What an assumed average clip does to a comparison
A page mixing per-clip and per-second figures has to assume a clip length to put them in one column. Printing the assumption makes it correctable; leaving it out makes the table look comparable when it is not. As of 2026-09-12.
| If the table assumes five seconds | And the work runs three seconds | And the work runs twelve seconds |
|---|---|---|
| Per-clip rows are divided by five | Per-clip rows look cheaper than they are | Per-clip rows look dearer than they are |
| Per-second rows are unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| The ranking is stable | The ranking can invert | The ranking can invert the other way |
Inclusion rule. The effect of one published assumption on a table containing both units. Numbers here are arithmetic on the assumption, not readings from any page. Order. By what the assumption does to each kind of row.
1A printed assumption is a transfer of responsibility
Naming the average clip a comparison rests on is the honest move, and it hands the problem to the reader. A production working in three-second beats or twelve-second scenes has inherited a reconciliation that is wrong in one direction or the other, and can correct it only because the page said so.
The alternative is worse in a specific way: an unnamed assumption produces a table that looks internally consistent and ranks rows against a clip length nobody chose. Nothing on the page would reveal it.
2The inversion is real, not theoretical
A figure of twenty cents for a whole video beats forty cents a second at any length over half a second and loses to five cents a second at any length under four. So within the range of lengths a short-drama segment actually uses, the cheapest row genuinely changes places.
That is why this register records a per-clip figure in the tier column rather than dividing it. A derived rate carries none of its own doubt forward, and the doubt is the important part.
3Work out the assumption from the work, not the table
Before comparing a mixed page, write down the segment length the production actually uses. Then divide the per-clip figures by that number rather than by the page's. It takes a minute and it is the difference between a comparison and a coincidence.
Where a page mixes units and names no assumption at all, the only safe reading is to compare the per-second rows against each other and treat the per-clip rows as a separate list. Merging them requires a number the seller declined to supply.
Written to explain, not to record. No sentence here is attributed to a seller, and none of it should be quoted as a fact about one. The sourced material is on the ledger. Related: Buying machine time, Limits and deadlines.
4Inside a generated second
Price aside, what goes into the seconds behind “Assumed averages” is described in SceneMixer's guides:
Sixty to a hundred and twenty seconds is the working range for short drama, and that is what the outline paces for. A 90-second episode is typically seven segments of about fourteen seconds stacked together.
SceneMixer, Vertical AI Video Generator — “How long should a vertical episode be?” (read 2026-10-13)
The shot seconds in the storyboard add up to the segment length, so editing them changes it.
SceneMixer, Fixing One Shot Without Redoing Everything — “Can I change the duration of a segment?” (read 2026-10-13)