Human-Shot vs AI-Generated Video Ads: Which Does Your Business Need?

The video ad question used to have one answer: hire a crew. Now there are genuinely two production routes, priced differently, suited to different briefs, and most businesses don't realise both are on the table until they ask.

Human Production means an actual 3-person minimum crew with camera, lighting and sound included. It starts from £650 +VAT for a half-day (4 hours), or £1,200 +VAT for a full day, which often covers enough footage for more than one finished video. This is the route for anything that needs a real location, real people, or a level of polish that AI generation still can't fully replicate, brand films, testimonials, anything where authenticity is the actual selling point.

Gen AI Production starts from £250 +VAT and covers custom AI characters, voice cloning and AI video engines, built and directed by our team rather than a generic prompt-and-hope process. It's considerably faster to turn around than a full shoot and works well for product ads, social content and anything where the message matters more than filming a specific real location or person.

In practice, a lot of finished campaigns use human-shot footage for the parts that need to feel real and AI generation for the parts that would otherwise need an expensive location shoot or a reshoot for a different aspect ratio. Standard video ads, 15 seconds to 2 minutes, run £250 to £1,500 +VAT depending on which route and how complex the brief is.

Whichever route, delivery covers whatever the platform needs from the same production: vertical cuts for TikTok, Reels and Stories, widescreen for billboards and outdoor screens (including our own Big Screen Van), and standard web formats for brand films and websites.

Asset rates drop to £75/asset when bundled as add-ons within an active Social Media or YouTube & Podcast Management retainer, rather than booked as a standalone job. Scripting is included either way, work from your brief and we handle the script in-house regardless of which production route the final asset uses.