What a video ad costs in Italy, line by line

Ask three Italian production houses to price the same 30-second spot and you get three totals that look like three different jobs. A freelance videographer, a mid-size studio and an agency with a TV track record all say “spot”, and each prices different work. The totals won’t compare. The lines will, and once you read them side by side you can see which line explains the gap.

The five lines in every quote

Concept and script. The idea, the script, the storyboard. An agency often bills this as its own creative fee; a freelancer folds it into the shoot.
Pre-production. Casting, location scouting, permits, the shooting schedule. Filming on public ground in an Italian city needs a permit from the municipality, which adds fees and days to the plan.
Shoot days. Crew, camera and lighting hire, the director, insurance, catering. You pay by the day, so a shoot that runs over bills a second one.
Post-production. Edit, colour grade, sound mix, graphics, voice-over.
Rights. The talent buyout and the music licence. Buyers get the most surprises from this line, so it gets its own section.

Rights expire

An actor’s fee pays for their day on set. Putting their face in your ad costs a separate buyout, priced by media (online, TV, cinema, outdoor), territory and period. One year of online use in Italy costs a fraction of five years of TV across Europe, and when the period ends you pay again or pull the ad. Music follows the same logic: a library licence covers listed uses, and a known song means a negotiation with the publisher and the label.

Read the rights line first. A low total with six months of online-only rights can cost you more by next spring than a higher quote with broad rights.

Two lines multiply

Shoot days and rights grow with each extra version you ask for. The same ad with a German presenter for the DACH market means another casting, another shoot day and another buyout. A 9:16 cut for Reels from footage framed for 16:9 means the editor crops, and your product ends up half out of frame.

AI production changes those two lines. A generated presenter carries no buyout (you still run the checks from our guide to AI ad law in the EU), and a new version costs a new render instead of a new shoot day. Concept, direction and edit still cost money, because people do that work.

Airtime is a separate budget

A production quote pays for making the ad. Showing it on TV is a media purchase from the channel’s advertising sales house: Rai Pubblicità sells Rai, Publitalia ‘80 sells Mediaset. They price each slot by channel, time band and season, and a national prime-time plan can cost more than the ad. Online, you pay Meta, Google or TikTok through your ad account. If a producer’s quote includes “media”, ask them to split it out.

Our prices, for comparison

We publish our ladder:

Video Shoot Test, €950. The entry point for FMCG and e-commerce brands.
AI Creative Test, €2,500. The entry point for luxury, pharma and enterprise; we credit it to the full project.
Campaigns up to €35,000.
Retainers at €6,500 and €9,500 a month.
Revisions: two rounds included; each further round costs €1,500.

Your quote depends on how many versions, formats and markets you need. The pricing page lays out each step.

Five questions before you sign

Ask each supplier the same five things. Which rights does the price include, for which media, territory and period? How many revision rounds are included, and what does the next one cost? Which formats and cut-downs will you deliver? Who owns the final files? What does a new language version cost?

Get the answers in writing and attach them to the contract. Or send us the brief, and you get a price and an idea within a day.