Identify the costs associated with producing a TV commercial.  Provide
the associated tasks and a price range.

The most comprehensive source for information regarding television
commercial production costs can be found in the "AAAA Television
Production Cost Survey: Report of 2004 Findings" American Association
of Advertising Agencies (November 2, 2005)
http://www.aaaa.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?WebCode=AAAABookstoreDetails&title=Television+Production+Cost+Survey%3a+Report+of+2004+Findings.
 It is available for purchase at this web site.

Since I do not have access to the report itself, I will provide you
with figures I have obtained from other sources citing various
versions of this report.  As a result, the figures will not be from
the most current version in most cases, but they will give you a good
idea of television commercial production cost drivers and their
associated amounts.

The report is cited by http://www.cheap-tv-spots.com/ as indicating
that the average 30-second TV commercial in 2004 cost $372,000.  This
figure is indicated for 2003 by "Amid Media Price Inflation, TV
Production Costs Also Soar, Pose Threat To Addressability"
by Joe Mandese, MediaDailyNews (October 13, 2004) 
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=875

Many costs add up to result in the total cost of producing television
commercial.  Shooting on location rather than in a studio tends to be
more expensive, at least partly because it takes longer.

"Interestingly, the TV commercial production cost inflation comes even
as Madison Avenue has shifted away from relatively expensive
"location" shoots to more studio-based production. However, while
location shoots declined 2 percent from 2002, they still accounted for
62 percent of all TV commercial productions in 2003."  (MediaDailyNews
source given above)

Director fees, editing/completion costs, creative/labor fees, and
music also add to production costs.

"Getting the Most for Your Production Dollar" Riger Advertising
http://www.riger.com/know_base/advertising/getting_the_most.html

Although older, this article provides details on the amounts of these
costs: "AAAA Survey Finds Eight Percent Hike In Cost To Produce
30-Second Tv Commercials" icom (October 14, 2002)
http://www.icommag.com/november-2002/november-page-1b.html

"Directors' fees per 3-second commercial increased 10% to $23,000 in
2001 compared to 2000, when they fell 5%."

"When shot in a studio, a national 30 took an average of 13-plus hours
while an on location shoot took about 14-plus hours-both about the
same as last year."

"The survey found the average cost to edit and finish an original 30
increased by 7%, from $42,000 in 2000 to $45000 in 2001."

"Creative/labor fees increased by 9%, and music costs remained the
same in 2001 as in 2000, averaging $34,000 per job.  Video finishing
increased 5% while sound recording and mixing increased 4%."

"Talent costs increased 14% in 2001, costing $16,000 per spot"

Sincerely,

Wonko

Search terms: Television commercial production costs

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Request for Answer Clarification by tonyjones-ga on 06 Feb 2006 15:10 PST

What you provided is excellent... did you by chance come across any
info that list identified the various ingredients for a typical
commerical production i.e. (script writer, editing, filming, etc) ..
if not what you have provided is good enough.

Thanks again

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Clarification of Answer by wonko-ga on 06 Feb 2006 15:17 PST

Hopefully this will help:

"From Start to Finish: The Process of Making a TV Commercial" KCTV5
http://www.kctv5.com/Global/story.asp?S=1931577

"From Start to Finish: The Process of Making a TV Commercial"
KIVI/KSAW http://www.6onyourside.com/Production/tabid/363/Default.aspx

super, great job

An interesting question.

My take is that it is quite possible to produce a very effective
commercial for roughly ... nothing.

Broadcast standard video is now a household item, and it was
inexpensive 25 years ago, when I saw my ad budget stripped to get a
'golden pencil' for some prats in an advertising agency. (name
withheld, but they gave me an ironically verdant form of pyrites
diarrhoea )

Mostly it is being different that penetrates and permeates peoples' skulls.

You can get the 'bodies' for nothing, exposure is an aphrodisiac to a
'resting' actor/actress.

You could even run a competition for nebisches, screen their ads, and
get votes from the punters. With a pay number, you would probably make
a profit.

Once I worked with a well known German company (in Hamburg) who wanted
to do some market research, instead of hiring an agency, they did it
themselves, and pretended to be employees of a MR company.

The qualitative results were unfiltered - and very interesting.

I guess it goes down to the old maxim
  - you can spend a penny to get a pound
  - or a pound to get a penny

And, yes, I know that is slightly vulgar.

Short answer, for a viable product, you could turn a buck (negative expenditure).