Editing Benchmark on a Shared Brief (Onboarding)

Editing Benchmark on a Shared Brief (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Freeze one representative client brief before any tool trial begins

   Pick a real deliverable from an active retainer: a 3 to 5 minute interview cut with captions, two social derivatives, and a color pass. Lock the source footage, the delivery specs, and the acceptance criteria in writing so every vendor is judged on identical inputs.

2. 02

   Record the baseline editor hours on the incumbent workflow

   Time the current process end to end, including transcription, rough cut, caption cleanup, and revision rounds. That number, not a vendor claim, becomes the denominator for every comparison that follows.

3. 03

   Run the same brief through at least three services from different sub-categories

   Pair a text-based editor such as Descript with a browser editor like Kapwing and a caption-first tool such as Submagic, so the test covers cutting, format coverage, and short-form repurposing rather than one workflow shape.

4. 04

   Log correction time separately from generation time

   Automated silence removal or clip selection saves minutes on the front end and can cost them back in cleanup. Track how long an editor spends fixing captions, re-timing cuts, and repairing audio before the file is client-ready.

5. 05

   Score format coverage against the client's actual delivery list

   Confirm aspect ratios, caption burn-in versus sidecar files, frame rates, and export codecs match what the client's channels require. A tool that cannot hit the spec adds a transcode step that erases the labor gain.

6. 06

   Test the collaboration and rights path with a second editor

   Have a colleague open the project, leave a comment, and export without your help. In parallel, confirm who owns the output, whether voice cloning or avatar features carry consent requirements, and what the vendor's terms say about client footage.

7. 07

   Convert results into accepted deliverables per editor hour

   Divide approved outputs by total labor including review. Report the measured delta to the client-facing team, and retire any tool that does not beat the baseline on that ratio across two consecutive briefs.