If you’ve ever sat down to ‘film a quick video’ and looked up three hours later surrounded by half-written scripts, bad takes, and cold coffee – you’re not alone.
Video content feels like it should be fast. After all, how hard can it be to hit record and talk for a minute or two? But in reality, video is one of the most time-consuming types of content to produce.
That’s not just our hot take, our 2025 Video Content Research Survey found that 40% of business owners said that ‘It takes too long’ is the main reason they don’t create more video (alongside a bunch of other frustrations!).
From planning what to say to setting up your space, filming, editing, captioning, and uploading – it’s a lot. Especially when video content creation isn’t your full-time job!
The good news? It is possible to speed things up and boost consistency, without sacrificing quality.
In this post, we’ll break down where the time really goes, how long video takes for other businesses like yours, and the tools and tips that can help you create great content faster (and with a lot less stress).
Why does video take so long, anyway?
It’s not that you’re slow; it’s that creating video content is genuinely complex. There’s a lot more involved than just switching on your camera and talking.
In fact, by the time you hit publish, you’ve already made dozens of decisions you probably didn’t even realise you were making.
Here’s where the time actually goes:
- Idea generation: What topic should I cover? Will this be helpful? Have I already said this before?
- Scripting or outlining: Do I write a full script or just bullet points? (The answer is always bullet points.) How do I keep it natural but still sound professional?
- Setup: Where do I film? What do I wear? Is the lighting OK? Is my mic working? What’s that weird shadow on my face?
- Filming: Start, stop, redo. Fluff a line, start again. Then do it again because your dog barked halfway through, or an ice cream van chimed by.
- Editing: Trim the pauses, remove the “ums,” add subtitles, crop it for Instagram, and re-export it for YouTube.
- Publishing: Write the caption, upload it everywhere, add hashtags, and answer comments.
That’s not one task, that’s six or seven mini-projects, each with its own friction points. And we haven’t even mentioned the mindset side of things… Like the self-doubt that creeps in halfway through editing, or the temptation to re-record everything because your hair looked weird.
And then there’s perfectionism, one of the biggest time traps of all. Maybe you keep tweaking the lighting, re-editing every pause, or recording the same sentence five times in a row. Before you know it, hours have passed, and you’re still not happy.
But here’s the thing, you’re not doing it wrong.
You’re just trying to manage a content format that’s demanding by definition and new to your marketing strategy.
All is not lost! You need to put the right systems in place, simplify where you can, and stop expecting it to be effortless. Once you understand where the time goes, you can start finding ways to get it back.
How long does it take people to make 1 video?
We don’t just have our experience and anecdotes from working with clients to explain this. Let’s take a look at the numbers from our 2025 research report.
We asked, ‘How long does it typically take you to go from one video idea to publishing the content?’
The answers:
- Under 30 minutes: 7%
- 30 minutes to 1 hour: 16%
- 1-2 hours: 22%
- 2+ hours: 26%
- I don’t create video content regularly: 29%
That’s 48% of people taking an hour or more to get from thought to publication for just one video. More than half are going over 2 hours. And that’s the basic maths that makes daily video content seem unachievable to so many businesses.
No one’s got a spare 10-15 hours a week lying around in their diary!
It also explains why the majority of businesses are not posting video content frequently enough. A shocking 44% of people rarely or never create social video content.
Only 23% manage weekly, and a further 21% do monthly publication. A tiny 3% have a daily publishing schedule, and 9% share multiple times per week.
We know that posting at a higher frequency has the most impact on leads and sales. And it’s clear that people are already investing a significant amount of time, even when they’re not hitting high consistency levels. It’s not just you. Video content creation is time-intensive for most people.
Understanding where your process can be made more efficient is the key to speeding things up and getting a lot more bang for your buck.
Time savers: Create videos without the overwhelm
You don’t need a studio setup, expensive gear, or a full production team to make great videos. What you do need is a smarter system. One that helps you create quality content consistently without it taking over your life.
Here’s how to break it down – from tools to tactics.
Tools for different parts of the video process
What bit of the video creation process takes you the most time?
This is often the same thing that gives you the most frustration. Start there and see what tools are available to help you with that bit.
Scripting
Despite 21% of people saying that this is how they approach things, winging it rarely works. A bullet list prompt gives you enough of an outline to keep you clear and focused, while avoiding the inauthenticity of a memorised, full script.
- AI writing assistants like ChatGPT can help you outline your videos, draft intros/outros, or even repurpose blog posts into prompts.
- Video outline templates (Notion, Google Docs, Trello boards) help you stick to a repeatable structure, saving you tons of time each week.
Recording
You don’t need a fancy camera to start filming, your phone or computer is more than good enough.
- Teleprompter apps like PromptSmart or BigVu let you keep your script in view while maintaining eye contact.
- Use your front-facing camera, natural light, and a tripod (or even a well-balanced stack of books). That’s it.
- For better sound, a basic clip-on mic is a game-changer – under £20 and makes you sound ten times more professional.
Editing
Editing can be simple. You don’t need to spend hours fiddling with timelines. There are a lot of editing tools on the market that do subtly different things, such as:
- Descript: Great for editing based on your transcript. Just cut the text, and the video follows.
- CapCut and VEED: Mobile-friendly apps with drag-and-drop ease. Perfect for adding captions, music, or trimming filler.
A great editing time-saver is to create a branded template, with the same font, colours, intro/outro, and reuse it every time. This keeps your messaging consistent and saves literal hours.
Repurposing
Don’t just make a video. Slice it, dice it, and squeeze every drop of value out.
- Use tools like Opus Clip or Vizard to automatically pull short clips from longer videos that are great for sharing on the socials.
- Export clips with subtitles and catchy hooks for Reels, TikToks, or LinkedIn posts.
One 10-minute video could become 5-10 pieces of content across multiple platforms.
Outsource to other video experts
68% of people said that they’re doing everything in their video process themselves. Are you? Because you really don’t have to.
You don’t have to employ anyone. There’s an army of freelancers with the specific skills to make your life so much easier – writers, VAs, video editors, social media experts. You hire them to do the exact job you need, when you need it.
For example:
- Get rid of the scheduling pressure: Hire a virtual assistant to upload, format, schedule, and track performance.
- Done-for-you repurposing: Send your long-form video to a writer, and they’ll turn it into a series of blogs and LinkedIn posts for you.
- Get it ‘publish ready’: Hire a professional video editor. There’s a reason 41% of people said that editing is their number one frustration with video content creation! Stop cursing at the screen for hours and let an expert do it for you.
If you have the budget, hiring an agency like us to provide a full ‘done-with-you’ video content service is likely to be the most time and cost-efficient approach.
But if you can outsource even one part of the process, you’ll quickly see the impact on your speed.
Structure your content creation
Creating content randomly is exhausting. You’re constantly scrambling around at the last minute, and nothing is connected together or aligned with your business goals. The answer is to have a workable, repeatable system.
Working smarter by batching your video content creation is as simple this:
- Have an ideas bank: Whenever inspiration hits, jot it down. Don’t jump straight into creating the video there and then. Write your ideas down immediately, so you don’t forget them. Then you’re never faced with a blank page/screen.
- Create in batches: 1 day a month for planning your video content, 1 day for filming. You get all your prompts ready during planning, using your idea bank to get started. And a month’s worth of video recorded and ready to be edited.
- Schedule editing and publishing: Put these elements in the diary – you’ll be shocked at how much more consistent you become.
- Repurposing: Having a video-first approach to content creation means that you plan your repurposing and redistribution of each video as you go.
Embed video into your marketing strategy
Video should never be a stand-alone effort. It’s not a nice-to-have add-on; it should be fully integrated into the broader marketing strategy that’s based on your business goals.
- Use video to support your sales funnel with explainer videos, testimonials, and product walk-throughs.
- Align each video with a clear goal: What are you trying to achieve? Traffic, leads, conversions, trust? You only get clear results from specific goals.
- Embed videos in blog posts, email sequences, and landing pages. You’re not just making content, you’re building assets you can redistribute forever.
Start with your strategy, then plug video into the parts that need more clarity, connection, or credibility.
You don’t need to train to be a video expert – you just need a system and support with the right elements.
Start small, keep it simple, and stick with it. Structure brings speed, and speed brings momentum. And consistency is the key to winning with video.
Challenges of current AI tools for video creation
Despite the headlines, 47% of businesses aren’t using any AI to help with video content production.
Those using AI are mostly (29%) using it to help with ideas or scripts. And 23% of people are using it to support editing or writing captions. It’s interesting that almost half aren’t using any of the available AI tools to help with any part of their process. Why?
We get it – finding the right tool for your needs is a whole other job in itself.
- 54% of people said they don’t know how to use AI for video content
- A further 27% said it still takes too long, even with a tool
- 5% of people say using AI is just too complicated
These results suggest that people aren’t confident in its abilities to support video, or they’ve discovered it doesn’t actually save that much time. There isn’t one tool that helps with every aspect of video creation. Nothing you can just download and it ‘just does’ all of it.
While current tools are far from perfect, it’s still worth looking at something that can help you speed up at least one part of your process.
There’s a definite appetite for improvements to these tools, with 90% of people saying they’d benefit from a tool that lets you plan and record videos faster.
When done well, video is absolutely worth the time investment
Yes, strategic video content creation does take time – more than most people expect. But that doesn’t mean a consistent publishing schedule is unattainable.
With the right tools, a simple workflow, and a bit of upfront structure, you can cut down the time it takes and still create scroll-stopping videos you’re proud to share.
You’re not falling behind, you’re just one solid system away from showing up consistently and confidently on camera.
Want to see how your process stacks up? Grab the 2025 Video Content Research Report and find out how other business owners are navigating the same challenges – and what’s actually working.
