Hiring in-house
isn't cheaper, it's just a fixed cost
A salaried editor and a social manager can produce clips, but they can't reach people who don't follow you yet. In-house buys you production without buying you an audience. Here's the real cost, plus the honest case for each option.
There's one case where in-house genuinely wins
If you already publish enough long-form content to keep an editor busy every week, and you already have an audience big enough that posting to your own channels actually moves the number, then in-house can work out cheaper per unit. Some companies are there, and if that's you, hire well and skip the rest of this page.
Most SaaS and AI companies aren't there yet though. They have a handful of recordings a month and an audience made up mostly of people who already know them, and for them the in-house maths breaks in three places. Every number below is public.
What in-house actually costs you
Salary isn't the real cost once you add benefits, tools, hiring and the six weeks before anyone even starts. Move the slider.
The editor salary you would pay
$60,240
What it actually costs, year one
$189,000
Editor and social manager fully loaded, plus tools and hiring. It's a fixed cost you pay whether or not a single clip performs, and it still only ever reaches your own audience.
Loaded at 1.3x base (Vena, BLS) · salaries Salary.com and Built In 2026 · tools ~$4,000 (Adobe 2026) · hiring ~$4,700 per role (SHRM)
The same job with Lumina
Custom
A custom CPM per 1,000 verified views, set against your niche and volume and agreed on the call. No payroll, no hiring wait and no fixed cost, and views that fail the check aren't billed while the posts stay live.
Campaign range $5,000 to $200,000+
- It takes around 42 days to fill the role (SHRM), while we're live in 24 to 72 hours.
- 50 to 200% of salary to replace them if they leave (Gallup).
Planning estimate built from published salary, benefits, tool and hiring figures. Not a quote and not a rate card.
Two different cost models
In-house is a payroll line while Lumina is a results line. One shows up every month no matter what happens, and the other only shows up when the views were real.
Reach is the part a salary can't buy you
You can hire the best editor in the world and they'll still be posting to the audience you already have.
Your own accounts
A salaried team schedules to the channels you already own, so however good the clip is, the ceiling is your follower count, and that's mostly people who already know you.
A network of 62,900+ creators
We put the clip in front of people who do not follow you yet, on real accounts with real audiences, and bill only on verified views. See the creator network.
Got an in-house editor already? Keep them. Let them make the clips and use the network to get them seen, so in-house handles the production while we handle the distribution.
In-house vs agency, answered
Is it cheaper to hire a video editor in-house or use a clipping agency?
How much does an in-house video editor really cost?
How long does it take to build an in-house clipping team?
Can an in-house team get my clips in front of new audiences?
What happens to my content if my in-house editor quits?
Should I use both an in-house editor and an agency?
Sources: Salary.com, Built In, Vena and BLS, SHRM, Gallup, Adobe. 2024 to 2026.
Skip the payroll line and pay for results instead
Keep your team or start with none, because either way the network gets your clips in front of buyers who don't know you yet, and you only pay for verified views.