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A straight answer, with actual numbers, from a freelance videographer who thinks it's strange that this is a hard question to find an answer to.
Here's something I noticed when I went looking at what other videographers in Manchester charge: almost nobody will tell you.
You'll find websites that talk about "bespoke quotes," "tailored solutions," and "every project is different." All true, to a point. But you came here because you've got a budget conversation to have with someone - your finance director, your marketing manager, possibly yourself - and "it depends" isn't an answer you can take to a budget meeting.
So here's a straight one.
A corporate video in Manchester typically costs between £400 and £2,500.
Most projects fall comfortably in the middle of that range. Bigger productions go higher. The starting point is real - I've worked on plenty of jobs at the lower end and they were proper, professional, deliverable pieces of work.
That answer isn't precise enough to be useful on its own, so let me break it down properly.
These are the prices I publish on my own pricing page. They're not industry averages and I can't speak for what other people are charging - but they're real, they're what I quote on a regular basis, and they'll give you a sensible reference point.
Social media content - from £400. A half-day shoot producing four to six edited clips for Reels, TikTok and LinkedIn. Colour graded, formatted properly, ready to upload. A good entry point if you want a steady drip of content without committing to a full production.
Corporate or brand film - from £750. A polished 60-second to 3-minute film, full shoot day, professional edit, pre-production conversation included. The kind of thing that lives on your website homepage or runs at the start of a sales presentation.
Event coverage - from £650. Full day on site at a conference, launch or awards event. You get a highlight reel plus social clips, delivered within 10 working days.
Testimonial or interview video - from £450. Half a day, one to three subjects, finished video with titles. Belongs on your website and in your proposals.
Podcast video production - from £500 per episode. Multi-camera, full edit, social clips cut from each session.
Monthly retainer - from £1,400 per month. Two shoot days a month, priority scheduling, a long-form piece each quarter, the lot. Better value than booking days separately and the most sensible way to stay consistent on video without reinventing the wheel every month.
All ex-VAT. Bigger productions get their own quote because they need to. A fully-crewed large-scale production can easily top £20,000 a day.
When two corporate videos look similar but cost wildly different amounts, here's what's usually behind it:
How long the finished video needs to be. A 30-second social cut and a 4-minute brand film take very different amounts of editing time, even if the shoot day is the same.
How many shoot days you need. This is the biggest single factor. A one-day shoot is roughly half the cost of a two-day shoot. Pretty obvious when you say it out loud.
How many formats you need. Landscape for YouTube, square for Instagram, vertical for Reels - they're all the same footage but they all need separate editing passes. Three formats isn't three times the price, but it's not the same as one either.
Travel. Manchester and the immediate North West is usually included. If you're in deep Cumbria or somewhere I'd need to overnight, that gets agreed upfront.
Motion graphics and animation. Adding custom titles, lower thirds, animated logos or explainer-style graphics adds real time to the edit. Worth knowing because clients sometimes underestimate this.
Rush turnaround. Under five working days costs more. Sometimes considerably more, depending on what else is in the schedule that week. Fair warning.
Revisions beyond what's included. Most projects include at least one or two rounds of revisions. After that, additional changes are quoted separately. Almost nobody hits this in practice, but it's worth knowing.
If you're a small or mid-sized business in Manchester or the North West commissioning your first or second corporate video, the most common total budget falls between £800 and £1,800. That covers a proper shoot day or two, professional editing, a hero video plus social cuts, and a sensible turnaround.
If you're commissioning regularly - say, you need video for an ongoing content schedule - the maths shifts. A retainer almost always works out cheaper per piece of content than booking individual projects.
If you're commissioning something larger - a launch film, a multi-location shoot, a film with several interview subjects - you're probably looking at £2,000 to £5,000+. That's a normal range for that kind of work, not an outlier.
Here's the bit that probably annoys other videographers when I say it.
You can find people in Manchester who'll quote you £150 for a corporate video. Sometimes less. The footage will technically exist. It might even be in focus. But there's a reason that work ends up sitting on a hard drive and never gets used.
Cheap video isn't really cheap if you can't put it on your website. It's not cheap if you have to commission it again six months later because the first version embarrasses you. It's not cheap if your competitors look more credible than you do because they spent £800 and you spent £150.
This isn't a pitch for premium pricing. It's just that the maths of cheap video usually doesn't work out the way you'd hope. Spending £400 once is genuinely cheaper than spending £150 twice when you account for the stress and hassle.
For context, a typical corporate film at £750 to £1,500 covers:
A pre-production conversation - me asking proper questions about what the video needs to do, who it's for, and what success looks like.
A full shoot day - professional cameras, lighting and audio kit, plus whoever you need to be on camera being directed by someone who knows how to put people at ease.
Editing - properly cut, properly graded, with licensed music. Not a basic timeline export.
Revisions - at least one round, often two. The goal is a final cut you're actually happy with, not one that's been technically delivered.
Delivery - usually within 10 working days, in the formats you actually need.
That's what £750 buys. Not a video. It buys the thing the video does for your business. It's an investment, not a cost.
If you're getting quotes from multiple videographers - which you should - here's how to read them properly:
Is the price clear or hidden? A quote that won't tell you what you're paying for until you've had three meetings is a quote you should be sceptical of.
Is post-production included? Some videographers quote a shoot-day rate and then bill for editing separately. Always ask whether editing, colour grading and music licensing are included in the headline price.
How many revisions? Some include none. That's a red flag right there.
What's the turnaround? Vague answers are worth pushing back on.
Are you talking to the person who'll actually do the work? If you're talking to an account manager who then hands you off to a freelancer, you're paying agency margins for a freelancer's work. Often worth going direct.
Yes, every project is different. Yes, you should still get a quote tailored to what you actually need. The numbers above are guide prices, not promises.
But if you've read this far, you now know more about what corporate video actually costs in Manchester than most clients do when they pick up the phone. Which means you'll have a better conversation with whoever you call - me or anyone else.
And that was the point.
Thinking about commissioning corporate video for your business? You can see my full pricing on the pricing page, or get in touch with a brief and I'll come back with a clear quote - usually within 48 hours.
© Ian Bentley Ridgeway 2026, All Rights Reserved
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