Not All Video Is Created Equal

A mediocre brand video doesn’t just underperform - it can erase three quarters of the ROI your media dollars should earn.

‘My CEO says we need a new brand video to replace our older one. But he thinks we should just do it ourselves and save the money.’

I was talking to a potential new client yesterday in New York. The old video was a bit out of date. Some of the featured team had left, and the business had updated their messaging.

Well, I said: ‘The key question is what is the outcome you’re after? If all you need is a video, then of course you should just use an iPhone and make it as cheaply and simply as you can. If you want a business tool that will engage, educate, and inform, then you need to think about how you can land your messaging creatively. This generally involves time and budget to get it right.’

Creative quality drives 75% of returns

The point here is that not all video is created equal. Studies by Google/YouTube andIpsosfound that a whopping 75% of the effectiveness of any campaign comes down to the quality of the creative messaging. Of course, media/distribution budgets to get the work seen in the first place are essential but they can only go so far in making your campaign a success. If the work is good then every dollar goes further in getting it in front of your target audience. TheStand-up For Creative manifestoargues that only 10% of a typical campaign budget goes on creative, despite the fact that it drives 70% of effectiveness.

Nearly $50 billion wasted per year!

According to a 2025 study on advertising content from major brands, the analytics firm CreativeX found that increasing the creative quality of the work by just 10% could unlock up to $47.8 billion in additional media efficiency. In other words, the Fortune 500 collectively wastes tens of billions of dollars per year due to suboptimal creative quality.

A similar case study by Realeyes – a platform which judges ad quality by recording audience facial reactions, found that simply eliminating the lowest-performing, low-quality ads and focusing on the stronger creatives boosted effective ad exposures by 30% and delivered a 9X return on the testing investment.

We’ve seen the same thing where a client of ours – who I unfortunately cannot name – found that the series we delivered for them had increased the page dwell time on the thought leadership area of their site had increased from around two minutes to over 14:30 minutes – a 725% increase. The production quality was high and the messaging/editing was really strong, so it had a decent budget. Despite this, it delivered a multiple of the return on investment of what they had had there before.

Poor quality video is money wasted

Money spent on weak video content is money wasted. It’s far more efficient to invest in quality that holds audience attention and lands your message. For B2B marketers with finite budget, this is a crucial insight: poor production values can lead to “waste” in the form of content that doesn’t convert or content marketing videos that generate little engagement, meaning the dollars spent producing and distributing them yield less in return.

High-quality videos, while costing more upfront, tend to drive significantly better results per view – higher click-throughs, more leads, stronger influence on pipeline – making the cost per acquisition or cost per lead lower in the long run.

Quality is not just flashy visuals

This is not all about expensive, high-production video either. Sometimes the most effective piece of content for a give use case might be shot on an iPhone, the key is that you know what you’re doing and that the quality of the creative approach matches what is appropriate for the messaging. The most important asset a film can have is time spent, thinking and researching – refining the concept as you go.

Quality signals professionalism

Finally, consider the opportunity cost of tarnishing a potential buyer’s first touch with your brand. A survey by Wyzowl in 2025 found 91% of consumers say video quality impacts their trust in a brand.

If a CIO’s first impression of your company is a sloppy video on LinkedIn, you may not get a second chance, and that opportunity is essentially lost. The cost of losing a six-figure sale because your video turned the prospect off far exceeds the cost you would have incurred to produce a great video.

High-quality video production is often more expensive and time-consuming, but the research and examples above make a compelling case that it’s worth every penny for B2B marketers. Skimping on quality is often a false economy – while you might save a bit on production costs, you risk significantly lower performance across all key metrics that matter: conversions, engagement, brand trust, and sales.

There is an opportunity cost to sub-optimal video

The opportunity cost of low-quality video comes in the form of prospects who don’t convert, audiences who tune out, a brand that doesn’t inspire confidence, and deals that never materialise. On the other hand, better-produced video content can yield superior business outcomes, from higher conversion rates to faster revenue growth.

Quality video is a strategic business tool

In summary, B2B organisations should view video quality not as a cost to minimise, but as a strategic lever to maximise impact. A well-crafted brand film, explainer, or testimonial can be the difference between being remembered or forgotten, between a lead converting or slipping away. By prioritising high-quality production, you position your message to cut through the noise and persuade decision-makers. The evidence is overwhelming that when it comes to video, you truly get what you pay for.

Invest in quality, and you invest in results. Budget protects dollars; craft multiplies them.