Bringing the studio in-house can save at least half of your annual video production budget, but it may not be for everyone

If you’re currently spending thousands – or even millions – of pounds outsourcing video production and have the ambition to produce more dynamic and effective content over the coming years, then there are plenty of reasons why you should invest in an in-house studio.

From our experience, organisations are saving at least half of their annual production budget simply by bringing the studio to their office. Here are the three top questions we would recommend asking if you are looking to bring a studio in-house:
1)      Do you have an enterprise video strategy?

The commitment to building an onsite studio has to be aligned to the wider organisational strategy around enterprise video. Typically, organisations that are at the point of thinking about building a studio have agreed and understood why video is beneficial for their organisation.

2)      Is there buy-in from senior leaders?

Executives are likely to be the first regular users of the studio, so it’s important they are committed, not only to the content creation, but to investing in higher production quality. It’s also likely that these individuals will hold the key to the budget, so running them through the business case, including the more obvious qualitative benefits and examples of good practice, is always recommended.

3)      Have you acquired suitable space?

Consideration needs to be given around the location and availability of space, which is often at a premium. It’s best to locate your studio in one of the main hubs, as the intended audience is more likely to be located there. You will need to ensure there is a high-ceiling space in a quiet area of the building for capturing the content and a separate area for post-production (editing).

Taking a content-led approach

It’s important to decide what standard of content your business wants. This will dictate the size, complexity and scope of the studio, for example whether it will be a ‘studio in a box’, or a multi-camera green screen studio with digital backdrops.

Benefits of building an in-house studio

• Video on demand

An in-house studio will offer you the opportunity to create high production quality videos as and when you need to, or set up a live event without having to go through the usual admin and procurement processes.

• High production quality

The whole video experience for the end user, whether that be your staff or customers, will be dramatically improved. The ability to produce regular and engaging high quality live and on-demand content will be at your fingertips.

• Greater flexibility

A production company will usually come in for a particular event and there will be a limited window for practice and training sessions. If you have your own studio, you can do dry runs to achieve different results, especially if you need more time.

• Commercial model

There could even be the opportunity to create a commercial model, where you can hire the studio out to other companies in your building leaving the studio to pay for itself.

There isn’t a one-size fits all approach to building a studio – the organisations we meet and work with are all at various stages in their digital journey. There are those who are new to it, but know they want to “do video better”, and there are businesses who slowly drip feed and embed digital and video communications into their organisation.

It all comes down to the appetite and maturity of the organisation – the return on investment speaks for itself. Ultimately, executives want high production quality and more control from both a financial and time-saving perspective.

Rob Dumbleton is a consulting director at 27partners.