Every conversation about clipping gets to the same question inside five minutes: what does it cost. Fair question. The answer depends on how a campaign is priced, and the price only means something when you stack it against what the same dollar buys in every other channel.
The three ways clipping gets priced
Per post is the simplest model: a flat rate for each original clip posted across a network of accounts. It is easy to count and easy to audit, and it rewards campaigns that post consistently rather than in bursts.
Per view prices the outcome instead of the activity. You pay a rate per thousand views delivered, which moves the risk to the network: if the clips do not travel, you do not pay. Watch for how a shop counts a view and which platform's number they use, because that definition is where soft pricing hides.
A monthly campaign retainer covers a whole release window: the edits, the posting cadence, the account network, the reporting. This is the model that fits a serious single push or an always-on catalogue program, because distribution compounds and a one-week burst rarely shows what a network can do.
Compare the same dollar
The only honest way to read a clipping quote is cost per person reached, against the channels you already know. Typical ranges across the market: music-targeted Meta ads run about $8.50 to $14 per thousand impressions, TikTok ads average around $4.82 per thousand platform-wide. A micro music influencer works out to roughly $0.02 to $0.10 per view. Playlist pitching has documented campaigns at $0.15 to $0.20 per play. Commercial radio has documented math near $57 per single spin.
Frequency's own network, priced on actuals, lands near $0.002 per view. We put the whole comparison on the homepage as a live tool: drag a budget across every channel and watch what it buys.
One more distinction matters as much as the number. An impression is a sponsored slot someone can thumb past. A spin is a broadcast nobody can prove was heard. A clip view is a person who stopped and watched a piece of your record. Same budget, different substance.
What actually moves the price
- Network quality. Real accounts with posting history and genuine followers cost more to run than empty shells, and they are the whole reason the posts land.
- Original edits. A campaign of fresh cuts fitted to each account outperforms the same video stamped fifty times, and editing is real work.
- Campaign length. Distribution compounds over weeks. A longer runway costs more in total and less per result.
- Scope. One priority single and a full catalogue revival are different machines.
The questions to ask before you sign anything
Ask what you are paying per view delivered, and how a view is counted. Ask whether the accounts are built and run in-house or rented from outside creators for the week, because a rented network disappears when the invoice stops. Ask what reporting you get and how often. And ask what a winner looks like: a good shop can show you a campaign where the clips caught and what they did next.
Frequency runs its network entirely in-house, every account built, owned, and operated by our team, priced on what the network actually costs to run. See how the platform works, or write us about the record you are working.