Video Ad Makers: Best 5 for Maximum Engagement & Sales in 2023 [Out of 13 We Tested]

Video marketing is a have-to for any business that wants to maximize customer engagement, raise brand awareness and accelerate web traffic. The secret to revenue-driven video ads is working with any of the best video ad makers. 

Videos give your target audience a clear idea of your product/service. The more confident your ideal buyer is, the more likely they will purchase your offering.

94% of marketers believe videos increase user understanding of their product/service. And 81% firmly believe video marketing has directly impacted their sales. But that’s not all. Almost 90% of marketers say that videos have significantly helped them increase web traffic. 

But where the heck do you start?

Many brands don’t have the time and resources to hire an in-house graphic designer. So, they opt for any of the best video ad makers and do it themselves! Yes, it’s just that simple.

We researched and tested the best 13 video ad makers, and found the ultimate five video ad makers that are close to perfect!

Here are the top 13 video ad makers we tested:

1. Wave.video
2. Renderforest
3. Biteable
4. Animaker
5. FlexClip
6. Movavi
7. Adobe Express
8. Animoto
9. InVideo
10. SoapBox
11. Magisto
12. Movidmo
13. Wideo

I’m sure you’re dying to find out what these video ad makers are and how much they cost! 

This detailed review has all those details and the pros and cons of each tool. 

Let’s jump into it!

Quick Comparison: Top 5 Video Ad Makers

Out of all the great video ad makers we tested, five stood out as the best. Here is a quick comparison:

10 Statistics Proving the Popularity of Video Ads

Video ads are popular because they offer a range of benefits for businesses. Businesses can optimize brand reputation by educating their target audience. You can also maximize your engagement efforts through a fun, informative clip. But we’re not the only ones who believe in video ads.

Here are the top 10 stats that prove the power of video marketing:

1. Internet users around the globe all love video ads. In the US alone, there were over 240 million video viewers. And this number is only projected to grow. A jaw-dropping 97% of people between 18 and 24 love watching video ads.
2. Video marketing is rapidly powering web traffic. Cisco confirms that over 80% of consumer web traffic is thanks to the effort of video marketing. This figure is 15 times higher than it was four years ago.
3. Consumers are watching videos often and want to see more. Almost 80% of internet users watch videos every week. Over 50% of those users want to see more video content from brands.
4. Marketers see great value in video marketing. Nearly 100% of marketers who use video ads say it’s a pivotal part of their marketing strategy.
5. Businesses that don’t use video ads now want to use them. Just short of 80% of businesses who haven’t used video ads want to use them.
6. Video marketing is an excellent tool for lead generation. Digital marketers love video ads for lead generation. Over 80% of them say video marketing has made a substantial difference to their lead generation tactics.
7. Using video ads on social media produces a positive ROI. 91% of marketers are happy with the ROI they’ve seen through using video marketing on social media platforms.
8. Video marketing increases customer retention. Tigerfitness, a fitness brand, used video marketing and saw a 60% increase in customer retention. This is more than three times the standard industry rate.
9. Businesses of all caliber benefit from video marketing. Two separate reports from Content Marketing Institute prove that both B2C and B2B businesses use video marketing.
10. Videos are the most beloved content on social media. This is why the ROI from video marketing on social media is impressive. A study by Animato confirms that videos are the most-loved content on social media platforms.

How We Tested and Evaluated the Best Video Ad makers.

Before you can really test a video ad maker, you need to know what makes for a good video ad (and what to avoid), so, let’s explore the best practices for video ad creation:

Best Practices: How to Make a Great Video Ad.

1.Do Educate Your Audience

While you may want to add humorous bits and pieces to your video, don’t forget to educate your audience. This is pretty much the purpose of using video ads – to educate your audience on your brand and what you offer. Refrain from long, drawn-out information, and keep everything you mention catchy and concise.

2.Include Your Website Link

This is vital if any viewer wants to check out your business. Now you might think including your website link is a no-brainer. But brands that are new to this game often overlook this. Besides including your website link, make it clear and accessible.

3.Use a Conversational Voice

Wyzowl confirms that 83% of video viewers prefer a chatty and informal tone. A shocking 75% of consumers chose not to support a business because the voiceover irritated them. So, in short, use a tone that sounds like you’re casually talking to the viewer.

4.Consider Video Length

You don’t need to create a 5-minute video because 2-minute videos get the most engagement. There may be a few exceptions to the rule. However, it’s best to keep your videos short and sweet.

5.Have a Powerful CTA

Avoid using CTA’s like “Call Us Today” or “Find Out More Now”. Get creative and use a CTA that’s personal to your brand and your customers. Think about something they may never have heard before or quickly makes them resonate with what you explained in your video.

6.Make Your Videos Mobile-Friendly

This is something you should never forget for video marketing. We all know how many internet users use mobile. By forgetting to make your videos mobile-friendly, you’d be saying goodbye to engagement rates from a significant number of internet users.

7.Use an Authentic Approach

This is why Dollar Shave Club’s first video broke the internet. It was authentic and raw. No large amounts of money went into producing the video. The entire storyline was simple and original to the brand. This approach is what you want to be inspired by for your video. Refrain from using styles that have been used before and think of a fresh way to engage your audience. Take a look at Dollar Shave Club’s video:

8.Highlight the Benefits/Uses of Your Offering

You don’t have to do this through talking only. It’s also a great idea to show your audience how to use your service/product and how it may help them. Doing this allows you to create circumstances that your target buyers can relate to.

9.Use the Right Metrics to Measure Performance

When you’ve published your video, you need to check in on it regularly to ensure you’re achieving your desired results. If you’re not, measuring the right metrics can help you better your approach next time around.

These are the metrics you should measure for video marketing:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR)
• Watch Time
• View Through Rate (VTR)
• Lifetime Value of Video (LTVV)

You should measure these metrics weekly or bi-weekly.

10.Check and Comply with Video Ad Rules for Search Engines and Social Platforms

Video advertising rules on search engines like Google and Bing, and social channels (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) have different regulations based on your country. Get clued up with these rules.

You don’t want to invest loads of resources, money, and time in videos that will be banned by search engines and social channels.

For example, social platforms have a lot of strict rules for advertising cannabis products. Brands can’t make certain claims, promote cannabis to kids, or promote cannabis at all, depending on the platform and your country.

Restrictions like these apply to many different products and practices, so make sure you’re compliant before you invest in making your video ads. 

11.Focus on Branding

Branding is the key to successful video ads. Use consistent branding for all your video ads, like your logo, brand colors, and brand voice.

When targeted buyers interact with your video ads, they should be able to recognize your brand right off the bat. This way, when customers see your branding in any other places, like social media, they can associate you with your video ads.

Because of this, choose a video ad maker that allows ample customization to personalize your video ads to your business and target audience.

12.Optimize Your Thumbnail

Your thumbnail for video ads matters because these are the first visuals users see before clicking on your ad. Ensure your thumbnail reflects your brand. You can use your logo or an image relative to your brand and video ad.

Your thumbnail must be high-quality, so your video ad looks professional. Blurry or poor-quality images won’t entice users to watch your video ad.

13.Include Captions

Not all your viewers will watch your video with sound. And you also have to consider viewers with hearing impairments. This is why brands must ALWAYS include captions for their video ads.

Many video ad makers have automatic caption features, so you don’t have to worry about adding captions yourself, but you should always check them to be sure they’re accurate.

Pro Tips: 7 Elements You Should NOT Use in Your Video Ads.

These are the top 7 video ad-making mistakes to avoid:

• Poor quality content.
• Loads of endless self-promoting.
• Insults or direct jabs at your competitors.
• Outdated video marketing approaches and conversion elements.
• False claims to deceive your viewers.
• Other people’s or businesses’ content, like images and videos without their permission.
• Unsubstantiated claims or lies about your competitors to make your brand have greater appeal.
• Using video ad content that goes against the rules and guidelines of the platform you use for your video ads.

Right, now that we know what we need, and what we need to avoid, here is how we tested the top video ad makers to find the best of the best:

How We Tested the Best Free & Paid Video Ad Makers

To test the top video ad makers, we looked at the practical application of making a video from scratch and the features you need to do it:

Templates

The first feature we evaluated for the best video ad-makers is the available templates. Not every marketer, creator, and business owner is a video editing pro. Beginners need professional templates to rely on before creating video ads from scratch. We evaluated not only the quality of templates but the quantity too.

Video ad makers with limited templates make it challenging to create authentic video ads. You don’t want to see your template pop up anywhere else!

User Interface

There’s nothing more annoying than working with a video ad maker with a busy dashboard and poor interface. We found that many of the best video ad makers with lots of bells and whistles have much more complex dashboards and interfaces than those only offering video-making features.

However, what counts is how easy it is to navigate these interfaces. We prioritized interfaces and dashboards that are fun, easy to use, and don’t require too much learning.

Stock Library

An extensive stock library with high-quality media makes video-making easier. Perhaps you can’t photograph or develop media, so having a stock library eliminates that challenge. We looked at the quality and quantity of each video ad maker’s stock library.

Many video ad makers provide a limited stock library if you’re not on top-tier plans. But even so, we evaluated whether the available stock library is value for money and if it does enhance video ad creation.

Usability

Usability was a quick determining factor between the top 5 video ad makers and others that didn’t make the cut. Regardless of how robust a video ad maker is, smooth usability is imperative to get the job done. Some video ad makers have impressive features and look great but lag behind when it comes to usability. 

With these factors in mind, we found 13 of the top rated web-based video ad makers and put them to the test. From there, we narrowed it down to the best five, which we’ve reviewed in detail below.

The 13 Free and Paid Video Ad Makers We Tested.

These are the 13 top rated (free and paid) video ad makers that we tested:

1. Wave.video
2. Renderforest
3. Biteable
4. Animaker
5. FlexClip
6. Movavi
7. Adobe Express
8. Animoto
9. InVideo
10. SoapBox
11. Magisto
12. Movidmo
13. Wideo

The tools we tested all had so many impressive features to make video ad creation quick and easy. However, many missed the mark when it came to usability.

Either the tool’s features took a long time to load, or the editor was clunky and made it a needlessly finicky process.

Many also lacked a decent selection of professional-looking video templates, which limits what you can do and the quality of the video ads you can make.

That said, after testing all the video ad makers, we found five that offered fantastic templates, seamless usability, a clean user interface, and a good stock library: 

5 Best Video Ad Makers & Examples

1.Wave.video

Wave.video is one of the best video makers because it offers all the features you need.

There are so many rich features Wave.video offers to:

• Create videos from pre-built templates.
• Access stock media to enhance your videos.
• Create thumbnails for your videos.
• Use automatic captions.

All these features allow you to create the perfect video ad. You can join Wave.video’s free plan for basic video ad making. But if you’re working on a high-level project or need branding, the paid plans are your best bet.

We tested this tool and created a video to demonstrate what you can expect from Wave.video.

After signing up, you’ll find an intuitive dashboard with an overview of your projects. There’s a handy bar on the left to navigate your video streams and recordings, uploaded videos, templates, and resources.

It’s simple to find all your video content through the navigation menu, and you can view past projects and drafts.

You can also add “destinations”, which are social channels for your videos. Scrolling through Wave.video’s endless templates, it doesn’t take time to find what you need.

There are templates for live streams, discounts, video quotes, and customer testimonials, to name a few. These templates are easy to edit, but they are very basic.

When you create a project, you can start with a blank canvas, upload a video, use stock media or begin from a template. I started with a template to test Wave.video’s templates and usability. You have to upgrade to a paid plan to remove Wave.video’s watermark. 

Here’s the video I created with Wave.video:

Wave.video: Pros & Cons

Pros:

• There are loads of resources available to learn how to use this platform. Although this tool is simple to use, the guides and tutorials help complete beginners.
• There are sufficient transitions to add motion to your videos.
• There are so many templates to choose from for just about any video. This is a little confusing at first, but once you get comfortable with Wave.video, it’s a major plus!
• You can preview your videos in different layouts, like mobile devices and tablets.
• When you join for the first time, Wave.video offers guides and resources tailored to your video editing experience.

Cons:

• The drag-and-drop editor is clunky, which makes editing elements frustrating.
• Sometimes the interface freezes, and if you’re unlucky, you may have to shut down your browser and restart it.

Pricing

• Free Plan: Basic video editor, thumbnail maker, and 2 million stock media per month
• Streamer: $20 p/m for a basic video editor, thumbnail maker, 2 million stock media, basic permissions, live streaming scenes, and pre-recorded videos per month
• Creator: $30 p/m for a basic video editor, thumbnail maker, 2 million stock media, text-to-speech, and background removal per month
• Business: $60 p/m for a basic video editor, thumbnail maker, 2 million stock media, text-to-speech, background removal, automatic captions, and advanced permissions per month

Website: https://wave.video/

2.Renderforest

Renderforest and Wave.video are tight competitors because they both have sound video editing features and functions.

The most apparent difference between the two platforms is that Renderforest supports more design tasks, like creating logos and cartoon animation.

Using Renderforest you can access features like:

• Animated videos
• Logo design
• Website design
• Landing page design
• Video templates
• Automatic captions
• 3D videos
• Music visualizations

As you can see, Renderforest has some of high-level design features going beyond video ad creation. You can access some of these features for free or join a paid plan for premium video editing.

The platform makes it easy to navigate between all these functions, through an attractive interface with inspiring colors and elements. The interface may be busier than most, but you can find what you need.

Once you navigate to “Videos”, from the interface above, you’ll land on a page with loads of labels and tags. This could be overwhelming for newbies. It makes it tricky to decide where to start.

You can choose the kind of video you’d like to create, or start with a template. There are loads of different templates to pick from, but it’s not easy to narrow down your options as there aren’t as many filter options.

To find all your video projects, click on your profile photo on the upper right side. When you click on “Videos” under “Projects”, you’ll arrive at a dashboard housing all your current and completed video projects.

From here, you can view your projects for other designs like your website or logo.

The quickest way to create a video with Renderforest is to click on “Create Video” from the interface. Unfortunately, you must be on a paid plan to remove the watermark. Using a template, this is the video I made:

Renderforest: Pros & Cons

Pros:

• The pre-built templates are fantastic, and they look professional. If you’re a newbie, you can rely on these templates until you understand more complex video editing.
• The platform made an active effort to not be clunky and too overwhelming, given the number of features it offers.
• The price is super affordable compared to the tools you can use.
• The stock library is beyond impressive. You can easily find high-quality stock content and seamlessly add and edit them to suit your video ad.
• Although the tools take time to learn and load, the design of Renderforest makes it enjoyable to create video ads.

Cons:

• The navigation is a little tricky because there are loads of tools.
• The features take a long time to load.
• You can’t customize your font or overall design style unless you’re on a paid plan, and even so, it lacks ease of use.

Pricing

• Free Forever: Unlimited projects, 3-minute videos, and limited HD per month
• Lite: $12.99 p/m for unlimited projects, unlimited video duration, and 1 million stock footage per month
• Pro: $19.99 p/m for unlimited projects, unlimited video duration, and 5 million stock footage per month
• Business: $19.99 p/m, per user for unlimited projects, unlimited video duration, and 5 million stock footage per month

Website: https://www.renderforest.com/

3.Biteable

Biteable is a fun platform to reflect your brand through video ads. 

With this platform in your toolkit, you can create video ads through:

• Custom branding like logo design.
• A vast media library and pre-built templates to optimize your video ad-making.
• Animations, overlays, and effects.

One of our favorite aspects of Biteable is the intuitive, fun dashboard. The second I saw Biteable’s colors and layout, I wanted to create a video! And we did (but we’ll cover that shortly).

As you can tell, Biteable is all about customizing your video ad-making experience for your brand. When you first register, you’ll land on a page to customize your dashboard colors. You can tailor your dashboard to your brand, by deleting color combos and creating videos to generate new, tailored ideas. It’s a fun way to incentivize interacting with the dashboard.

After doing that, you can click “Create My First Video”. Once creating your video (or if you exit the page), you’ll land on a dashboard that’s similar to the ones we’ve seen. This is where you’ll work from. You can find your projects, templates, and brands here. Every time you need to create a new brand, not project, you’ll start with color customizing and then head to your home base, AKA, your dashboard.

Biteable has amazing templates to give you limitless capabilities for what video content you can create. There are well-designed templates for social media ads, employee on-boarding, presentations, and so much more. Here’s the video I created with Biteable. Unfortunately, you can’t download videos on the free trial!

Bitable: Pros & Cons

Pros:

• The templates are highly impressive, and even beginners can make a professional video ad. 
• It’s a fantastic tool for experienced graphic designers that know how to leverage their full potential. 
• Customization features are valuable for every business. 
• You can create custom brands for separate video ad projects.

Cons:

• The tools take a very long time to load, and the lag is inconvenient.
• There’s a bit of a learning curve because it’s not easy to find the functions you need. 

Pricing

• Free Trial: 7 Days
• Pro: $99 p/m for unlimited HD reports, unlimited storage, video analytics, and 24/7 support per month
• Team: $199 p/m for unlimited HD reports, unlimited storage, 100 video ad templates, and team collaboration per month

Website: https://biteable.com/

4.Animaker

Animaker is a beginner-friendly video ad maker that offers design functions for a wide range of content. This platform is ideal for small businesses and solo marketers.

For video ad creation, Animaker offers a few of these features:

• Custom character building.
• Download videos in multiple formats.
• Create logos.
• Build custom funds and reports.
• Create portfolios and social media content.

It’s not too expensive to use, and there’s a free plan for basic video editing.

Unlike many other video ad maker tools, Animaker keeps its dashboard simple, with a clean interface. The dashboard itself is easy to navigate.

In front of you, Animaker stores your projects and cartoon characters. You can also use filters to find specific projects once you’ve created loads of content on this platform.

On the left-hand side of your dashboard, you’ll find a navigation menu. Here you can find your projects, any design elements you’ve favorite, and your team/workspace, and you can manage your exports.

To browse through the templates, Animaker has a button on the interface, above your dashboard.

You can look through these templates to start your video ad project or begin with any project types and templates from your dashboard.

While there are loads of templates, the designs are very basic. You can use filters to find the perfect template. But you can’t remove any watermarks unless you’re on a paid plan. Here’s the video I created.

Animaker: Pros & Cons

Pros:

• It’s super easy to edit and create videos. Beginners with no experience at all can use this software.
• Although there are a lot of functions, it’s easy to find your way around this tool.
• The features load quickly, and it’s simple to preview your changes.
• You can customize your characters and set their expressions and actions to add personalized to your video ad.
• Downloading your video is an effortless and quick process.
• There are so many animation features, you won’t get tired of this platform very quickly.

Cons:

• The features take a long time to load and preview.
• The editing functions, like delete and undo aren’t in convenient locations. You have to spend a lot of time learning the editing interface.
• The templates are very basic.

Pricing

• Free Forever: Basic video editing
• Basic: $20 p/m for 5-minute videos, 5 video downloads, and 2GB storage per month
• Starter: $35 p/m for 15-minute videos, 10 video downloads, and 10G storage per month
• Pro: $79 p/m for 30-minute videos, 30 video downloads, and 100G storage per month

Website: https://accounts.animaker.com/

5.FlexClip

FlexClip is a straightforward video ad maker. Most of the video ad platforms we’ve reviewed have all sorts of bells and whistles. But FlexClip provides premium video ad creation and editing features, and nothing more!

These are the features you can expect from this video ad maker:

• Pre-built templates for video ads, including presentations, explainer videos, and more.
• A stock library to seamlessly add media to your videos,
• Background removal to ensure you have the perfect video.
• Custom branding and fonts to personalize your video ads.

There are three paid plans for FlexClip. Or, you can opt for the free option if you want to try this tool, or if you need a solution for small-scale video ad creation.

One of the best aspects of FlexClip is the dashboard. It’s clear and intuitive, and you can navigate around this platform through a menu on the left bar.

Users can view their drafts, completed projects, templates, stock library, and fonts. You can also access your cloud storage through this menu.

Because FlexClip doesn’t offer any features beyond video editing, finding the best template isn’t so tricky. You can use filters or keywords to find a template that suits your video ad.

However, the template designs are outdated and basic, so FlexClip isn’t ideal for high-level video ad projects. But the video elements are dynamic, adding professionalism to FlexClip videos.

After choosing your template, click “Customize”. You’ll have two editing options from here. You can edit in 1) timeline mode or 2) storyboard mode. We opted for timeline mode for this video we created with FlexClip.

FlexClip: Pros & Cons

Pros:

• The sales and promotion templates are super dynamic and don’t require a lot of editing to look professional.
• It’s easy to use this tool and all its features.
• Video exports are super quick, and overall, the tool doesn’t take a lot of time to load features.
• The pricing is affordable for the features you can access.
• There are loads of animations, fonts, and styles to choose from to make your video look unique.

Cons:

• Many of the templates are outdated, which limits your options.
• It’s tricky to replace images, edit the text on buttons and edit your video background.
• This tool is too simple for high-level video ad-making.

Pricing 

• Free Plan: 12 projects, 1 stock video per project, 1 stock audio per project, and one-minute videos per month
• Basic: $9.99 p/m for unlimited projects, 1 stock video per project, 1 stock audio per project, and three-minute videos per month
• Plus: $19.99 p/m for unlimited projects, 5 stock videos per project, 5 stock audios per project, and ten-minute videos per month
• Business: $29.99 p/m for unlimited projects, unlimited stock videos, unlimited stock audios, and 30-minute videos per month

Website: https://www.flexclip.com/

The Other Video Ad Makers We Tested (& Why They Didn’t Make the Cut)

1.Movavi

Movavi has a lot of credibility and many businesses and marketers opt for this video ad maker. However, the biggest drawback of this platform that pushed it off the “top 5 list” is its usability.

For advanced video ad creation, Movavi offers:

• Special effects and filters for dynamic videos.
• Pre-built templates to make video ad creation easier.
• A tool to convert videos and media files.
• A screen recorder.
• Video compression to make the most of your cloud storage.

While Movavi has loads of awesome templates and features for video ad-making, it’s a highly complex tool. Users need some understanding of basic video editing to get the hang of it.  

For all these premium features, Movavi isn’t affordable for large companies that need loads of users. This is because Movavi charges per user, and this can become expensive for enterprises and big teams.

Pros:

• Movavi offers advanced video ad creation tools, making it a fantastic option for intricate projects.
• Your design options are limitless, as Movavi has features for logos, landing pages, photos, and videos.
• They have an impressive stock library, and you can find what you need from thousands of high-quality photos.

Cons:

• There isn’t a free trial, and you need to purchase complementary apps to experience the full potential of this platform.
• It’s an expensive tool as you pay per user and per license.
• There’s a steep learning curve as this platform is complex.

Pricing: 

• Video Editor: $49.95 per license, per year, for unlimited video editing features per year.
• Video Editor: $69.95 per license, per year for 4k videos, automatic video creation, a built-in media pack, and timeline markers per year. 
• Video Suite: $89.95, per license, per year for 4k videos, automatic video creation, screen recording, and media file conversion per year.

Website: https://www.movavi.com/

2.Adobe Express

Adobe Express is ideal for high-level projects and fit for designers with or without experience.

Using Adobe Express for video ad making, you can:

• Create videos from pre-built templates.
• Use stock media to enhance your videos.
• Personalize your video ads with branding elements.
• Schedule your social media posts on various integrated social channels like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
• Animate video elements.

Getting around this tool is easy. Once signing up, you’ll land on a simple dashboard. This is very similar to Wave.video’s dashboard, and you rely on a menu on the left side to navigate between features.

The templates are professionally-designed, and you can find countless different styles to match your brand personality. However, as you can design so much more than just videos, you need to cut through all the noise to find their video ad templates. After testing, we decided that Adobe Express is a great tool for editing video ads but not ideal making them from scratch.  

Pros:

• The pre-built templates are some of the best we’ve seen.
• Although there are loads of features and functions, Adobe goes the extra mile to simplify its navigation and deliver a clear dashboard.
• The drag-and-drop editor offers ease of use, and the features don’t take a long time to load.
• You can edit the content on one page as a group or as separate elements. This simple function makes video ad-making much more convenient and quicker.
• There are an impressive number of fonts, styles, and design elements for the free plan.

Cons:

• The large volume of templates makes it confusing to find what you’re looking for and pick the best design.
• The free plan is too limiting, and almost forces users to purchase the paid subscription. However, it’s not very expensive compared to the features Adobe Express provides.

Pricing: 

• Free: Thousands of templates and fonts, stock library, basic editing, and 2 GB storage every month
• Premium: $9.99 p/m for premium templates and fonts, 160 million + stock library, branding, social scheduling, and 100 GB storage every month

Website: https://www.adobe.com/express/

3.Animoto

Animoto is an affordable video ad maker for marketers and small teams.

With this video ad maker, you can use some of these premium features:

• Stock videos and images to personalize your video ad.
• Pre-built templates are perfect for beginners and quick projects.
• Team collaboration and sharing.

Animoto is a basic tool, but the prices are competitive. The biggest reason Animoto didn’t make it to the top 5 video ad makers, is the lack of customization features.

Branding your video ads is vital to bring users into your brand experience. But Animoto makes it challenging to add your custom colors, fonts, and signature style.

Pros:

• It’s a great tool to start with if you’re a solo marketer or a small team.
• It’s easy to use, and you don’t have to worry about getting confused with loads of features.
• The functionality is smooth, and the loading times aren’t dire.
• You can create quick, fun videos for small-scale video ad projects.

Cons:

• Brands can’t personalize many design aspects of their video ads.
• There aren’t that many templates, and brands only have a few professionally-designed ones to choose from. This takes away from your video ads being authentic.
• It’s not an ideal choice for high-level projects and established marketing and design teams.

Pricing: 

• Free Plan: 35 music tracks, 12 templates, 3 fonts, and 30 color swatches per month
• Basic: $19 p/m for 50 music tracks, 3 fonts, screen recording, and unlimited social sharing per month
• Plus: $39 p/m for 3000 music tracks, 40 fonts, 1 million + stock videos and images, and voice-over per month
• Professional Plus: $59 p/m for 100 million+ stock videos and images, time-stamped comments, and unlimited fonts per month

Website: https://help.animoto.com/

4.InVideo

InVideo is a really popular video editing tool, especially if you’re looking for mobile-optimized software.

Using InVideo, you can access video ad creations features such as:

• 5000+ pre-built templates to optimize video ad creation.
• Video storyboards to take your viewers on a journey.
• Filters, effects, and stickers to enhance your video ads.
• Brand kits to make branding quicker and easier.
• Stock media with loads of audio, sounds, and images.

InVideo has a lot to offer, and the dashboard is quite impressive. After registering an account, you’ll land on your dashboard. Here, you’ll find your templates, stock library, text-to-video, and a video editor for existing video ads. 

The biggest drawback is how long this tool takes to load, and the video ad maker functions felt a little clunky compared to the other tools we tested. It’s also confusing to add and remove elements from different scenes, so it takes some time to learn these functions.

Pros:

• The templates are impressive and fun to use. It’s not tricky to find the template to use, and even if you’re a beginner, your video ad will look professional.
• Although it’s not intuitive to use the video editing and creation tools, the dashboard is easy to navigate.
• The animations are amazing. You have ample options on how to animate your elements.
• The video creator tool isn’t overwhelming to use, because of the overall design.

Cons:

• The tool is frustrating to work with because it lags a lot.
• The templates aren’t easy to customize, and combined with the lack of usability, it doesn’t encourage you to get into authentic video ad creation.

Pricing: 

• Free Plan: 1 GB storage, 15-minute videos, 5000+ video templates, and 3 million + stock library per month
• Business: $30 p/m for 10 GB storage, 40-minute videos, premium video templates, and unlimited premium stock media per month
• Unlimited: $60 p/m for 100 GB storage 40-minute videos, premium video templates, and unlimited premium stock media per month

Website: https://invideo.io/

5.Soapbox

SoapBox is a great video ad maker for marketers and small to mid-level teams.

With SoapBox for video ad creation, you can access these features:

• Live streams for real-time audience engagement.
• SEO functions to optimize your video ads and reach more targeted viewers.
• Advanced editing to cut, trim and split your video ads.
• Podcasting functions. 

SoapBox’s dashboard is basic and clean. It’s a lot more barren than other video ad maker dashboards we’ve reviewed.

You can view all your video projects, and navigate to your content and analytics with the upper-left menu. When hovering over “Content” and “Analytics”, you’ll find more spaces to explore.

However, SoapBox is best for video editing and optimization, not so much for creating videos from scratch. 

Pros:

• The dashboard is clean and easy to navigate.
• This tool is fantastic for SEO and video ad tracking. You can manage all your video editing, creation, and insights from one platform.
• You can get automatic captions in a wide range of languages.

Cons:

• It’s not the best tool for large-scale video ad creation.
• The features and functions aren’t very robust.
• It’s not fun to create videos with SoapBox.

Pricing: 

• Free Plan: 10 videos, 1 user, 10 stock media, email support, and basic analytics per month
• Plus: $19 p/m for 3 users, 20 stock media, basic CTA’s, email integrations, basic analytics, and view stream analytics per month
• Pro: $79 p/m for 5 users, 50 stock media, custom CTA’s, marketing automation integrations, advertising integrations, basic analytics, heat mapping tools, and A/B testing per month
• Advanced: $319 p/m for 20 users, 250 stock media, custom CTA’s, all integrations, all analytics tools, transcription, and priority support per month
• Premium: Custom quote

Website: https://wistia.com/soapbox

6.Magisto

Magisto is one of the most popular video ad makers for marketers and businesses of all sizes.

if you opt for Magisto, you can use features to:

• Create video ads from pre-built templates.
• Customize your video ads through branding elements like logos and colors.
• Evaluate and monitor your video analytics and performance.
• Include stickers, filters, effects, and transitions to enhance your video ads.

Magisto has a similar dashboard and interface to SoapBox. You can create your first video from your dashboard, or navigate to your templates. Magisto also provides options to explore video ad’s by industry. 

The biggest drawback that kept Magisto off the top 5 list, is the lack unique aspects and customization options. There isn’t anything that stands out and gives their users a customizable signature style for video ads.  

Pros:

• Magisto is affordable for marketers and small teams that require basic video creation features.
• The dashboard is super easy to use and beginners would love this tool.
• Your video length limit doesn’t change between pricing plans, which is ideal for those that can’t afford extra features but still need sound video creation tools.
• You can find simple templates that look good to start.

Cons:

• There aren’t loads of templates to pick from, and the templates aren’t customizable. 
• Maybe I missed it, but there are little stock media.

Pricing: 

• Premium: $9.99 p/m for 10-minute videos, unlimited downloads, and premium editing styles per month
• Professional: $19.99 p/m for 10-minute videos, unlimited downloads, premium editing styles, branding, HD downloads, and social sharing per month
• Business: $69.99 p/m for 10-minute videos, unlimited downloads, premium editing styles, branding, HD downloads, video analytics, email marketing tools, and priority support per month

Website: https://www.magisto.com/

7.Movidmo

Movidmo is a video ad maker for pros that are looking for high-level video ad creation software. It offers complex features and in-depth video editing.

When you start with Movidmo, you’ll notice a simple, clean interface showcasing all the many available templates. You can start with any of these templates, or just with your raw footage.

The drawback of this platform is its lack of usability. Movidmo had a steep learning curve. And, unlike most video ad makers, it works on credits, which quickly add up and make Movidmo a little pricey compared to the other tools we tested. If you’re experienced with video ad creation and editing, this could be a great tool. If you’re starting out and need to play around to figure out whats what, it gets expensive quickly. 

Pros:

• There are fantastic templates to pick from, and there are a lot of features to customize your video ads.
• Despite being a high-level tool, Movidmo’s dashboard is clean and easy to use.
• Movidmo takes a specialized approach to delivering features for video ads, and not only video content. 

Cons:

• It’s not beginner-friendly, and teams need time to learn the features.
• It’s very expensive, and each feature costs specific credits.

Pricing: 

• Credit Plan 1: $225 p/m for 50 video credits per month
• Credit Plan 2:$425 p/m for 100 video credits per month
• Credit Plan 3: $600 p/m for 150 video credits per month
• Credit Plan 4: $750 p/m for 200 video credits per month

Website: https://www.movidmo.com/

8.Wideo

Small to mid-level teams and marketers love Wideo because it’s easy to use and offers a free plan for short videos, however, the paid plans are a little on the pricey side.

These are a few of the features you can expect from Wideo:

• Pre-built templates that are easy to customize.
• Logo animation to elevate your branding.
• Animations, effects, and colors to personalize your video ads and boost viewer engagement.
• A stock media library with loads of photos and videos.

The dashboard is fantastic because you can quickly see where all your features are placed.

The drawback was that the overall usability was a bit clunky and there weren’t many templates to choose from, and they were all pretty basic, with no original styles, unique fonts or striking colors.

Pros:

• The free plan is worthwhile for super basic video ad creation. 
• It’s easy to edit scenes individually. 
• There aren’t any lags in this software, and exporting videos doesn’t take a long time. 

Cons:

• The templates are outdated. 
• It’s too expensive compared to the available features. 

Pricing:

• Free Plan: 1-minute videos and 10 video templates per month
• Basic: $59 p/m for 10 downloads, 1.5-minute videos, and 33 video templates per month
• Pro: $99 p/m for unlimited downloads, 10-minute videos, and full templates gallery per month
• Pro+: $199 p/m for unlimited downloads, 30-minute videos, and 1 additional account per month

Website: https://wideo.co/

Final Thoughts on the Best Video Ad Makers.

To choose the best video ad makers, consider the platform’s usability, templates, stock library, and interface. These factors help choose video ad makers that are fit for beginners and optimize the process of creating branded video ads.

The best video ad makers we tested and found include Wave.video, Renderforest, Animaker, FlexClip and Biteable. These tools meet the criteria for sound video ad makers, and we created several fun videos on these platforms.

More of the best video ad makers include Wideo, SoapBox, Biteable, and Magisto, to name a few. All these tools can work for video ads, but some have more downsides than others, depending on your business. Choose any of these tools to create amazing video ads.

References

Wyzowl: Video Marketing Statistics 2022

Business Insider: US digital video viewership will reach 244.4 million in 2020, driven by increases in the youngest and oldest age groups

Social Media Week: 2020 Video Marketing and Statistics: What Brands Need to Know

Animoto: Social Video Trends: Marketer Insights for 2020 and 2018 State of Social Video: Consumer Trends [Infographic]

MarketingSherpa: Inbound Marketing: How TigerFitness has grown its fan base through high-value video content

Content Marketing Institute: B2B Content Marketing 2020 and B2C Content Marketing 2020

Wistia: How Long Should Your Next Video Be?

Next TV: Mobile Videos Often Watched Without Audio, Study Finds