How much does an AI-generated ad cost?

On this page, media and Claude tokens included: A $0.10 ad, meaning one image, a 3-second clip or search copy, cost $0.01 to $0.07. A 5-second clip or a small set of images cost $0.54 to $1.04. A short video with sound, a mascot video or a product demo cost $2.54 to $4.78. A 40-second street interview with AI actors cost $16.07. A whole campaign kit cost $41.79. That is the cost to make the ad. It does not include what you pay Meta or Google to show it, which is usually far more.

How much does a Veo 3 clip cost?

On Adside's list as of 2026-11-08, a 6-second Veo 3.1 Fast clip with sound costs $0.64 at 720p. The full Veo 3.1 model costs $2.54 for the same clip, or $1.27 without sound. Veo 3.1 Lite costs $0.43 for 8 seconds with sound. Google's own rate card runs from about $0.05 a second for Lite to $0.40 a second for the standard model. Add the Claude tokens that wrote the prompt. The examples above show both numbers.

What happened to Sora pricing?

OpenAI discontinued Sora in 2026. It announced the shutdown on 24 March, closed the app on 26 April and switched the API off on 24 September. Its pricing page lists no video model today. The last public rate was about $0.10 a second for sora-2 at 720p and $0.30 to $0.50 a second for sora-2-pro, so an 8-second clip cost $0.80 to $4. The models compared above cover that range and below it, at current prices.

Is AI UGC cheaper than hiring a UGC creator?

Yes, by a wide margin, for making the video. Billo lists creator videos from $99 for 15 seconds. Collabstr reports an average paid rate of $154 per deal in 2026. Insense puts beginners at $50 to $400 a video and experienced creators at $150 to $1,000. The AI actor ads on this page cost $0.98 to $16.07 each, media and tokens included. Each took minutes, not weeks. A real creator still wins on what a model cannot do: a face people recognise, signed usage rights and a point of view. We use the AI version to test scripts before paying a creator for the one that works.

What is the cheapest AI video generator for ads?

Per clip, on Adside's list as of 2026-11-08: mischief 1 at $0.03 for 5 seconds at 480p, Seedance 1.5 Pro at $0.07 for 5 seconds at 480p, Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite at $0.11 for 5 seconds at 480p. Cheap comes with limits. The lowest tiers skip sound, cap the resolution or only make one aspect ratio. The comparison above shows the same shot on every model, so you can see what each dollar buys. Monthly-plan tools quote a per-video price by dividing the plan by its credits, which hides the retakes. The totals here count every take.

How long does an AI video ad take to generate?

The video examples on this page took between 78 seconds and 36 minutes, from the first Claude token to the last file. A single 5-second clip renders in one to three minutes on most models. A 40-second ad with twenty lip-synced takes takes an hour or more, because each take is made, judged and often redone. A human creator video takes one to three weeks.

How much does a traditional commercial cost by comparison?

The last industry survey of national 30-second spots, by the 4A's in 2011, averaged $354,000 in production. Simulmedia puts a local spot at $3,000 to $15,000 and a national one at $50,000 to $500,000 in 2026. The Kalshi ad in the 2025 NBA Finals was made with Veo 3 for about $2,000, after 300 to 400 generations over three days. The most expensive example on this page cost $41.79.

Do AI ads need an AI disclosure on Meta?

Meta requires a disclosure for digitally created or altered photorealistic content in ads about social issues, elections or politics, and labels some AI content itself. For ordinary commercial ads there is no blanket rule today. The FTC's 2024 rule on fake reviews does apply: an AI actor may pitch the product but may not pose as a customer. That is why nobody on this page claims to have used Adside, and why every ad with AI actors or an AI voice says so in its title or label.

How do you count the Claude tokens?

Every example is one headless Claude Code run with JSON output. The result reports input, output and cache tokens for each model, plus the total cost at list price. We copy those numbers into the cost breakdown unchanged, with no plan discount. So the Claude figure is what the run would cost on pay-as-you-go API pricing.

Why does the $0.10 tier use Haiku and the $100 tier Opus?

The model has to fit the budget. At ten cents, Haiku writes the copy for about a cent and leaves room for one image. At a dollar, Sonnet writes the prompts and the copy. From ten dollars up, Opus directs the run and judges the takes. At a hundred dollars, a few dollars of Opus tokens buy several scripts, a judge for every take and a final pick, which is the job a creative director does.

How Much Do AI Ads Cost? Real Ads at 5 Budgets

Budget	Examples	Media	Claude	Total	Time to make	What you get
0.10	6	$0.01	$0.01	$0.03	46 s	One image or a 3-second clip, plus copy
1	6	$0.34	$0.32	$0.66	2 min 21 s	A 5-second clip, a carousel or a 6-second AI presenter
10	4	$1.72	$2.24	$4.16	7 min 59 s	An edited 10 to 20-second ad with voice or music
30	1	$11.62	$4.45	$16.07	36 min 27 s	A 40-second street interview with captions
100	1	$38.61	$3.18	$41.79	13 min 49 s	A campaign kit: six videos and nine statics

$4.78$3.16 media + $1.62 Claude · 7 min 8 s

20-second AI UGC ad with B-roll and music

AI influencer talking head · 9:16 · 22 s

$3.16 of media: 20 seconds of OmniHuman presenter for $2.08, a music bed for $0.60, two Seedance B-roll clips for $0.28, three stills and a voice. The presenter talks a little fast and flat. The phone in the cutaway shows fake text. The music was billed as a full minute for 25 seconds of use.

A full kit for one campaign: three concepts, six videos with AI presenters, and nine statics in several sizes. Opus writes and judges every script. Every Adside plan includes $100 of creative credits each month, so this is what one month of included credits buys.

$41.79$38.61 media + $3.18 Claude · 13 min 49 s

Campaign kit: three concepts, six videos, nine statics

Video with voice-over · 9:16 · 15 s · 15 files

$38.61 of media for three 15-second films, their square cuts and nine statics. Each opening shot was made on Veo 3.1 ($3.38), Kling 3.0 Pro ($1.42) and Seedance 2.0 ($3.18), and Veo won all three. The presenter clips come back soft at 716 by 1284 pixels. One Kling take came back sideways. In one film the second shot shows two men where the first shows a woman and a man.