What are you actually buying?
For an editor campaign, separate the work into three parts: making the videos, publishing them on the agreed accounts, and managing the campaign.
A quote should explain who does each part. It should also say whether revisions, reporting and any agency or platform fees are included. Getting a low number is not especially useful when you discover afterwards that it only covers the files.
Think about usage as well. When commissioning a post, agree separately whether you can repost the finished video, change it or use it in paid advertising. Put the intended uses in writing rather than leaving them for a conversation after delivery.
There are two different CPM questions
CPM means cost per thousand. In a view-based editor campaign, a stated CPM may be the rate used to calculate the editor’s payment for eligible views.
Your effective campaign CPM is a different calculation:
Total campaign spend / counted video views × 1,000.
For a purely hypothetical example, a campaign costing $500 that records 250,000 views has an effective CPM of $2. If the same spend records 100,000 views, the effective CPM is $5.
| Total campaign spend | Counted video views | Effective CPM |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | 250,000 | $2 |
| $500 | 100,000 | $5 |
Those are calculations after the result, not forecasts. They are not edit office prices or expected outcomes.
For a fair comparison, use the same definition of views and the same measurement period. Include the full cost you paid, not just the portion that reached the editors.
Read the conditions behind a view-based rate
Ask which posts qualify, when counting stops and how invalid views are handled. Find out whether payments are capped per video, what happens when the budget runs out and whether the quoted amount includes management fees.
Also ask what happens when a post underperforms. Is the agreement for a completed video and publication, for eligible views, or for a combination? Does the provider promise a particular result, and what does the agreement say happens if it is missed?
These are not small details. They explain what the price means.
Cheap views are not the whole decision
Look at the proposed content before choosing a campaign from its CPM alone.
Will the music be clearly audible? Does the video give someone a reason to notice the track? Does the account publish work that suits the release? A low cost per view cannot answer those questions.
The opposite also applies. An expensive edit is not automatically a good promotional idea. You can spend a lot of time on effects and still give the song very little attention.
Decide what a useful result would look like before buying the campaign. Views, identifiable interest in the song and new listeners are different things. Do not let a proposal quietly treat them as interchangeable.
Before you accept a quote
The questions from this guide, in one place:
- Does the price cover making the videos only, or publishing them on the agreed accounts as well?
- Which views are counted, how are invalid views handled, and when does counting stop?
- Which fees are included: agency, platform or management?
- What use of the finished video is agreed: reposting it, changing it, using it in paid advertising?
How the first campaign works at edit office
On your first campaign, we waive our own fee. The entire agreed campaign budget goes to the editors who create and post, while we handle the brief and coordination without taking a cut.
That means no edit office fee on the first run. It does not mean the editor work is free, and it does not establish the price of later campaigns.
Send the track, timing and budget you are considering. We can then discuss the work that budget would support, rather than quote a view total before we have heard the song.