How much does video production cost in Melbourne?

Melbourne video production costs range from $497 for a half-day branded shoot with 5 reels (Konquer Media's Soft Launch entry) to $2,500–$10,000/mo for a monthly content retainer that includes production, paid advertising and CRM follow-up. A typical one-off branded shoot from a real production team runs $1,500–$5,000. Monthly retainers that include ad spend, CRM and ongoing content sit between $2,500 and $10,000/mo depending on volume.

Is ad spend included in a video production retainer?

It depends on the agency. Konquer Media bundles ad spend into every retainer tier and pays it to Meta and Google at cost, with no agency markup. Launch includes $500/mo, Growth includes $1,500/mo. Most agencies charge for production separately from paid media — Konquer's model combines both under one invoice so you know the all-in cost.

What is the minimum spend for a Melbourne content agency retainer?

Konquer Media's minimum retainer is $2,500/mo on a three-month minimum engagement. For businesses not ready for a retainer, the $497 Soft Launch covers one half-day shoot, five delivered reels in seven days and no ongoing commitment — credited back against month one if you sign a retainer within 14 days.

Why do Melbourne agencies hide their pricing?

Most content agencies don't publish rates because pricing varies significantly by scope, and they want to qualify the client on a call before anchoring to a number. Konquer Media publishes all retainer and entry pricing publicly — Launch at $2,500/mo, Growth at $5,000/mo, Scale at $10,000/mo — on the basis that clients who've already seen the rates and decided to get in touch are better qualified than those who need convincing to share a budget.

Pricing · field notes

how much does video production actually cost in Melbourne?

The real answer is a range, and most agencies won't give you one until you're on a call. Here's the honest version — what a shoot costs, what a monthly costs, and where the money quietly goes.

Short version: in Melbourne a one-off branded shoot from a real production team typically runs anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a half-day of reels to five figures for a full broadcast-grade campaign. An ongoing content retainer — the thing most businesses actually need — usually sits between $2,000 and $10,000 a month depending on shoot volume and whether ads and CRM are included. Our own retainers start at $2,500/mo, with a one-off $497 first shoot if you want to see the work before committing.

what actually drives the price

Three things move the number more than anything else, and none of them are the camera:

1. Crew and time on the day. A single operator grabbing reels is one price. A two-camera documentary set-up — the kind we used filming 80+ hours for the 13-episode Channel 31 series Inside the Garden — is another. You're paying for the hours it takes to make the room read true, not the gear itself.

2. How much you need, how often. One hero video is a project. A steady feed of reels, stills and cut-downs every month is a system. Per-piece, the system is far cheaper — the shoot day is amortised across a dozen deliverables instead of one.

3. What happens after the footage. Editing, captions, paid distribution and lead follow-up are where "cheap video" gets expensive. A $400 reel that nobody sees and no one replies to cost you $400 for nothing. The price that matters is cost-per-booking, not cost-per-clip.

one-off shoot vs monthly retainer

A one-off makes sense when you need a specific asset — a launch film, a venue walkthrough, a single campaign. Expect to brief it, shoot it, and have it delivered as a project with a fixed scope.

A retainer makes sense when the goal is consistency — staying in front of your market every week. It's almost always better value per asset, and it's the only model where the content, the ads and the follow-up are wired together instead of bought from three different suppliers. That's how we run it: one retainer, three outputs — shoot, run the ads, text the leads back. More on the services page.

the "ad spend" line nobody explains

If an agency runs Meta or Google ads for you, ask one question: is the ad spend marked up? Plenty of agencies quietly take a margin on the media you buy. We bundle ad spend into the retainer and pass it to the platforms at cost — your dollars go to reaching customers, not to padding an invoice. Over a year that difference is real money.

what we actually charge (published, not hidden)

We put our numbers on the pricing page on purpose, because hiding rates until a sales call is a tactic, not a courtesy:

Soft Launch — $497 one-off. A half-day shoot and five reels in a week. The no-risk way to see the work; it credits back if you go monthly.
Launch — $2,500/mo. A half-day shoot, a set of reels and stills, a campaign with ad spend bundled, a monthly call and report. Three-month minimum, then month-to-month.
Growth — $5,000/mo. A full shoot day, bigger content volume, multiple campaigns, full CRM and a fortnightly call — the tier that moves stock, not just keeps the page warm.

FAQ

What's the cheapest way to start?
Our $497 Soft Launch — a half-day shoot and five reels delivered in a week. It's designed so you can judge the work before committing to a monthly, and the fee comes off your first month if you upgrade.

Why is a retainer cheaper per video than a one-off?
Because the shoot day is the expensive part, and a retainer spreads it across a month of deliverables instead of a single asset. You also stop paying three suppliers (production, ads, CRM) for work one team can wire together.

Do you work outside the eastern suburbs?
We're based in Melbourne's east and shoot across the metro. If local matters to you, we wrote up the region in content and video for eastern suburbs Melbourne.

If you're comparing packages — what's included in the market at each price point — see social media content packages in Australia for a full breakdown of entry, mid-tier and full-service retainers. For a complete picture of what a Melbourne production day includes and how to evaluate a production team, see social media video production in Melbourne. For how long video production actually takes from brief to delivery, see video production timeline Melbourne.

Book a brief → See pricing