How to use the content cost per piece calculator
The first number any content budget needs is what one piece actually costs. Enter total production cost and the number of pieces produced to get cost per piece, then add a monthly target to see what that rate implies for monthly and annual spend.
Decide up front whether total cost means only agency and freelance invoices or also internal salaries and equipment depreciation. The two definitions can differ by several times, so keep the same cost items across any periods you compare. If your output mixes formats, calculate short-form and long-form separately.
Monthly and annual figures multiply the cost per piece shown on screen, so the math checks out by hand. Annual cost is the monthly figure times 12 months, and the label states that basis. Fill in the remaining budget and you also get how many more pieces it covers, rounded down so the count shown never exceeds the money you have left. No industry-average rate card is built in, so when you compare quotes, enter the figures from the quotes themselves and line them up against your own cost per piece.
Frequently asked questions
If you are comparing against agency quotes, yes. Allocating a share of each person's salary based on hours spent on content gives a cost per piece much closer to the real burden.
Because you cannot ship 0.7 of a video. Rounding down guarantees that producing the number shown stays within the budget you entered.