Insights

Microlearning vs. Long-Form Training Videos: Which Format Works Better?

A training director has 25 minutes of content to deliver. The question is whether to produce one 25-minute video or five 5-minute modules. The content is identical. The production cost is similar. But the completion rates, retention, and learner experience are not even close.

This guide compares microlearning (short, focused modules) and long-form training videos across every dimension that matters to L&D teams: engagement data, retention research, production cost, LMS deployment, and content maintainability. The data strongly favors one approach for most corporate training - but "most" is not "all," and the exceptions matter.

Maintaining Brand Consistency Across a Training Video Series

One training video can get away with looking however the designer happened to build it. A training video series cannot. When learners move through multiple modules - onboarding, compliance, product training, safety - and each one looks like it was made by a different company, credibility suffers. The content might be accurate, but the inconsistency signals that the organization is disorganized, that the training is an afterthought, or that the material is pieced together from different eras and vendors.

Interactive Training Videos: Quizzes, Branching Scenarios, and Engagement Mechanics

A training video that plays from start to finish asks nothing of the learner. They press play, they watch, they move on. Whether they understood the content, can apply it, or were even paying attention is unknown until a separate assessment reveals the gap.

Interactive training videos close that gap during the viewing experience itself. By embedding quiz questions, branching decisions, and knowledge checks directly into the video, you turn passive consumption into active learning - and you get data on comprehension in real time, not after the fact.

Updating Training Videos When Policies Change: Cost, Timeline, and Best Practices

Every training video has an expiration date. Regulations change. Software gets updated. Company policies evolve. Branding refreshes. The question is not whether your training video will need an update - it is whether the update will cost $500 or $15,000. That difference comes down to two things: whether you have the source files, and whether the video was designed with updates in mind.

This guide covers the real costs of updating animated training videos, how to decide between revising and rebuilding, and how to structure new videos so future updates are fast and affordable.

Working Under NDA: How Animation Studios Handle Confidential Training Content

Most training videos cover internal material - proprietary processes, unreleased products, employee workflows, compliance procedures, and operational details that companies do not share publicly. If you are commissioning animated training content, the studio you hire will see confidential information. That is unavoidable. What matters is how that information is protected.

This guide covers what to expect when working with an animation studio under NDA: what the NDA should include, what security practices to ask about, and how to structure the engagement so your confidential material stays confidential.

Training Video Series Pricing: How Bulk Orders Lower Per-Minute Cost

One training video solves one problem. A training video series builds a learning program. The difference is not just scope - it is economics. When you commission multiple animated training videos together, the per-video cost drops substantially because the most expensive part of production - developing the visual style, characters, and brand system - only happens once.

This guide breaks down exactly how series pricing works, what drives the discount, and how to structure a multi-video order to get the best value without overcommitting before you know what works.

Who Owns Your Training Video? IP Rights, Source Files, and Future Edits

You paid for a training video. You approved every revision. You signed off on the final cut. But do you actually own it?

The answer depends entirely on what your contract says - and most buyers do not check until they need to make an edit, reuse footage in another project, or hand the source files to a different vendor. By that point, unclear ownership terms become expensive to resolve.

SCORM, xAPI, and LMS-Ready Training Videos: What Buyers Need to Know

Your animated training video can be the best content your L&D team has ever produced - but if it does not load in your LMS, track completions, or meet your compliance reporting requirements, it will sit unused. LMS compatibility is not a creative decision. It is a technical requirement that determines whether your video actually reaches learners and generates the completion data your organization needs.

This guide explains the three standards that govern how training videos interact with learning management systems - SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, and xAPI - what each one tracks, and what to specify when you commission animated training content so it works on day one.

Enterprise Video Budget Planning: How to Build a Business Case for Animation

You already know your team needs video. Buyers expect it. Prospects watch it before they talk to sales. New hires need it to onboard faster. But knowing you need video and getting a budget approved are two different problems - and the second one is often harder than the first.

This guide gives you the numbers, frameworks, and language to build a video budget request that finance and leadership will actually approve. We cover what enterprise animation costs at each tier, how to size an annual program, and how to calculate an ROI that holds up under scrutiny.

Whiteboard Animation vs. Motion Graphics: Which Format Gets Better Results?

"Should we do whiteboard or motion graphics?" is one of the most common questions we hear from first-time video buyers. It sounds like a simple style preference, but the format you choose affects your production cost, your brand perception, and whether the video actually works for the audience you're targeting. This post breaks down both formats, compares them side by side, and gives you a clear decision framework so you can pick the right one before you start.

Animated Internal Communications Videos: Get Company-Wide Messages to Actually Land

Your CEO sent a 1,200-word email about the reorg. Nobody read it. Your head of HR followed up with a FAQ doc. Still nothing. Three weeks later, half the company still doesn't know what changed or why.

A 90-second animated video would have landed the same message in a fraction of the time - and employees would actually remember it. Research consistently shows that people retain 95% of a message delivered by video versus 10% from text (Insivia). Internal communications is one of the highest-leverage places that gap plays out, and most companies are still sending walls of email.

Animated Customer Onboarding Videos: Reduce Churn in the First 90 Days

Most SaaS churn happens before day 90. The leading cause is not price, not competition, and not a bug - it is that customers never fully understood what they bought. They signed up, poked around, got confused, and quietly cancelled.

A 60-second animated onboarding video solves that faster than a help doc, a webinar, or a CSM call. It shows the product in action, walks users to their first win, and sets the expectation for what success looks like - before frustration has a chance to set in.

Animated Sales Enablement Videos: Content That Helps Reps Close

Your reps are sending the same three-paragraph email explaining what your product does. Dozens of times a day. To prospects who skim it, misread it, or just close the tab.

A 60-second animated video does the same job better - clearer explanation, consistent messaging, and it works while your rep is on another call. The data backs this up: sales teams that use video close deals faster and get more replies. The question isn't whether to use video in your sales process. It's which videos to build first.

Video Production SOW: What to Include When Contracting an Animation Studio

You've reviewed portfolios, sent out your RFP, and selected a studio. Now comes the step most clients underestimate: getting the statement of work right. A vague SOW is the number-one source of project disputes in video production - not creative differences, not missed deadlines, but ambiguous paperwork. Scope creep, unexpected revision fees, and IP disputes almost always trace back to a contract that didn't define expectations clearly enough before work began.

Why Your Explainer Video Isn't Converting (And How to Fix It)

You spent somewhere between $5,000 and $15,000 on an explainer video. It looks great. You put it on your homepage. Then... nothing. Traffic keeps coming in, leads don't go up, and nobody on the sales team mentions the video.

This is more common than most studios will tell you. The video itself is rarely the only problem - it's usually a combination of script issues, placement mistakes, and missing supporting elements that kill conversion. Here are the seven most common culprits, plus the fixes.

Vyond vs. Custom Animation Studio: Which Is Right for Your Business?

We are a custom animation studio, so it would be easy to dismiss Vyond outright. That would not be honest. Vyond is a legitimate tool for specific use cases - and paying for a studio when Vyond would do the job is a waste of money. This post lays out both sides plainly so you can make the right call for your situation.

What Vyond Actually Is

Vyond is a browser-based SaaS animation platform. You pay a monthly subscription ($49/month for Essential, $89/month for Professional, custom pricing for Enterprise as of 2026), log in, pick from a template library, drag and drop characters and scenes, record or import voiceover, and export a finished video. No animation software to install, no frame-by-frame work, no design degree required.

12 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Animation Studio

Most animation studios show you the same things: a slick portfolio and a friendly kickoff call. The differences that actually determine whether your project goes well - revision policies, ownership rights, who does the work - only surface if you ask. Here are the 12 questions that separate great studios from expensive disappointments, and the answers you should expect.

Quality & fit

1. Is your work custom, or built from templates?

Template-based shops assemble your video from pre-made scenes and stock characters - which is why some videos look eerily like a competitor's. Ask to see two videos in different styles for different clients. A custom studio's portfolio shows range; a template shop's portfolio shows the same video wearing different logos.

How Long Does It Take to Make an Animated Explainer Video?

A professionally produced 60–90 second animated explainer video takes 3–6 weeks from kickoff to final delivery. Rush delivery in 2 weeks is possible at a 25–50% premium, and complex 3D projects can run 8+ weeks. Here's the stage-by-stage timeline - and what actually causes delays (hint: it's almost never the animation).

You've got a launch date, a trade show, or a campaign kickoff on the calendar - so before you ask what an explainer video costs, you need to know when you'll actually have it. Here's the realistic answer for 2026.

How Much Does a Training Video Cost in 2026?

Most companies pay $2,000–$10,000 per finished minute for professionally produced animated training videos in 2026. A typical 3–5 minute module lands between $6,000 and $30,000, and series pricing runs 20–40% lower per minute. Here's the full breakdown: what drives the price, animated vs. live-action, and how to keep costs down without a cheap-looking result.

Training videos are one of the highest-ROI investments a company can make - employees retain far more from video than from documents or slide decks. But budgeting for one is confusing, because quotes for the "same" video can vary by 10x. Here's what training videos actually cost in 2026, and why.

2D vs. 3D Animation for Business: Cost, Timeline, and When to Use Each

It's one of the first decisions in any animation project, and one of the most expensive to get wrong: 2D or 3D? The right answer depends on your message, budget, and timeline - not on which one looks more impressive in a showreel. Here's the practical framework.

The short answer

Choose 2D for explaining ideas; choose 3D for showing things. If your video's job is to communicate a concept, process, or service, 2D does it faster, cheaper, and often more clearly. If its job is to show a physical product, mechanism, or space in realistic detail, 3D earns its premium.

Animation RFP Checklist: What Enterprise Procurement Teams Should Require

If your organization uses an RFP process to select vendors, you already know the challenge with creative services: vague requirements produce vague proposals, and you end up comparing quotes that aren't measuring the same thing. This checklist ensures every animation vendor responds to the same criteria - so your evaluation is apples-to-apples and the winning vendor can actually deliver.

Scope and deliverables

Specify these in the RFP so vendors price the same work:

Animation Studio vs. Freelancer vs. Fiverr: What You Actually Get at Each Price

Search "animated explainer video" and you'll find options from a $150 Fiverr gig to studios quoting five figures. They all promise the same deliverable - a finished video - so what are you actually paying for at each level? Here's the honest comparison.

The comparison at a glance

What the price difference actually buys

The gap between a $500 gig and a $7,000 studio project isn't mostly animation hours. It's everything wrapped around them:

Animation Subscription vs. Per-Project: Which Model Fits Enterprise?

Enterprise teams that produce more than a handful of videos per year eventually face this question: keep buying animation project by project, or move to a subscription? Both models work - but they work for different situations, and choosing wrong either wastes budget or creates friction. Here's how to decide.

How each model works

When per-project makes sense

• You need 1–4 videos per year. The overhead of a subscription isn't justified at low volume.
• Your needs are unpredictable. If video is a one-time initiative (a product launch, a single training module), per-project avoids ongoing commitment.
• You're testing a new studio. Start per-project to evaluate quality, process, and communication before committing to a longer relationship.
• Procurement requires project-level POs. Some organizations can't do monthly subscriptions operationally - even when the economics favor it.

When subscription wins

• You produce 6+ videos per year and the demand is steady. At this volume, subscription pricing is meaningfully cheaper per video - and you eliminate the procurement overhead on every new project.
• Multiple teams need video. Marketing, L&D, sales, and compliance all have video needs. A subscription gives them a shared resource without each team running a separate vendor process.
• You need fast turnaround. With a dedicated team already familiar with your brand, there's no ramp-up. A new video starts with a brief, not a vendor search.
• Brand consistency matters. A subscription team maintains your animation system, character library, and brand guidelines - every video looks like it belongs with every other video.
• You want budget predictability. One line item per month, regardless of whether you produce a 30-second social cut or a 3-minute training module.

The math: when subscription breaks even

Take your average per-project cost and divide the monthly subscription fee by it. That's the break-even number of videos per month.

Before and After: How We Turn a Script Into a Finished Animation

Most clients see the finished video and the invoice. Everything between - the drafts, the decisions, the moments where a scene goes from rough sketch to polished animation - happens behind the curtain. Here's what actually goes on at each stage when we make an explainer video, and why the process is built the way it is.

Stage 1: Discovery - before a word is written

What you see: A 30-minute kickoff call.

Enterprise Animation at Scale: What Changes When You Go From 1 Video to 50

Your first animated video was a single project: brief the studio, approve the script, get the video, move on. But when marketing needs a product launch series, L&D needs 12 onboarding modules, and sales wants cut-downs for every vertical - the single-project model breaks down. Here's what actually changes at scale, and how enterprise teams set up production so it works.

The 5 things that change at volume

1. The brand system becomes the product

One video has a style. Fifty videos need a brand animation system: a library of characters, color palettes, scene templates, icon sets, and motion rules that every video draws from. This is the single highest-leverage investment in a scaled program - it's what makes video #37 look like it belongs with video #1, even if different animators produced them months apart.

Explainer Video ROI: Conversion Benchmarks by Industry

When someone asks "is an explainer video worth it?" they're really asking two things: will it move a metric, and will the metric move enough to justify the spend? Here's what published research says - and how to build a business case with your own numbers.

The headline benchmarks

Conversion benchmarks by use case

A note on benchmarks: Many stats in the "video ROI" space trace back to older studies (2012–2016) that get re-cited without context. We've linked sources where possible and flagged directional numbers. Your specific results depend on your product, audience, and how well the video is made and placed - which is why the DIY ROI math below matters more than any single benchmark.

Explainer Videos for Nonprofits: Fundraising, Awareness, and Impact

Nonprofits face a version of the same problem as startups: your most important work is invisible. The communities you serve, the systems you change, the outcomes you drive - none of it fits in a banner ad. A well-made explainer video compresses that story into 60–90 seconds of clarity that moves people to give, share, or act.

Why animation works for nonprofits

• Tell the story without exploiting it. Live-action footage of vulnerable populations raises ethical questions about consent, dignity, and "poverty tourism." Animation tells the same story - powerfully - without putting real people on display.
• Explain systems, not just symptoms. The best nonprofits change systems. But "we're rebuilding the juvenile justice pipeline" is hard to film. Animation can show the before-and-after system in a way that makes the abstract tangible and the donor's role in it clear.
• One video, every channel. Website hero, email fundraising campaigns, social ads, grant applications, gala presentations, board decks - a single animated video works everywhere, for years, with no reshoots.
• No crew, no location, no weather. Nonprofits with distributed teams or programs in remote areas don't need to fly a video crew anywhere. The entire project happens over video calls and email.

5 nonprofit use cases for explainer videos

1. Fundraising campaigns

The highest-ROI use case. A 60-second video on a donation page or in an email appeal increases conversion rates dramatically - donors give more when they understand what their money does. Pair it with a direct CTA and an impact metric: "Every $50 provides clean water for a family for a year."

Fintech Explainer Videos: Why They Convert and How to Get One Right

Fintech has a unique marketing problem: your product is invisible. There's no physical object to hold, no interface that screenshots well, and no way to explain blockchain settlement, embedded lending, or dynamic pricing in a tagline. That's why the category's fastest-growing companies - from Stripe to Lemonade to Robinhood - all launched with animated explainer videos.

Why animation works for fintech

• Abstract products become concrete. "We reconcile cross-border payments in real time" means nothing to a prospect. An animation showing money moving through systems, clearing in seconds instead of days, and arriving in the recipient's account makes the value visceral.
• Trust without jargon. Financial products live or die on trust, and jargon kills trust. Animation lets you explain how something works without requiring the viewer to understand the infrastructure.
• Compliance-friendly. You control every pixel - no actors making implied promises, no UGC that regulators could flag, no screenshots that reveal sensitive data. Disclosures can be designed in, not stapled on.
• One video, many channels. The same core animation works on your homepage, in sales decks, at investor presentations, as a conference booth loop, and as social ads with cut-downs - at a fraction of the cost of separate productions.

The 5 fintech use cases that drive ROI

1. Product explainers (homepage / landing page)

The flagship: a 60–90 second video that explains what your product does, who it's for, and why it's different. This is the video that turns a confused visitor into a demo request. It sits above the fold or next to your CTA and does the selling your copy can't do alone.

Healthcare Explainer Videos: Use Cases, Compliance, and Cost

Healthcare is one of the industries where explainer videos aren't optional - they're a competitive requirement. Patients can't evaluate what they don't understand, physicians won't prescribe what sales can't explain quickly, and regulators demand that complex disclosures actually reach people. Animation solves all three problems better than any other medium.

Why animation dominates healthcare video

Live-action has a fundamental problem in healthcare: you can't film what matters. Mechanisms of action happen at the molecular level. Surgical procedures can't be shown to general audiences. Medical devices have internal components no camera can reach. And real patient footage triggers HIPAA, IRB, and consent requirements that can stall a project for months.

How to Build a Business Case for Enterprise Animation (With ROI Framework)

You already know animation works. The problem isn't conviction - it's budget approval. Your VP, CFO, or procurement committee needs a business case that quantifies the return, addresses the risks, and fits the company's capital allocation framework. Here's how to build one that gets approved.

Step 1: Define the problem animation solves (not "we need videos")

Budget holders don't fund production - they fund outcomes. Frame the business case around one of these:

In-House vs. Outsourced Video Production: True Cost Breakdown

At some point every marketing or L&D leader asks: "We're spending $X on video - should we just hire someone?" The math looks simple until you add everything up. Here's the honest comparison for 2026.

The full cost of in-house animation

Hiring "an animator" sounds like one salary. In reality, a 60-second explainer video requires a writer, a designer, an animator, a voiceover artist, and a producer. One full-time person rarely covers all five - so you're either hiring a team or asking a generalist to do specialist work at every stage.

Manufacturing & Semiconductor Explainer Videos: Use Cases and Cost

Manufacturing and semiconductor companies sell some of the most complex, invisible, and expensive products on earth. Wafer fabrication processes. Precision motion systems. Chemical vapor deposition chambers. The engineer who built it can explain it in 20 minutes - the customer, investor, or new hire needs to understand it in 90 seconds. That's the gap animation fills.

Why animation is the default for industrial marketing

• You can't film the product in action. Many industrial processes happen inside sealed chambers, at microscopic scales, or in cleanroom environments where cameras aren't allowed. Animation shows what no camera can reach - wafer-level processes, fluid dynamics inside a system, or molecular-level material interactions.
• Exploded views and cutaways are natural. Manufacturing buyers need to see internal mechanisms, layer stacks, and assembly sequences. In animation, you peel open a product and zoom into the component level without building a physical prototype or a trade show demo.
• Confidential products ship visually before they ship physically. Pre-launch marketing, investor presentations, and trade show teasers for products that don't exist in final form yet. Animation can represent a product at any stage of development.
• Global audiences, one production. Semiconductor and manufacturing supply chains are international. An animated video works in every market with only voiceover and text swaps - no re-filming, no location-dependent footage.

7 use cases for manufacturing and semiconductor animation

1. Product marketing and launch

The flagship video: a 60–90 second animation explaining what the product does, how it works, and why it matters - for the homepage, trade show booth, email campaigns, and sales decks. For complex industrial products, this is often the only way to communicate value to a non-technical buyer without a live demo.

Retail Training Videos: Scaling Product Knowledge Across Hundreds of Locations

A retailer with 500 stores and 15,000 employees has a math problem: every new product launch, seasonal hire, and policy change requires training - and instructor-led sessions don't scale. By the time a district manager finishes training the last region, the first region has forgotten half of it. Animated training videos solve the math by delivering consistent, on-demand content to every location simultaneously.

Why retail training is uniquely hard

• High turnover. Retail annual turnover averages 60–80% (Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS data). That means you're onboarding more people each year than you employ at any given time. Every hour spent on live onboarding is an hour that repeats dozens of times per store, per year.
• Seasonal surges. Holiday and back-to-school hires need to be productive in days, not weeks. There's no time for a multi-week training program.
• Product velocity. New SKUs, new brand partnerships, reformulated products, seasonal collections - associates need to learn continuously, not once at hire.
• Distributed teams. Stores across time zones, with different managers, different schedules, and no guarantee that a live training session reaches everyone.
• Frontline attention. Associates are on their feet, multitasking, and checking their phone between customers. A 45-minute e-learning module isn't competing - a 3-minute animated video is.

6 use cases for retail animation

1. New hire onboarding

Brand story, POS system walkthrough, customer service standards, safety protocols - standardized in a video series that every new hire watches before day one on the floor. Reduces "shadow time" with a buddy by 30–50% and ensures every location delivers the same onboarding, regardless of who the store manager is.

What to Include in Your Animation Project Brief (With Template)

The brief is the cheapest way to improve an animation project's outcome. A good one saves a full round of revisions at every stage. A missing one adds weeks and thousands. Here's what to include - whether your studio provides a template or not.

Why the brief matters more than you think

Animation studios quote based on what they understand about your project. A vague brief produces a vague quote, a vague script, and a video that requires three rounds of "that's not what we meant." A clear brief aligns everyone on the first draft - which is where the real money is saved.

Hiring an Animation Studio in San Francisco: A Local's Guide

San Francisco might be the best city in the world to need an animated video. The Bay Area invented the modern software product - and with it, the modern problem of explaining an invisible product to a distracted audience. If you're searching for an animation studio in San Francisco, here's a local's guide to choosing well.

Why Bay Area companies lean on animation

Walk through any SoMa office (or, these days, any Zoom standup) and you'll find products that can't be filmed: APIs, platforms, AI models, marketplaces. Animation is how the Bay Area's abstract products become concrete - which is why the region's most iconic startup marketing moment is still an explainer video (Dropbox's, which helped turn a file-syncing tool into a household name).

SaaS Explainer Videos: Why They Work, What They Cost, and Real Examples

SaaS has a problem no other industry has quite as badly: your product is invisible. There's no object to photograph, no storefront to visit - just software solving a problem your prospect may not even realize they have. That's exactly why explainer videos consistently deliver outsized results for software companies: they make an intangible product feel concrete in under 90 seconds.

Why SaaS and explainer videos are a perfect match

• Abstract products need visualization. "Workflow automation platform" means nothing until someone sees the workflow happening. Animation can show data moving, integrations connecting, and time being saved - things a camera can't film.
• Your homepage has seconds to convert. A visitor deciding between you and two competitor tabs will watch a 60-second video before they'll read 600 words.
• Trials and demos are your revenue engine. The explainer video's one job is pushing the "Start Free Trial" or "Book a Demo" click - a single conversion point where a small lift compounds across every visitor.
• Onboarding decides churn. Users who reach their "aha moment" fast stay subscribed. Short videos get them there faster than documentation ever will.

The 4 types of SaaS videos worth making (in order)

1. The homepage explainer

Your flagship: 60–90 seconds covering the problem, your solution, and the payoff - ending on your trial or demo CTA. This is the highest-ROI video most SaaS companies will ever make. Example: the animated explainer we produced for ShipStation.

AI Animation Tools vs. Custom Animation: An Honest 2026 Comparison

Let's get something out of the way: we're an animation studio, so you might expect us to tell you AI video tools are terrible. They're not. In 2026 they're genuinely impressive, and for some jobs they're the right choice. But after watching clients experiment with them for two years, we've also seen exactly where they fall apart for brand and marketing work - and the honest picture is more interesting than either the hype or the doom.

How Much Does a 60-Second Explainer Video Cost in 2026?

The 60-second explainer video is the industry standard for a reason: it's long enough to explain what you do and short enough to hold attention. So what does one actually cost in 2026?

The short answer: most businesses pay $3,000–$15,000 for a professionally produced 60-second animated explainer video. But the full range runs from free to six figures, depending on who makes it and how it's made.

Cost by who makes your video

Weighing whether to build a team instead? See our in-house vs. outsourced cost breakdown. Producing at volume? Compare subscription vs. per-project pricing.

The 10 Best Corporate Training Video Production Companies in 2026

Corporate training videos can educate and entertain simultaneously, making them powerful tools that keep your employees’ attention. And since videos are digital, they can be emailed, uploaded and shared easily so you’ll never need to do another in-person training session again. 

The following 10 corporate training video companies earned their way to be top producers based on six criteria: expertise, communication, services, price, client feedback & customer experience:

• Sharp Eye Animation
• Blue House Productions
• Studio B Films Inc
• Skillman Video Group
• NextThought
• Paar Media Group
• Laundry Lane Productions
• M & M Multimedia
• Zip In Media Productions
• Epic Productions

1. Sharp Eye Animation

Beginning as an animation production company, Sharp Eye Animation has evolved into a full service video marketing firm, specializing in corporate training videos. With an ex-Google founder at the helm, and multiple creative awards, we know (and we’re confident that you’ll agree, too) that Sharp Eye Animation is one of the best animated training video production companies around. 

The 10 Best Video Marketing Companies in the USA in 2026

Many of the best video marketing companies in the USA have made names for themselves by using custom videos to take businesses to new levels of success. If you’re looking to ramp up your businesses’ video marketing efforts, and want to reach out to some of the best video marketing companies, read on as you’re sure to find a company that works for your needs! 

We’ve curated a list of the 10 best video marketing companies in the United States to help get you started using video to drive awareness, sales and branding, regardless of your industry or niche. These companies earned their way to this list based on six criteria: expertise, communication, services, price, client feedback & customer experience:

The 20 Best DIY Tools to Make Your Own Animated Videos in 2026

If you have time and you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, these 20 tools for making DIY animated videos are the best around.

Most of the tools below won’t give you full creative control like you’d get with a full service company, but they may just do the trick:

1. Vyond (formerly GoAnimate)

Vyond offers templates for different industries, occupations, and concepts. You can build character-driven stories or compelling data visualizations that engage audiences and deliver results. The platform allows for the import of external audio and images. Most basic option starts at $39 USD/month. 

15 Best Video Hosting Services in 2026

From customizable video players that match your business’ brand to analytics powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, there are a number of ever-evolving video hosting services out there.  

So which one should you choose?

Making Explainer Videos for Startups: The Ultimate Guide

Making Explainer Videos For Your Startup Business: The Ultimate Guide [2020]

The most comprehensive guide to making an explainer video for your startup

In this expert-written guide you’ll discover everything you need to know about making explainer videos for your startup.

From why they matter, to the latest styles, to how to make yours AWESOME even if you’re a newbie. You’ll find all you need to know here.

So if you're looking to drive more sales, boost search engine rankings and everything else that comes with having a great explainer video, we’re sure you’ll find this guide helpful.

More Marketing Videos: 10 Best Reasons Why You Need Them

Is video marketing at the top of your list of priorities for 2020?

If not, you may want to take another look.

It’s no secret that videos are powerful tools that drive prospects to your website, educate your existing customers, improve your company’s branding, and more.

So if you’re wondering whether or not your team should be focused on video marketing in 2020, we’ve compiled 10 reasons why it definitely should be:

How to Get New Personal Injury Clients

As today’s world becomes increasingly digital, sea change happens fast. Sometimes so fast that we don’t even realize they’re happening. Smartphones, for example, are now our tool-of-choice to help us with everything from finances to friendships to free time.

And when it comes to educating and entertaining ourselves, we’re increasingly turning to video-centric apps like YouTube, Instagram and Netflix.

As a personal injury attorney, you might have made a video for your website, or run an ad on live TV to get new clients.

The Best 30 Second Explainer Videos

As marketing teams shift from using video as a part of their marketing strategy to the marketing strategy, shorter videos - ones that run just 30 seconds or less - can be your most powerful, yet least utilized tools in a company’s marketing arsenal.

Which is strange since shorter videos are usually easier to make, can be promoted in more places, and tend to have higher engagement, conversion and completion rates over longer videos.

Law Firm Marketing's Best-Kept Secret: Crush Competitors With One Video

Today’s most forward-thinking law firms know that dominating a market has much to do with proper marketing. Whether it’s owning page one on Google, running targeted ads on social media, or running ongoing TV commercials, great law firm marketing has the power to transform your practice.

It’s true that effective law firm marketing relies on having a lot of great content – hitting the right people at the right time. But one little known (and practiced) secret is that all you really need is one marketing video that you can repurpose into “micro content”.

What Is An Explainer Video?

With video’s popularity exploding across industries today, the explainer video has become one of the most prevalent types of video – especially among experienced video marketers. If you’ve ever asked any of the questions below, this post is for you!

• What is an explainer video?
• Why should I make an explainer video?
• How can I get the most from my explainer video?

The Sharp Eye Animation explainer video

Coming Attractions: Machine Learning Is Here For The Video Marketing Industry

If you aren’t working in the field of machine learning, you might think it sounds like something from the future, a tool for people 100 years from now. But that’s actually not the case. Machine learning is already here, and a surprising number of businesses - from startups to food manufacturers to retailers - are using it right now in 2020.

In fact, there are thousands of people using machine learning tools for things as varied as identifying endangered species to helping kids become better writers.

Best Attorney Video Advertisements of All Time

Attorney video advertisements are one of the more critical components in your law firm’s marketing strategy, especially with people spending more time on video-centric platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram than ever.

As an attorney, chances are that you’ve either already invested in video, or you’re looking to do so with one sole purpose: to get new clients for your law firm.

It’s true that videos are one of the most powerful marketing tools you can use. They get and keep viewer attention, while simultaneously getting across your most important messages – like where people can schedule an in-office consultation with you.

The Next Big Thing in Law Firm Marketing: Machine Learning Video Ads

If you’re an attorney and your law firm marketing team isn’t already using machine learning in various aspects of your business, you may think that it’s technology years away. But that’s actually not the case. Machine learning is already here, and a surprising number of law firms are using it right now in 2020.

In fact, there are thousands of law firms using machine learning tools to do things like review documents, conduct due diligence and predict legal outcomes.

Attorney Video Marketing: 4 (Basic) Things to Consider Before Starting

Including video in your law firm’s overall marketing strategy is a must-do, but knowing exactly how to use video effectively can be a challenge. When done correctly, attorney video marketing campaigns have the power to make you the obvious choice in your market.

Attention is quickly becoming today’s most valuable commodity, and people are spending more time than ever getting news, entertainment and information on legal services from online platforms like YouTube. In fact nearly two billion people visit YouTube every month and watch more than one billion hours of videos cumulatively.

The Best Video Ads On YouTube

2019 was quite a year across the globe, and in the video marketing space, things are only heating up more.

If you’re planning on running a video ad on YouTube, check out our compilation of the best from 2018:

Amazon’s Alexa Loses Her Voice

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, makes nearly nine million dollars every hour. So you’d expect that he’d share some of that with his marketing teams, and it turns out he did in this commercial. Amazon is pushing their Alexa device hard online, and this video has made our list of best video ads on YouTube from 2018.

Video CTA: The Best Include These 4 Elements

Typically, the purpose of video marketing is to convince your prospects or customers to buy your product or service. Since your marketing videos might be viewed outside the context of your website, it crucial to include all the information viewers need in order to buy from you.  

What is a video call-to-action (CTA)?

A video CTA is typically a button or text that tells viewers to do something during or after the video plays. A great video CTA tells viewers how to find you, where they can get more information, or why your offer is so special. In general it’s best to avoid using the same video CTA every time – change it up depending on your content and goal of your video.

5 Simple Steps To Making Effective Training Videos For Employees

If a picture is worth a thousand words a video must be worth a million. Every company has to train employees to learn about a process or idea. Making training videos for employees saves you time and money and helps to maintain more consistency.

Whether you’re looking to make live-action training videos animated explainer videos or something else, you’ll want to follow these 5-steps to make them effective and memorable:

1. Extract knowledge from your subject matter experts

The most important task in training is providing the right information from you subject matter experts. The challenge is that the people in the know aren’t often the best at explaining what they know. Find a subject expert and interview him or her to determine what key points need to be included in your video. Spend some time outlining which steps are mission-critical.

7 Best Platforms Your Law Firm Marketing Video Needs To Be On

It’s awful when you invest in a great marketing video for your law firm but aren’t getting it in front of as many potential clients as you could be.

You add them to your website and share it on social media channels – which is a great start – but you’re not maximizing its potential if you stop there.

Including your videos on as many platforms as possible increases the chances that your firm is seen and remembered when potential clients need you the most.

How to Find the Best YouTube Video Tags

YouTube video tags are one of the most critical components to getting your YouTube videos found. They operate like keywords for your videos and should be taken as seriously as the other metadata you choose for your video.

So how do you find the best tags to add?

Google’s Keyword Planner is a free tool that marketers use to find the right keywords for their paid ads – but you should be using it to find YouTube video tags too!

Why DIY Animated Video Tools Should Be Avoided (At All Costs)

When setting off to make your first animated video, you typically have two options:

1. Hire an animated video production company, or
2. Make it yourself using one of many do-it-yourself (DIY) animated video tools.

If you’re not too concerned with the look-and-feel of your video - and have the time to spend learning how to use the tools - the DIY route can be a great option, especially if you’re on a tight budget.

Everything You Need to Know About Making Animated Videos for YouTube

Businesses are making more videos each year since they can efficiently get mission-critical messages across to your audiences. Making animated videos for YouTube is a powerful way to boost key business - like conversion rates and search engine rankings - while increasing sales.

Why Animated videos?

Animation has the flexibility to take your audience from outer space to 10,000 leagues under the sea. No matter how abstract your message is, animation is a serious tool and more than kid cartoons. When you find yourself ready to make your own animated video, you’ll find that there are two ways to make them:

3 Ways to Impact The Buyer’s Journey Using Video

A recent study by Google found that online shoppers often take different purchase journeys when buying products online. Some journeys start and end entirely on smartphones and tablets, while other journeys were done entirely on a desktop computer, for example.

While each journey in the Google study was unique, they found three common themes among the deal-seekers: they all invested in some type of research, they relied heavily on mobile devices, and they don’t just focus on gifts (they shop for themselves too).

3 Deadly Traps to Avoid When Making a Video

More companies are using video to help drive sales, educate their workforce and build brand recognition. Consequently, it’s more important than ever to be incorporate videos in your own sales, marketing & training efforts.

And while there’s a ton of different steps that go into making a great video – from the actual video recording or animation production, to the voiceover and the script itself – it’s crucial to avoid a few hidden traps before beginning. 

The Best Company Story Video...Ever

As the battle for ride-sharing dominance continues to evolve at break-neck speed, so does the marketing behind brands like Uber and Lyft.

With studies pointing to video as being one of the best ways to build brand awareness and drive sales, more businesses are turning to animated brand videos, like this one from Lyft that shares their company story.

In three minutes and nine seconds The Story of Lyft video (below) is one of the best. It’s a brilliant example of a great company story video and here’s why:

Sharp Eye Animation Wins Gold at 2018 MarCom Awards

San Francisco, CA – November 1, 2018

The MarCom Awards, one of the largest and most-respected creative competitions in the world, honored Sharp Eye Animation with a Gold Award for the “What is ShipStation” animated explainer video in their 2018 Digital Video Creation, animation category. 

Gold Winners represent the top 20% from a pool of more than 6,500 international marketing and communication teams, and they represent companies ranging from creative agencies and Fortune 500’s to individual creative professionals.

State of Video Marketing Infographic

Data from Wyzowl's State of Video Marketing Survey was published by Hubspot, and for you visual learners we've turned the findings into an infographic.

About Sharp Eye Animation

San Francisco-based animation studio that specializes in digital video creation, including animated explainer videos, product videos, educational videos and more. We help businesses and organizations by taking ideas and turning them into understandable and memorable stories they can share with the world.

Kickstarter Game Videos’ Secret to Success

It’s no secret that including video in your Kickstarter campaign will increase your chances for success. Kickstarter suggests that when in comes to making your own video, all you need is a computer with a camera. This be true for most projects, but when it comes to games on Kickstarter, this isn’t necessarily the case.

The most successful Kickstarter games – both by amount of financial backing and sheer number of supporters – weren’t taking the suggested DIY approach. Instead they all include a custom animated video to explain what the game is, how it’s played and who the masterminds are behind the experience.  

Why a Product Video Should Be Part of Every Shopping Experience

Remember when you were a teenager, looking to buy new shoes or a pair of jeans?

Trips to the store or ordering from a catalog were likely how you made your purchase. Today we can simply grab a laptop or smartphone to place an order, and video is playing an increasingly important role.

82% of all global internet traffic will come from video by 2020

Videos help shoppers research

People research just about every product they want before buying, and the internet is making research easier than ever.  Product videos have become the go-to resource for people looking for details on a product, since clicking a play button is easier (and more engaging) than reading through a ton of text. In fact, research has shown that 96% of viewers find video helpful when making purchase decisions online.²

10 Best Machine Learning Videos Of All Time

Looking for some video marketing inspiration for your next machine learning or artificial intelligence video? Concepts like machine learning or AI can be tough to explain, but videos help!

To help you get your creative juices flowing for your next video project we’ve gathered the 10 best machine learning videos (and artificial intelligence) of all time. 

Check out the 10 best machine learning videos below:

1. Qualcomm’s AI explained in 101 seconds

What it does:

15 Reasons Why You Need a Crowdfunding Video

Crowdfunding has emerged as an effective way to test a market while gaining the financial support needed to turn your idea into reality. With tens of thousands of campaigns on platforms like Kickstarter, Patreon and IndieGogo, you may have wondered what you can do to make your campaign stand out. For most the answer is video, which has exploded in popularity over the last few years, and is expected to continue its reign as the king of content.

Holiday Emails and Animated Videos

Ah the holidays. A time for Cyber Monday specials and Black Friday offers. Also a time to send your holiday emails, thanking customers and wishing them a happy new year.

In a sea of season’s greetings emails, animated videos help you stand out while engaging, informing and delighting your audience.

Here are 3 reasons why animation is the perfect tool for your upcoming holiday email campaigns:

1. They make you stand out

Times have changed and email has evolved to support not just text and images, but video as well. While many companies continue sending their basic text + image-based emails like they have for years, you can stand out by adding custom animated video to your holiday emails.

What is Bitcoin?

Before 2011, few people had any idea what Bitcoin was. Not only that, but the concept of blockchain and cryptocurrency (distributed ledgers?!) is complicated.

But with an animated explainer video placed front and center on bitcoin.org’s homepage, they were able to easily and efficiently explain how the technology could change the finance industry forever.

Since launching their original video in 2011 – and updating it in April 2014 – the explainer videos have become the most watched cryptocurrency introduction videos ever, with more than 16 million views combined.

Corporate Training Videos

“Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company’s mission”

– Anne M. Mulcahy, Chief Executive CEO of the Year 2008

Videos have changed the way corporate teams learn. They eliminate the need for your team to travel to trainings, provide consistent instruction quality, and are typically more engaging than in person classes.

Crowdfunding Explainer Video: The Ultimate Guide

The Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding Explainer Videos

Welcome!

Here you’ll find everything you need to know when looking to make a video for your crowdfunding project. Looking for something specific? Jump to a section using the links below:

• Explainer Video Overview – is one right for you?
• Why They’re Effective: The Science – Dr Allan Paivio’s Dual-Coding Theory
• Case Studies
• Inspiration (get your creative juices flowing!)
• Use Cases
• Finding a Team
• Production Process
• DIY options
• The Sharp Eye Animation difference

20% higher crowdfunding campaign success rate when video is included¹

As more people around the world come online each day, video continues to explode in popularity. Video entertains, teaches, documents and informs us unlike any other medium. It’s a powerful storytelling tool that’s still in its early stages.

Enhanced Content for Ecommerce and Retail

With Amazon, eBay, Walmart and other large Ecommerce giants battling for online dollars, brands selling products on these sites look to outrank the competition by securing a coveted page one search engine ranking. To get there, some brands focus on optimizing keywords and getting more five-star reviews.

Forward-thinking brands take a holistic approach, adding product videos to educate potential customers, gain trust and make more sales.

Item pages with video were 200% more likely to appear on page one.

Content Analytics, the leading Ecommerce optimization platform, conducted their own research to see how item pages perform with and without video, the findings were astonishing: item pages with video were 200% more likely to appear on page one.

Crowdfunding Video Production

Attention spans getting shorter everyday. They’re currently at 8 seconds and tied with a goldfish’s. Having a video that can capture attention while giving the perfect pitch is crucial to success. This is especially true for crowdfunding campaigns, where new campaigns emerge everyday. Video is a powerful tool that quickly gets across important and sometimes complex messages to your audiences.

For many crowdfunding campaigns user-generated videos (think laptop camera recording a founder in his/her living room) are good enough. For those looking for more impact, custom animation is a great option that can drive thrilling results. Exploding Kittens’ explainer video, for example, helped to launch their campaign into crowdfunding history.

Cryptocurrency Videos and Animation

Cryptocurrency, the digital currency using cryptography to secure and verify transactions, has become one the 21st century’s most complex technologies. With nearly 2,000 different currencies out there the need to stand out is critical, so many are turning to animated video to get their most important messages across to audiences.

Binance, for example, one of the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges, uses animated videos as a primary tool to educate students at their online academy. Ethereum’s YouTube channel has 130+ videos. And bitcoin.org’s explainer videos have over 11 million views to date.

Exploding Kittens Video

Since its birth, animation has evolved to become a tool used by everyone from Fortune 500’s to startups. Its flexibility can take viewers to space, the bottom of the sea and anywhere in between. For crowdfunding projects on platforms like Kickstarter and Patreon, animation help campaigns stand out and can lead to great results.

The most-backed Kickstarter campaign of all time – and 3rd most funded game on Kickstarter ever – Exploding Kittens – used a hilarious explainer video to tell the story of their unconventional card game. The video helped them raise nearly 9 million dollars and was so effective that it’s still featured on their homepage. Here’s why the Exploding Kittens video is so powerful:

Animated Law Videos

As an attorney, chances are you’re always on the hunt for new clients. Traditionally referrals have been your main source for winning new clients, but over the last few years law videos have been gaining traction due to their ability to capture and retain viewer attention.

In today’s always-connected world, eyes are shifting online and new opportunities to win clients from places like YouTube have emerged. It’s estimated that by 2021 video will account for more than 80% of all IP traffic.

Crowdfunding Videos and SEO

Everyone at some point has thought about starting a business and bringing a great idea to life in the marketplace. Starting a business these days is getting easier thanks to the power of crowdfunding – or raising money from many people, typically via the Internet.

Crowdfunding is a powerful way to get exposure, market validation, and most importantly, funds needed to get started. While crowdfunding can be a great way to get an idea or business off the ground, getting exposure in a sea of awesome projects can be challenging.

Integrated Marketing Extends the Life of Your Custom Animated Video

Many businesses use video to help get their important messages across to audiences in a fun, engaging and memorable way. They’ll add them to their website, social channels and email campaigns, where they act as a super-efficient salesperson, delivering the perfect pitch every time.

It’s no secret that they’re one of the most powerful tools in a company’s marketing arsenal, and when they’re done well they provide exciting results.

Animated explainer videos – like the ones we produce here at Sharp Eye Animation – are full of fun visuals, so we decided to help our clients get more from them by offering an integrated marketing service where in addition to producing a video, we’ll also provide high-resolution artwork from the animation.

Customer Success: Athena Software

Video’s popularity has seen some serious growth over the last several years, and this trend continues to rise. Cisco, for example, estimates that by 2021, 80% of all internet traffic will be video.¹ That means a lot more cat, how-to’s and prank videos have yet to be uploaded to YouTube. 

Explainer videos are also surging in popularity, with more businesses turning to them to replace text-heavy web pages. For many, explainers have become a must-have and some have returned healthy ROIs.

Making the animated video

We’re thrilled to learn that our friends at RepairShopr loved working with us so much that they decided to write a blog post about it! The video is featured on their homepage and has so far has results in 16k views and 3000+ paying customers, according to RepairShopr CEO Robert Reichner. Read the case study here.

In their blog post they share the end-to-end process we went through with them while making the video – from the initial discovery call, to the storyboard and character design (shared below), to the voiceover recording and ultimately to the final cuts we provided them that included different calls-to-action and music options.

Custom Products and Animation Together in Harmony

If you sell customized products where customers go through a potentially frustrating checkout process, you’re likely aware that videos are great tools that efficiently educate while improving conversion rates.

And it makes sense that videos are ideal, after all would you prefer to read over a text-heavy webpage or watch a 60-second video on the same topic?

Many are missing out on the opportunity get their important messages across by still relying on text over video.

Unlike Other Custom Animated Video Studios

While to us these seem like no-brainers, we have a variety of differentiators that separate us from 90% of other animation production studios out there:

1. Leadership

Every one of our clients works directly with Sharp Eye Animation’s founder, who has nearly a decade of video experience and has led the video production for companies ranging from small start-ups to large organizations like Google and Walmart. Our team only takes on a few projects at a time which ensures that each video we create is completely unique and original, and stays in line with each client’s goals.

What To Look For In A Video Production Company

If you were to Google some variation of the question “Who are the top animated video production companies?” the response compiled for you would list nearly 100 explainer video companies.

Which means that, if you wanted to make an explainer video for your company, you would have at least 100 companies to choose from.

So how do you choose one?

Sifting through the overwhelming mass of animated video production companies might seem daunting; however, if you know what you’re looking for, you can easily and confidently separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff. The following are a few criteria to keep in mind in order to help you find the best explainer video production company for you.