The 6 Best Educational Video Production Companies (2024)

With many educational video production company options, how do you find the right partner for your project? We assembled the top 6 educational video production companies using more detailed criteria than you’ll find in other lists.

We’ve combed the information available on each company’s website and laid it out for you clearly, so you can find the best partner for you.

Our rankings criteria:

• Multi-disciplinary: Content comes in different forms. Does the company create content through high-quality video, animation, illustrations, interactive learning, and more--or just one form?

• Education focus: Do they use learning design best practices? Are their video services focused mostly on educating and training, or is educational video production one of many services?

• Industries: Do they focus on specific industries?

• Clients: What organizations trust them?

• Client ratings: How satisfied are their clients based on public review sites? 

• Price: Where can you receive pricing?

What is Educational Video Production?

It’s important to get the definition properly defined. The most effective educational videos combine best practices in videography and design with learning design principles to ensure learners retain and apply information through auditory, visual, or kinesthetic means.

While the chief objective is retention, a tremendous amount of time is spent making the video content highly engaging because memorability and completion rates soar when viewers find content interesting.

The learning design process focuses on the learning objective, the subject matter, and the proper sequence to deliver the content. The video production process uses advancements in technology like cinematic cameras, animation, motion graphics, sound effects, creative styling, and generative AI to bring the content to life.

Captivating visuals without proper learning design will at best entertain learners, and at worst, confuse them. Similarly, learning design without engaging video will lose waning attention spans, decreasing retention.

Combining the two makes educational video production truly effective.

The Top 6 Educational Video Production Companies (2024)

NextThought | Highlight Reel

1. NextThought.

NextThought is transforming learning with high-quality custom educational content and eLearning for top organizations.

With learning designers, creative directors, videographers, editors, and animators, NextThought is a holistic educational video production company that brings both strategic learning practices and creative firepower to create change in employees, students, and customers—for less. 

Multi-disciplinary: ✅ Yes. NextThought can deliver educational content through live-action video, illustrated animation, interactive learning (like Articulate Storyline), 360 video, and Virtual Reality. 

Education focus: ✅ Yes. All of NextThought’s services are focused on educating/training the end user, whether it’s through corporate training, microlearning, animated explainer videos, online course creation, educational content, tutorial videos, and much more.

Industries: Education, Saas/Tech, Financial Services, Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Logistics, Manufacturing, Construction, Nonprofit, Government, Construction, and Startups.

Clients: Amazon, McDonald’s, Encyclopedia Britannica, US Postal Service, and more. 

Rating: 4.9 (9 reviews - Clutch)

Pricing: Get an instant quote today.

NextThought | Interactive Learning Highlight

2. ELM.

ELM Learning is an eLearning company that creates smart, beautiful learning experiences to engage employees and create real change.

Multi-disciplinary: ❌ No. Nearly all their projects are animated, with little to no live-action video. However, if you’re interested in illustrative educational content, ELM’s is very well done, with unique styling and engaging visuals.

Education focus: ✅ Yes. Like NextThought they have a comprehensive learning approach to their projects.

Industries: E-commerce, Tech, Retail, Food and Beverage, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals.

Client: Petco, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson and more.

Rating: 5.0 (2 reviews - eLearning Industry)

Pricing: By request

NextThought | Immersive Training Highlight

3. Sublime Media. 

Sublime Media is the creative agency for learning. They create custom training built for your needs, tailored for your audience, designed for change.

Multi-disciplinary: 🤔 It isn’t easy to tell. Their website case studies and reel showcase mostly animated work and solutions, with some live-action video dabbled in.

Education focus: ✅ Yes. They also have a comprehensive approach to building true learning journeys and even offer consulting services that include areas like DEI consultation. 

Industries: Technology, Telecommunications, Automotive, Manufacturing, Retail and frontline, Food and beverage, Pharmaceuticals, Finance.

Clients: AirBnB, Les Schwab Tires, Microsoft, and more.

Rating: 4.0 (2 reviews - G2)

Pricing: By request

NextThought | Healthcare Training Example

4. Demo Duck.

Whether it's a single video or a bunch of video content, it all starts with one. You know your brand. Demo Duck knows video. They’re a video production company that leverages collaboration to get the job done—whatever the job may be.

Multi-disciplinary: ✅ Yes, they create wonderfully creative video and animation content. However, they do not offer interactive learning experiences created on software like Articulate Storyline. 

Education focus: ❌ No. While they do create educational video content, most of their portfolio and service offerings showcase branded video, suggesting that branded content is more of their sweet spot. Their website does not mention a learning design methodology for their educational video production.

Industries: Startup, Healthcare, Non-profit, Education, Video Production Agencies, Corporate Video Production.

Clients: Geico, Chron’s and Colitis Foundation, Meraki Go by Cisco, and more.

Rating: 5.0 (8 reviews - Clutch)

Pricing: Quotes by request

NextThought | Onboarding Example

5. Ninja Tropic. 

Ninja Tropic is the go-to interactive video and microlearning team for leading enterprises. They solve business problems through budget-friendly, brand-aligned, and effective interactive video training that delivers measurable results.

Multi-disciplinary: ❌ No. Like ELM, Ninja Tropic is heavy on animation projects.

Education focus: ✅ Yes. Like NextThought and ELM, Ninja Tropic uses learning design best practices with their projects.

Industries: Biotechnology, Human Resources, Industrial Automation, Marketing and Advertising, Mental Health Care

Clients: Johns Hopkins, USA Swimming, The Wonderful Company, and more.

Rating: 5.0 (19 reviews - elearning industry)

Pricing: Quotes by request

NextThought | Microlearning Example

6. EdApp.

EdApp is making training more available to everybody via its mobile learning platform. Because they believe everyone should have access to top-notch learning and training on the job.

Multi-disciplinary: ❌ No. Because EdApp is a mobile platform, they do not capture live-action video. They will assemble and design training programs using video content you provide.

Education focus: ✅ Yes. EdApp uses instructional designers to create their projects, with 100% of their focus on training.

Industries: Automotive, Construction, Finance, Gig Economy, Insurance, Manufacturing, Retail, Healthcare, Cyber, Corporate, Franchises, Hospitality, Luxury Goods, Pharma.

Clients: Aukland Unlimited, Blooms, Deloitte, and more.

Rating: 4.7 (216 reviews - G2)

Pricing: Their recommended pricing package is a 12-month commitment of $2.95-5.95 per user, per month.

NextThought | Microlearning Example

Researching and Evaluating Video Production Services

Now that you have a list of candidates, it's time to research and evaluate professional training video production companies on your own. At this initial search level, pay close attention to a few key things:

• Portfolio Quality. Watch sample videos to assess their production value, aesthetics, and effectiveness. Do the portfolios showcase different types of training videos or do they specialize in a few types? Step back and ask if any of the video styles would resonate with your target audience. Make note of the specific videos that stand out.

• Client Type and Solutions. Who has trusted them in the past? Do you respect and appreciate their client mix and how they’ve approached solving their problems? Get a sense of the size and scope of the business problems they’ve solved. Remember, each project was tailor-made for that client, but you may share a similar training problem. (Make a note of this as well).

• Video Production Services. You may already know why training videos are important in education, but educational videos serve many purposes and take different forms. Everything from instructional videos, testimonial videos, demo videos, microlearning videos, product videos, social media videos, live-action videos, employee training videos, and explainer videos, to animated videos, marketing videos, safety training videos, tutorials, case studies, and onboarding videos.

  There are even virtual reality, interactives, promotional videos, scenario-based, videos that require 3D animation, and more.

  Review the company’s service offerings and decide which most aligns with what you’re looking for. There might even be a video idea you hadn’t considered. 

• Industry experience (when possible.) Do they have experience in creating training and eLearning videos for your industry or an adjacent industry? Many organizations are in niche industries, so it can be difficult to find a 1:1 industry match. Try to identify projects, problems, or styles that give you confidence they produce the video project you envision.

• Read client testimonials. Gain insight into the production company's professionalism, reliability, and customer satisfaction. Determine if they have long-standing clients. This is an indication that they have true partnerships.

• Expert production team. Are they experienced in instructional design, scriptwriting, video editing, animation, voiceover recording, Storyline, filmmaking, and multimedia production? Can they own the entire production process, or only play a specific role?

Considering Cost and Budget

Now to money. Cost is an important factor to consider when selecting an eLearning video production company. While it's essential to find a company that is cost-effective and fits within your budget, it's equally important to ensure that you are getting the quality and value you need.

When evaluating costs, consider the pricing structure offered by different production companies. Some companies may charge a fixed rate per video, while others may offer package deals or customizable pricing based on the complexity and length of the videos.

Additionally, inquire about any additional fees or expenses that may be involved in the production process. These can include scriptwriting, voiceover narration, graphic design, or revisions. Understanding the full cost breakdown will help you make an accurate comparison between different production companies.

A good partner will provide transparent and easy-to-understand pricing breakdowns and what goes into each. 

Furthermore, consider the long-term value of the eLearning videos. Though it has a higher upfront cost, investing in high-quality videos can yield greater returns in terms of learner engagement and knowledge retention. Balancing cost and quality is key to selecting the right eLearning video production company.

Plus, in true partnership fashion, there are ways for a series of videos to be templatized so that future videos already have key creative building blocks, which require less cost to create.

What is the video production process?

The best training video production companies, especially full-service ones, always have a proven system to achieve top-notch results and a stunning final product.

Pre-Production

Pre-production is the planning stage of a video production. This step ensures that both you and the production group know what the goals of the video are and what the production team can achieve before the shoot gets underway.

How long does it take?
Generally, this stage lasts anywhere from two to six weeks. The length of time depends on how quickly the client communicates with the production team and how large the production is going to be.

Crew preparation

Key members include the director, who is the creative lead of the project, the producer, who prepares and supervises, the production manager, who manages practical aspects of the production, and the camera and sound directors.

Cast selection

Selecting the talent is the next step in the planning stages. You might decide to use professional talent, or you might like to use someone within the organization. Whichever you choose, each option presents different benefits.

Concept

The concept of the project is the idea that you want to get across, which is the most important part of the project to establish early on. If you don’t already have the concept nailed down, the writer has to determine this with you before starting on the script. This can take time, so if expediency is a big concern, you should determine your video concept before reaching out to a video production company.

Research

After learning the concept of the video, the writer may need to research to flesh out the script. Depending on the nature of the project, this may require consulting with subject matter experts, getting acquainted with a company, or finding information about a topic.

Scripting

The completed script should provide both you and the production crew with a basic feel for the video tone. This is also the first stage at which you can review the production company's work and make any changes.

Storyboarding

A storyboard is a visual mock-up of the shoot, which looks similar to a cartoon strip when it is finished. The piece outlines everything scene by scene, creating a visual representation of the video before shooting starts, so the crew knows what they need to set up. 

Art

If you request a video that either is fully animated or features a large amount of animation, including supplementary graphics or transitions, there may be an art team available to develop initial ideas for these animations based on your ideas.

Coordination

Once the storyboard is finalized and everyone is happy with the result, the producer prepares for the shoot by obtaining filming permissions at off-site locations, acquiring equipment, and contacting the cast and crew for film dates and times.

Production

This stage is the actual filming stage of the production, where the cast and crew collect the segments to be used in the final production. Depending on the complexity of the project, this can take as little as half a day, but can also take several months to complete. It depends entirely on the type of production.

Post-Production

In the final stage of production, the footage collected from the production stage is edited together and (if desired) enhanced with animation, culminating in the final video.

• The Rough Cut

• Approval Cut

• Picture Lock

• Sound Mix & Color

Delivery

Once everything is developed and finalized, the video is delivered to you in high resolution and ready for distribution.

What Factors Affect a Corporate Training Video Production Timeline?

Though most videos will typically require a few weeks of production time, some may run a little longer or a little shorter than what you expect. Your production timeline primarily depends on the following three factors:

Video Type

Does your video include animation, live video or a green screen? The more effects and post-production processing your production needs, the longer it's typically going to take. Live videos require little post-processing and therefore need only a short time to accomplish. Animations, on the other hand, require extensive pre-production in the form of storyboarding and character design, and even short animations can take weeks to develop.

Video Length

The longer video may need more time to shoot and edit than a short video – an hour-long training video will require more extensive editing and may need a reshoot or two to make it acceptable, while a shorter video will require much less time to process at each stage.

Video Style

The style of the video will also tend to be a factor in your final timeline. A talking head video, for example, requires a few continuous shots, while a documentary will need multiple shots from different locations and areas. The more shots are needed, the more production time your project will probably take.

Do you have an educational video project you need help with? Get started in your search for the right partner by contacting NextThought, your custom learning company specializing in engaging educational videos, interactives, and beyond. We have the privilege of partnering with top organizations like Amazon, Cummins, Encyclopedia Britannica, Red Devil, McDonald's, and the US Postal Service.