Budgeting AI video for a YouTube channel

A typical faceless YouTube video runs 8 minutes with roughly 40 AI-generated shots of ~6 seconds (240 seconds of footage), plus voiceover and stock elements. Here's what that costs per video and per month at different upload schedules, using a mixed-tier strategy with realistic retakes.

Strategy	Per video	4 videos / mo	12 videos / mo
All budget tier ($0.05/s, ×2 retakes)	$24.00	$96.00	$288.00
Mixed: budget B-roll + 2 premium hero shots	≈ $37	≈ $148	≈ $444
All mid tier ($0.10/s, ×1.5 retakes)	$36.00	$144.00	$432.00
All premium ($0.40/s, ×1.5 retakes)	$144.00	$576.00	$1,728.00

Rates shown at each model's base tier, verified July 2026 from official vendor pricing pages and documentation. Vendors change prices without notice — see methodology.

The mixed strategy, spelled out

36 B-roll shots on a budget tier: 216s × $0.05 × 2 retakes = $21.60
2 hero shots (open + payoff) on a premium tier: 16s × $0.40 × 2 = $12.80
Drafting buffer for prompt testing at 480p: ≈ $2.50
Total ≈ $37 per video — and the hero shots are what the thumbnail and first 15 seconds are built from, which is where retention is won.

Does the math work against ad revenue?

At a conservative $3 RPM, an 8-minute video needs ~12,000 views to cover a $37 generation budget. At the $10+ RPM common in finance, software and business niches, break-even drops under 4,000 views. Generation cost is rarely the bottleneck — retention is — which argues for spending on the two shots viewers actually judge, not on uniform quality.

When a subscription beats the API

At 12 videos per month on the mixed strategy you're consuming roughly 3,000 generation-seconds. Check whether a pooled plan (Runway Pro, Kling Pro) prices those seconds cheaper than pay-per-use — at that volume it usually does. The break-even formula is in the pricing guide.

Run your own numbers. The cost calculator applies your clip length, resolution and a realistic retake buffer across every model at once.