-minute video is half a day gone before the first cut. |
| Number of sources | Phone, webinar, drone and DSLR footage all look different. Making them look like one film is real work. |
| Audio condition | Clean audio is fast. Echo, air conditioning hum and uneven levels are slow, and audio is the hardest thing to repair. |
| Motion graphics | Titles are quick. Animated data, custom logo builds and 3D are the single biggest cost driver. |
| Whether there is a script | A script means the edit follows a plan. No script means the editor is writing the video while cutting it. |
| Revision rounds | Two is normal. Open-ended revisions are where budgets actually break. |
| Number of versions | A 16:9 master, a vertical cut, a 30-second trim and a captioned version are four deliverables, not one. |
Five ways to spend less and still get something good
- Send organized footage. Label your files and note the timecodes of the moments you want. This alone can save half a day.
- Write the script before the edit, not during it. The cheapest revision is the one that happens in a document.
- Give one round of consolidated feedback. Collect notes internally, resolve the contradictions yourselves, then send one list. Three people sending conflicting notes triples the work.
- Use stock instead of commissioning shots. A licensed clip costs a fraction of a shoot day and often looks better.
- Ask for every version up front. Cutting a vertical version while the project is open is cheap. Coming back three weeks later means reopening everything.
What a fair quote should include
Before you accept any quote, check that these are written down:
- The finished runtime, or a range
- How many revision rounds are included, and what happens after that
- Who pays for stock footage and music licensing
- What file formats and aspect ratios you receive
- Whether you get the project files or only the final export
- How long the studio keeps your material after delivery
The one red flag
If a quote is a single number with no scope attached, ask for the scope. That is where every billing dispute comes from.
What we charge
Dvideo Productions is a post-production studio. We do not film. Clients send us footage, photos, recordings or a script, and we build the finished video from it.
Our post-production rate is $900 for a half day and $1,400 for a full day, covering editing, sound work, color correction, motion graphics and a 4K or HD master. Most corporate videos land between half a day and two days.
We are located in Westchester, NY, and work with clients nationwide through a fully remote process.
Want a number for your project?
Describe what footage you have and how long you want the video to be. We will tell you which band above you fall into before you commit to anything. You can also see finished examples here.
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