How much should I spend on video each year?
Short Answer:
There is no fixed figure — it depends on your goals, industry, and overall marketing budget. A common approach is to allocate a share of your marketing budget to video proportional to how much of your audience's attention is on video (which is high and growing). Rather than a one-off spend, plan for a consistent annual programme of content.
Overview
Annual video spend is best framed as an ongoing investment, not a single purchase. The right level ties to your marketing objectives and the return video generates, and consistency usually beats occasional big productions.
Detailed Explanation
How to set a video budget
Start from goals: what do you need video to achieve this year?
Proportion of marketing spend: allocate based on how central video is to reaching your audience.
Mix of content: balance occasional hero films with a steady flow of lower-cost, regular content.
Include distribution: budget for promoting the videos, not just making them.
Reinvest based on results: scale spend toward what measurably works.
A sustainable programme of regular, well-targeted content typically delivers better long-term ROI than sinking the whole budget into a single expensive film once a year.
Example
Rather than spending an entire annual budget on one flagship film, a business might commission one hero brand film plus a monthly batch of shorter social and product videos — keeping a consistent presence and more chances to convert.