Trident Guides
How Much Does a TV Commercial Cost?
The Two Costs of a TV Commercial
How Much Does It Cost to Make a TV Commercial?
- Basic local: about $1,000 to $5,000. A simple concept shot in a day at one location with a small crew, standard editing, one deliverable. Often produced by the station or a local video shop.
- Professional local: about $5,000 to $15,000. A written concept, professional crew and lighting, on-camera talent or voiceover, color and sound work, cutdowns for 15 seconds and social.
- Regional: about $15,000 to $50,000. Multiple locations or shoot days, professional talent, motion graphics, licensed music, full post-production, versions for TV and streaming.
- Premium and national: $50,000 to $150,000 for high-end brand work; $150,000 to $500,000 and beyond for national campaigns with large crews, union talent, and celebrity fees.
What drives production cost
The concept, not the length. A 30-second spot and a 15-second spot cost nearly the same to make; a spot with three locations, four actors, and a drone costs several times one with a single presenter and a product. The other drivers are crew size and equipment, talent and the usage rights that go with it, locations and permits, post-production (editing, color, sound, graphics, music licensing), and how many versions you need at the end. A spot produced for television can run on streaming and social with small edits. A vertical phone clip cannot run on television. Producing for the biggest screen first is almost always the cheaper path.
How Much Does TV Airtime Cost?
- Small markets (roughly DMAs 151 to 210): about $200 to $1,500 per spot on broadcast stations. Local cable on individual networks runs far less, and published guides put entry-level local cable packages under $1,000 a month.
- Mid-sized markets (DMAs 51 to 150): about $500 to $3,000 per spot on broadcast. Prime time and local news at the top; daytime and overnight well below.
- Large markets (DMAs 1 to 50): about $2,000 to $10,000 per spot.
- Top ten markets: $5,000 to $50,000 and up per spot.
- National broadcast prime time: roughly $200,000 to $1 million per spot. A 30-second Super Bowl spot reportedly cost about $8 million in 2026.
- National cable: roughly $1,000 to $50,000 per spot; premium sports networks $20,000 to $150,000.
Why Do Two Spots on the Same Station Cost Such Different Amounts?
Services That Work For You
Broadcast, Cable, or Streaming: Which Costs Less?
Broadcast (the local ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX stations)
Cable (local spots on cable networks through the local system)
Streaming (connected TV):
How Is Local TV Advertising Actually Bought?
Nobody buys one spot. A television campaign is a schedule: a mix of programs and dayparts over several weeks, designed to reach a target audience a set number of times. Stations quote rates, but rates are negotiated, and they move with demand, the time of year, and how much of the schedule is committed in advance. The fourth quarter and election seasons are expensive; the first quarter is cheap. A buyer who works with the stations every week knows what the rate should be, which programs actually deliver the audience the station claims, and how to hold good inventory before it fills.
The number that matters is the cost of the schedule, not the cost of a spot. A local campaign is dozens of spots a week for several weeks, and the question to ask is what it costs to reach your audience often enough to be remembered, not what one 30-second slot goes for.
Common TV Advertising Mistakes
Spending it all on the spot
A beautiful commercial with no money left to air it is a portfolio piece. Budget production and airtime together from the start.
Buying prime only
Prime time reaches the most people per spot and the fewest per dollar. Most local schedules should mix in cheaper dayparts for frequency.
One flight
Television builds through repetition. Two weeks on the air and then silence is money spent introducing yourself to people who will forget.
Ignoring streaming
Nearly half of TV viewing is now streaming. A schedule that runs only on broadcast and cable misses the households that left, and they are disproportionately the ones with children and mortgages.
TV Advertising With Trident Media Group
Trident Media Group produces television commercials in-house and buys broadcast, cable, and streaming time for local, regional, and national advertisers, so the spot and the schedule come from the same team and the same budget conversation. We know what the stations in our markets should cost and how to build a schedule that reaches the right audience often enough to work. If you want to know what a television campaign would look like for your business, call (888) 993-0931 or book a meeting online.
Frequently Asked Questions About TV Commercial Costs
Answer:
Published 2026 guides put a basic local spot at roughly $1,000 to $5,000, a professional local spot at $5,000 to $15,000, regional work at $15,000 to $50,000, and national campaigns at $150,000 and up. The concept drives the cost far more than the length.
Answer:
Roughly $200 to $1,500 per 30-second broadcast spot in small markets and $500 to $3,000 in mid-sized ones, according to published guides, with off-peak dayparts 60 to 80 percent below prime. Local cable spots run much less. A campaign is a schedule of many spots, so the schedule cost is the number to plan around.
Answer:
Not in a small or mid-sized market. Local cable and streaming let a small business run a real commercial for a modest monthly budget, and broadcast in a mid-sized market is within reach of many local businesses. The production cost is the part to plan for first.
Answer:
About $8 million for 30 seconds of airtime in 2026, before production, which for Super Bowl spots often runs into the millions as well.
Answer:
Yes, and you should. A spot produced for television runs on connected TV with small edits, and usually on social with a cutdown. The reverse does not work: a phone video does not hold up on a television screen.
Answer:
No. The figures on this page are published market ranges from industry pricing guides, included so you can plan. Production is quoted from the concept, and airtime is negotiated market by market and schedule by schedule.
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