No matter if it’s launching a new line of products, featuring a long awaited update, explaining a tough concept, or netting new investors – explainer videos are the go to videos to cover these needs.
But with the many utilities and goals, there are also a variety of various types of explainer videos that come into play.
Let’s take a look at some of the best examples, including live-action and animated examples, before you actually go ahead and start making an explainer video.
10 Types of Explainer Videos
2D Animated Explainer Videos
This category includes almost 90 percent of everything we know as Explainer Videos – they are engaging to watch, suit different budgets, and never go out of style.
This example for Gonzo Fantasy Football platform is an artful, engaging and visionary piece of 2D Animated Explainer, featuring illustrated characters as well as UI elements.
3D Animated Videos
Well, if you have a blank cheque for your marketing spend – and plenty of time for longer production times – then you might explore going with 3D Animated Videos.
They are your top of the line, premium explainer video animation, bordering on graphics made for some of the Hollywood movies (with the appropriate costs, of course).
This 3D Animated Explainer Video for Microsoft says it all – you can see the premium look and feel of the tech giant, wrapped in glorious and smooth 3D.
Whiteboard Animation
One of the more budget friendly options on the list, we have the Whiteboard Explainer Videos – with their low fidelity, and authentic feel of drawing board or pencil drawing experience.
This is an example talking about the Ben Gurion International Airport – which keeps you watching and listening, while also not being distracting with too many animation details and high speed transitions.
Live-Action Videos
As with the 3D – if you have deeper pockets, and would like to add a more human side to your story, by adding actors into the mix – Live-Action Explainer Videos might be just the right way to go for your corporate explainer video.
This example for WordTune – is a great example of animated assets, paired with an engaging speaker.
Motion Graphics
What if you are looking for something fast paced, high energy, and with a bold approach? A clever use of Motion Graphics Explainer Video would help in this approach.
Our list includes a fresh video from Slack – which is a stellar example of a high octane motion graphics video, featuring some of the feedback from their big clients, like Spotify.
Kinetic Typography
And who knows the power of minimal, bold messages better than Apple themselves?
This example for their “Every Product Carbon Neutral by 2030” initiative is a textbook example, when it comes to full focus on the message, and no fluff.
Screencast Videos
Screencasts are as close as it gets to actually using the platform in its real world form.
Square brings a great example of screencast, by showing off the full capabilities in the live environment, with the clever use of minor animations along the way.
This helps to quickly see how their POS hardware solution works in tandem with the software platform – which is extremely engaging and easy to digest.
Infographic Explainer Videos
Infographic Explainer Videos come in handy when you need to show a lot of data, but make sure people don’t fall asleep while staring at all the charts (which they usually do, reading the PowerPoints).
App safety videos are not the first thing you would like to watch in your playlist – but Android builds the video in an inspired style, and smooth animation, that just makes you watch until the end (if even just for the art itself).
Stop-Motion Explainer Video
These types of videos are not the most popular – but when they are used, they stand out quickly because of their unique build and creative vision.
This video for Domino’s Pan Pizza does a few things: on the outside, it’s a friendly, almost toy-like video that’s emphasized with cheerful music – family friendly, as well as short and sweet at only 34 seconds long.
Next thing – is that they emphasize that everything that comes into their pizza is handcrafted – by mentioning that same as this pizza, the whole video is crafted by hand.
And while stop motion animation is not as widespread nowadays as it was in the past – there is still a time and place to use it, and Domino’s shows it in full force.
Cut Out Animation Explainer Video
Looking for something that crosses the boundaries of digital, into something more crafty, similar to the Domino’s video?
Then cut out animation can give you the very playful and crafty style you just might be looking for, to stand out among your competitors that have solely digital visuals.
BrightHire’s identity is a great match for the human, custom and engaging visuals offered by the Cut Out style of both the illustrations, and animation.
As with the Domino’s example, giving the feeling of every interaction with the brand being handcrafted and tailor-made – BrightHire’s video explainer brings a genuine human touch and feeling.
That’s it for our list! We hope that this gives a few explainer video ideas for your next video marketing campaign!
How to Write a Script for an Explainer Video
With all of these powerful formats, differing in approach, style and vibe – is there anything that unites all of them?
There is one single thing – and that is they have an amazing script at the core, with a message that speaks directly to the target audience.
If you were to dissect all of these videos, measure them, and formulate a way to build a good Explainer Video script, you would end up with the following overview:
- Hook. Everybody is looking to answer the question “what’s in this for me?” in the first 5 seconds – so make sure you have a powerful hook to assist.
- Problem. “Punch” your viewer in the early parts of the video – first 15-20 seconds of the video – and make them painfully aware that they have a problem.
- Solution. Now once the stage is set – you can chime in with the solution, but keep it focused on the benefits, rather than features.
- CTA (Call to Action). Now, make sure you have them know what they can do, to solve their problems with your solution – so tell them what to do next!
Keep the video within 60-90 seconds, as that ensures you keep the attention for the viewer to actually arrive at your call to action.
For the style, make sure your scripting is telling a cohesive story, within the existing marketing positioning of your brand – otherwise there will be a mismatch between your other marketing content, and the video itself.
For example – an animated product explainer video might do well with playful and engaging tones – while tech explainers could be better off with sleek minimalism.
How Much Does an Explainer Video Cost?
What a great question – unfortunately, without a precise answer to provide for you right now. This can go anywhere – from $200 to $100,000 and up, in fact.
Overall, the cost of an explainer video is different based on your goal, style and video production agency you plan to work with.
But here are a few price for you to identify the average.
For example:
- If we are talking about more simple formats and styles like 2D Animated and Whiteboard Explainer Videos, the explainer video cost can vary and come close to $4,000 to $8,000 per video.
- What if you are looking for the whole shebang, like a custom explainer video with 3D elements and premium look and feel? Like Microsoft production grade and vibe? Then get ready to spend in the range of $50,000 and even up to $100,000.
- Phew! You’ve seen some of the prices above, maybe it’s better to do it yourself?
Well, not exactly – DIYing it will end up wasting time, confusion in terms of the process, and subpar results that won’t achieve the needed quality of professional explainer video, so you can say goodbye to engagement (and might hurt your brand, if the quality is bad).
But with these prices thrown your way, don’t forget to pay attention to the bigger picture – explainer videos are tools in your marketing toolkit, that can bring impressive ROI, if done right.
And as this is an important investment for your brand – always keep in mind that quality matters.
How Long Should an Explainer Video Be?
It should be concise, and not overstay its welcome. In terms of raw numbers – make sure to not extend beyond the sweet spot of 60-90 seconds.
Because the attention spans are extremely fleeting, the more messages you can include into a shorter runtime, the better.
30 seconds – perfect for social media
This should be a real lightning in a bottle experience – don’t go into too many details, but make sure you can convey the essence of your company statement – and then make sure you are interesting enough to make sure they keep coming for more.
60-90 seconds – great for websites and presentations
This is the great spot for various use cases – from elevator pitch style of presentation, to conference settings, and use across websites and landing pages. This duration is the most popular and used when it comes to explainer videos.
2-3 minutes – only if you’re diving into something super detailed, like a tech explainer video
This duraton is pushing it when it comes to Explainer Videos – and edging on being a more How To and Tutorial type of videos. Do videos this long with caution – and only for environments where audiences will actually watch past the 90 second mark. A good idea to make a deeper dive, is when you create something like a tech explainer video.
Beyond just being good with explaining the concepts, it’s also a good way of selling a promise of your product, and opening the doors for viewers to start engaging with your company or product on a deeper level.
Final Thoughts
Video marketing strategy in 2025 can’t be imagined without a heavy use of video, especially when it comes to Explainer video with its many iterations.
For any purpose, and any use case, starting with increasing your sales, or making sure your message is that much more clearer and engaging – the right Explainer video can be a new way for your audience to discover and interact with your brand.
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