Commercial Video Production: Process, Costs, and Examples (2026 Guide)

Key takeaways

• Commercial videos are one of the most effective marketing tools today, especially with short-form content dominating most platforms.
• They work because they stop the scroll, spark interest, and guide viewers toward real action like buying, signing up, or remembering your brand.
• Animation, live action, and hybrid formats all have their strengths. The best choice depends on your message, product type, and how abstract or human your visuals need to be.
• Costs vary widely across the industry, but Motion The Agency provides clear, predictable pricing across Basic, Premium, and Enhanced packages, with flexible options for animation-only work.

Commercial video production

We’ve talked about almost every type of video in our blogs except for one of the services people ask for the most: commercial videos. If you’ve been online at all lately, you’ve definitely noticed how brands use video to grab attention, which is exactly why Motion The Agency offers commercial video production services for tech and SaaS brands globally.

A commercial video (or brand video) is a short, persuasive piece of content designed to market a product, service, or brand. Its job is simple: stop the scroll, spark interest, and guide people toward an action, whether that’s buying, signing up, or just remembering the name.

What’s wild is how fast the format is evolving. Short-form content has taken over, with about 66 percent of ads now running under 30 seconds. That shift makes motion-based formats like animated explainer videos and product demos even more powerful because they deliver the message quickly without losing clarity.

And here’s the kicker: 84 percent of businesses say video has helped increase their sales . It doesn’t matter if it’s a simple 2D animation or a polished live-action shoot, the medium works. Commercial video production for brands has become one of the most effective ways to tell their story and actually get results.

Here are some of the most common types of commercial videos:

• The brand anthem: Focuses on emotional storytelling, often relying heavily on live action to create a strong audience connection.
• The animated product deep dive: Uses motion graphics to explain and showcase the product or service in detail, making it ideal for complex or technical content.
• The hybrid commercial: Combines live action with motion graphics to show real people interacting with the product or interface, making it perfect for tech and app-driven brands.

Now the question is, which one does your company need, how do you create a commercial video, and how do you decide which style fits best? Let’s talk about it here.

Why choose animation over a camera?

An animated commercial video is a short promotional video that uses animation to advertise a product, service, or brand. Typically running for 15, 30, or 60 seconds, it can be a fully animated ad, a product explainer, or a hybrid combining live action with motion graphics.

But why choose animation over a camera? Beyond potentially saving money, it gives you more control, speed, and flexibility, especially for products that aren't easy to film. Having worked with 700+ companies, we've produced 60+ animated product videos and visualised 40+ SaaS and tech products in 2025 alone.

And here's another advantage: if your product or messaging changes, you can update the animation without another shoot. You can also repurpose the same assets into shorter ads, different formats, and platform-specific content.

The goal isn't just to make one commercial, but to create something you can reuse, adapt, and get more value from over time.

Choosing between live action and animation for your commercial video

The first thing to recognize is that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. Live action will almost always have an advantage when it comes to aspects like realism, human emotion, and showing real-world experiences. However, the way we look at it is through a different lens: the type of product you are trying to communicate.

The key difference comes down to whether the product is tangible or intangible. For physical products and lifestyle-led brands — such as luxury, fashion, automotive, or many B2C products — live action often has the upper hand because it can capture real environments, people, and emotional connections. However, for intangible products like SaaS platforms, AI tools, and digital services, animation can provide a stronger advantage by visualizing complex ideas, explaining workflows, and showing experiences that cannot be captured through traditional filming.

"It comes back to tangible versus intangible. Live action still has its place, but it works best when you're alluding to a certain lifestyle, or when the product is physically real. If you've got a service offering, animation is much better at conveying it. That's why vector-based animated design is so big for tech companies — software is intangible." Sam Jupp.

The table above is probably the easiest way to look at where each approach makes the most sense. Live action naturally has an advantage when you need to show something real — physical products, people, environments, and the lifestyle around a brand. Animation becomes more valuable when you need to explain something that is difficult to capture in real life, such as SaaS products, AI tools, workflows, or complex systems.

Since we are a motion-forward agency, we naturally lean towards animation because of how flexible it is for explaining ideas and products that do not have a physical form. That said, we do not see animation and live action as competing approaches. We often work on hybrid projects where we combine client footage, stock footage, or AI-generated video with motion graphics to create something that feels both human and easy to understand.

The simplest way to think about it: use live action when you want people to connect with the human side of a product, and use motion graphics when you need to explain what is happening behind the scenes — whether that is data, automation, security, or a digital workflow.

Steps of commercial video production

At Motion The Agency, our commercial video production process follows three main stages: pre-production, production, and post-production. While every project is a little different, here's how we typically approach it.

Pre-production

This is where we plan everything before animation begins.

• Strategy and audience: We start with a client call to understand the campaign goals, target audience, key message, and where the commercial will be used.
• Script and storyboard: We develop the script and map out each scene in a storyboard, including visual direction, transitions, and camera movements.
• Creative planning: We finalise the animation style, timeline, deliverables, and required assets before production begins.

Production

Once the storyboard is approved, it's time to bring everything to life.

• Animation and motion graphics: Our team creates 2D or 3D animation, UI animation, and motion graphics based on the approved storyboard.
• Hybrid production: We can combine animation with client-supplied or stock footage, although we don't handle live-action filming ourselves.

Post-production

This is where we bring everything together and prepare the commercial for delivery.

• Final polish: We refine the editing, animation timing, transitions, and visual consistency to make sure everything flows naturally.
• Sound and voiceover: We add and mix music, sound effects, and voiceover where needed.
• Feedback and revisions: We share the video with the client, gather feedback, and make the agreed revisions before final approval.
• Final delivery: We export the approved video in the required formats, whether that's 16:9 for websites and YouTube, 9:16 for vertical ads, or other social media formats.

How AI fits into our production workflow

AI has definitely changed how we approach certain parts of commercial video production. But rather than replacing the creative process, we use tools like Kling, Magnific, and HeyGen where they can actually make the work faster or better.

Here's where AI makes the biggest difference:

• Cost efficiency: Helps reduce repetitive work and the time spent creating certain assets, making parts of production more efficient.
• Faster turnaround: Allows us to explore concepts, generate footage, and test creative variations without starting from scratch every time.
• Content variations: Makes it easier to experiment with different visuals, styles, and versions for different campaigns or platforms.

The way we see it, AI is another tool in our production workflow. It can help us work more efficiently, but the creative direction, storytelling, and final decisions still come from our team.

Our experience with commercial video production

By this point in the blog, you have probably noticed that we are a very animation-forward agency. We will always recommend animation whenever it makes sense because it gives us the most control and clarity. That said, we also pride ourselves on being flexible. We can produce strong hybrid videos when clients provide raw footage, or when we use AI-generated video or high-quality stock footage to bring the human element into the project. So these are two of our recent  commercial videos:

CallRail — Scaling CTV advertising production

CallRail | Einstein Video 2

CallRail is one of our largest ongoing commercial video projects, particularly for paid advertising.

Throughout 2026, we've supported their CTV campaigns with 16 finished video assets, ranging from short bumper ads to 30–60-second commercials. These include their Two Voice Assist CTV campaign, developed for major placements such as the NFL and US Open.

The challenge: Campaign deadlines don't exactly wait for production teams.

With multiple ads, different formats, and several stakeholders involved, we needed to manage tight deadlines while keeping the creative direction consistent.

Our approach? Batch production. Rather than starting every commercial from scratch, we planned assets around CallRail's campaign schedule, reused creative elements, and adapted videos for different placements.

The results: Here's what we can share from the partnership:

• Production output: 16 finished CTV advertising assets across multiple formats.
• Client feedback: Maddie described the March Madness campaign as getting "amazing traction" and later said the videos were performing well overall. These are client-reported impressions, not independently verified performance metrics.
• Creative feedback: Danielle shared that her team loved the Voice Assist and Einstein videos.
• Continued partnership: CallRail renewed its partnership for 2026, with Emily expressing excitement about another year of working together.

For us, it's a good example of how batch production can help B2B brands manage recurring advertising needs, from planning different formats to delivering creative assets around campaign schedules.

Tasker — Combining real footage with animation

Not every commercial needs to be fully animated, and our product launch project with Tasker is a good example of why.

Tasker provided raw talking-head footage, but wanted something more dynamic for their launch video. So, we combined it with motion graphics and stylised UI animation to demonstrate product features and make the message easier to understand.

The challenge: Tasker was going through a rebrand while production was already underway.

With their messaging and visual identity still evolving, we needed to keep updating the animation without disrupting the entire production.

Our approach? Flexible, editable animation. We adjusted the visuals to match their changing brand direction without having to reshoot the original footage.

The results: Here's what we delivered:

• Product launch video: A hybrid commercial combining talking-head footage with animated product demonstrations.
• Product communication: Stylised UI animation to help introduce Tasker's features during the launch.
• Brand adaptability: Updated the animated elements to reflect Tasker's evolving visual identity without requiring additional filming.

For us, it's a good example of how hybrid production can support product launches even when the creative direction changes during production.

Hyperexponential — Explaining complex technology with AI-assisted animation

One of our favourite examples of how animation can support marketing results is our project with Hyperexponential (HX) . We created a 90-second AI-assisted video in under two weeks for their organic and paid social media campaigns, with a reported 40% increase in demo requests and 28% higher engagement following the project.

The challenge: How do you show something like predictive modelling or risk analysis when there's nothing you can actually film?

Our approach? A mix of AI and traditional motion design. We used Midjourney and Google's Nano Banana to generate visuals, then brought everything together through animation.

The results:

• Production: 90-second video delivered in under two weeks.
• Demo requests: Reported 40% increase.
• Engagement: Reported 28% increase.

And this isn't our first social video project. Across our portfolio, we've produced 500+ social videos for 60+ brands, generating over 10 million combined views.

Read more about our AI-generated images and animation workflow

OUR WORK

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How much does commercial video production cost?

Commercial video production costs can vary quite a bit depending on the style, length, and complexity of the project. Here's what you can generally expect.

These are broad industry estimates, not fixed prices. Live-action costs can increase with larger crews, talent, and locations, while animation costs depend more on visual complexity and production time.

What does Motion The Agency charge?

So, how much would it cost to work with us?

Well, it depends on what you're making and how often you need videos. We've got three ways to work together:

And if you've already got footage, even better. We can take care of the editing, animation, and motion graphics without starting from scratch.

Not sure which one makes sense for you? Let's have a chat about what you're planning and figure it out together.

Get your free sample

Key takeaways

• Animation is often the better investment for SaaS and tech brands. It's easier to explain complex products, update visuals, and create multiple ad variations without reshooting.
• You don't need to start from scratch. Already have footage? We can combine it with motion graphics and UI animation, just like we did for Tasker.
• Need multiple commercials? Batch production makes more sense. For CallRail, we've delivered 16 CTV advertising assets across different formats and campaigns.
• Know what you're paying for. Our fixed-price videos start at $3,480, with subscriptions from $3,950/month and Creative Credits from $18,000 for more ongoing or flexible production needs.
• Not ready to commit? See what we can do first. We offer a free custom animated sample so you can get a feel for our work before starting a project.

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