How much does a video ad cost in Singapore?

The owner of a small skincare brand wants one video ad for her Christmas gift set. Thirty seconds, for Instagram and TikTok. She asks two Singapore studios for a price.

The first quote says S$3,000. The second says S$30,000.

That same week, Facebook offers to turn her product photos into a video ad by itself.

Both quotes can be honest. They are pricing two very different films, and Facebook's offer is something else again. Once you can see what each one pays for, the choice gets a lot easier.

What should a video ad cost in Singapore?

A short filmed video built around one product usually costs S$1,500 to S$5,000 in Singapore, going by the price guides of one local production company and another. A commercial with actors, several locations and a full crew starts at about S$30,000. What fills the gap between the two is mostly days: how many days of filming, who is on camera, how many versions you need, and where you are allowed to run the ad.

Keep in mind who publishes these figures: companies that sell filming. They are a fair picture of what a studio will quote you, and they all explain their prices the same way: by days, people and rights.

Where the money goes in a video quote

A video quote reads like a renovation quote. The materials are a small part of it. Most of the money pays for skilled people's days, and every extra room adds more days.

In one studio's example of a S$10,000 video, about a quarter goes on planning (the script, the place, the people), nearly half on the filming itself (the crew, the cameras, the lights and the sound), and the rest on editing.

So the filming day is the biggest single line. Each extra day brings back the full crew and all the equipment, which is why the number of filming days is one of the biggest things that moves a quote.

What moves the price up or down

1. Days and places. One room for one day keeps a film affordable. Each extra day or location adds the whole crew again.
2. People on camera. Actors and presenters are paid by the day, from about S$800 to S$3,500 in one guide, and their fee also depends on where the ad runs and for how long.
3. Where you may use it. A fee that covers your own social pages is not the same as one for paid ads for a year. Running a film as a paid ad commonly adds about a fifth to the base cost.
4. Versions. A tall cut for phones, a wide one for your website, a shorter one, another language: each is more editing. One guide says every extra language adds between a third and two thirds of the editing cost again.
5. Rounds of changes. One round of changes is usually included. After that, editing is often billed by the hour, at about S$100 to S$200. And late changes are rarely small.

Facebook, Google and TikTok now make video ads too

On 6 October, Meta, which runs Facebook and Instagram, made a tool generally available that turns the still pictures you already have into video ads. Google's ad tools can animate your images into short, tall videos for YouTube Shorts. TikTok's can build an ad from your website's address, and it marks those videos as made by AI.

They are worth a try. You need little more than the photos and the website you already have, and you see the result inside your ad account.

What they make is your picture, moving. They work only from what you give them: they cannot film a customer opening your box, and they don't know why your product is better than the one beside it on the shelf. Use them for quick extra versions to test. The ad that has to do the selling is still worth making on purpose.

When to film, and when AI can make it

Film when a real person is the point of the ad: you, your staff, a customer's honest reaction. Nothing stands in for them, and an AI person should never speak as a customer.

When the product is the point, an AI-made ad built from your real product photos skips the biggest line of the quote, the filming day. It also makes the versions you want to test from the same film, so trying three different openings is normal rather than a second shoot. The planning, the script and your approval still take real work, so the price drops but does not disappear. At AI WISE, this is our AI content production: see how we make video ads from your real product photos.

Before you ask anyone for a quote this week

1. Write down what the ad must do, in one line. "Get people to try the gift set before Christmas" gives a studio something to price. "A 30-second video" does not.
2. Decide whether a real person must be on screen. That one answer decides whether you need a filming day at all.
3. List every place the ad will run, and for how long. Ask for the rights to match, for the people on camera and for the music.
4. Ask for the quote in lines: planning, filming, editing, versions, music, people on camera. Two quotes in lines can be compared. Two totals can't.
5. Try the tool in your ad account first, with your three best product photos. If a moving picture is enough for this product, you have your first test version. If it isn't, you now know what the paid film has to add.
6. Count back from the day you need it. A filmed brand video often takes four to eight weeks from brief to final film. Booked this week, it arrives somewhere between 12 November and 10 December. For Christmas, that is close.

Questions owners ask

Why do two studios quote so differently for the same ad?

Because they are rarely quoting the same film. One may plan a single day in a studio with your product on a table. The other may plan two days, actors, a few locations and music you can run in paid ads for a year. Ask both to split their quote into lines, and compare them line by line.

Does the music in a video ad cost extra?

Usually, yes. A stock library track for commercial use can start at S$50, while a well-known song can cost more than the whole film. Check that the licence covers paid ads, not only your own pages.

Will I get the files to edit the video later?

Usually you get the finished film, not the files it was edited from. One studio's guide prices the working files at a fifth to half of the project fee. If you think you will want new versions later, ask for them in the first quote.

Can AI WISE make our video ads?

Yes. AI WISE is a Singapore-based digital marketing agency serving Asia. Our AI content production makes video ads, ad images and product photos, each built from your real, unedited product photos. You approve the script and the pictures before anything is made, and every project is quoted before work starts. See how our AI content production works.