Short answer
Once an agency runs AI video for more than a few clients, “we made a lot of videos” stops being useful. A month-end report with one row per client tells you which retainers are healthy, which are quietly losing money and which quote needs to change. Use six columns: minutes rendered, videos delivered, revision rounds, hours spent, revenue and margin. Once the sheet exists, it takes about 20 minutes a month.
Why report per client, and which margin to use
Agency finance guides agree on the basic split. Enterprise DNA (October 2026) defines a client’s contribution as their revenue minus the direct costs of serving them, and contribution margin as contribution divided by revenue. TrackingTime separates gross margin (delivery efficiency before overhead) from net margin (after allocated overhead), and lists revisions and rework as a common cause of lost margin.
For a monthly client report, use gross (contribution) margin. It only needs numbers you can tie to a client, so you don’t have to split rent or software costs across accounts.
Once you have two months of data, one more measure is worth a column: realization. Holdings defines it as revenue invoiced divided by the potential revenue from billable hours logged, and quotes an industry range of 85‚Äì95%. In AI video, a low figure usually means free revisions or extra variations the quote didn’t cover.
The six columns
- Minutes rendered. Take this from your platform. In Fabeo, each client’s page shows the credits used this month, and the billing page breaks the month’s credit usage down by client. Usage is also tracked at brand level. Rendering costs about 1 credit per second of finished video, so divide credits by 60 for minutes. At the published rate, a rendered minute costs $3, or about $2.60 on the Agency plan’s included minutes ($39 a month for 15).
- Videos delivered. Count final, approved files only.
- Revision rounds. Count each round of changes the client asked for after the first review. A round is one batch of feedback, not one comment. Fabeo’s client page shows a “Changes requested” count for the month, a quick way to spot an account with a lot of back-and-forth.
- Hours spent. Your team’s time: briefing, scripting, prompting, review and delivery. Rendered minutes are cheap; this is where the cost sits.
- Revenue. What you billed that client this month.
- Margin. Revenue, minus platform cost, minus hours at your internal cost rate, divided by revenue.
Sample report (fictional numbers)
These figures are invented to show the formulas. They assume the Agency plan at about $2.60 a minute and an internal cost of $40 an hour.
| Client | Credits | Minutes | Videos | Revision rounds | Hours | Revenue | Platform cost | Labour cost | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client A (retainer) | 360 | 6.0 | 12 | 5 | 14 | $1,800 | $15.60 | $560 | 68% |
| Client B (per video) | 150 | 2.5 | 5 | 9 | 12 | $900 | $6.50 | $480 | 46% |
| Client C (per minute) | 240 | 4.0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | $480 | $10.40 | $280 | 40% |
To check Client B: $900 ‚àí $6.50 ‚àí $480 = $413.50, which is 46% of $900.
What the report tells you
- Client B: revisions are eating the quote. Nine rounds on five videos, and nearly as many hours as Client A for half the revenue. Put a written cap on rounds in the next quote, or charge for each extra round. How to quote AI video shows both.
- Client C: per-minute quoting punishes short, fiddly work. Three videos totalling 4 minutes looks fine, but 7 hours of work on $480 leaves little. Move this client to a per-video price.
- Client A: the healthy account. Many videos, few rounds per video. Use its brief and review process as the model for the others. A written client brief is usually the difference.
Platform cost is under 3% of revenue in every row. That’s the useful point for pricing conversations: margin is won or lost in hours, not minutes.
Setting it up in 20 minutes
- Make a sheet with the six columns and one tab per month.
- At month end, copy each client’s credits from Fabeo and divide by 60 for minutes.
- Count revision rounds from your review history; the “Changes requested” count is a good cross-check.
- Fill in hours from your time tracker and revenue from your invoices, and let the sheet work out the margin.
- Look at the three lowest margins and decide one change for each: cap the rounds, reprice, or let the client go.
If you run many clients, keep one client workspace and brand kit per account so usage lands in the right place. Running AI video for 10+ clients covers the setup.
FAQ
Do I need net margin too?
Not every month. Check it quarterly, once your overhead is stable.
What counts as a revision round?
Agree this in the quote. One consolidated set of feedback from the client is one round.
How do I turn Fabeo credits into minutes?
Rendering uses about 1 credit per second of finished video, so 60 credits is about one minute.
Is platform cost worth tracking if it’s this small?
Yes, but mainly to show it’s small. It proves to you, and to clients who ask, that the price is for your time and judgement.
Next step
See how Fabeo handles client workspaces and brand kits for agencies, then find the plan that fits your monthly minutes with the cost calculator.