For your team
Video ads for online courses: teach one small idea from the course
An ad that teaches one idea from your course shows people how you explain things before they pay. This page covers what to film, the tools and what they cost.
In short
- A video ad for an online course should teach one small, useful idea from the course, in under a minute.
- An ad that only lists the modules, bonuses and price suits people who already know you, not strangers.
- OpusClip cuts webinars and long lessons into short clips, from $15 a month.
- Cutroom turns a short video of you re-teaching one idea into a finished vertical ad, under $2 an ad on Lite.
- Cutroom's $39.99 Basic plan covers about 22 ads of 30 seconds a month, enough for several of each kind of course ad.
- Share of ads that become winners, per Motion's study of 550,000+ Meta ads
- 5-8%
- A month for OpusClip Starter, for clips from webinars and lessons
- $15
- 30-second Cutroom ads a month on the $39.99 Basic plan
- About 22
What a good online course ad shows
An ad that teaches gives people a free sample of the course. An ad that lists the course only describes it.
- Pick an idea your students often thank you for, like a common mistake you help them fix.
- A stranger should be able to use the idea without buying anything.
- The ad ends by pointing to the next step, such as the course page, a free webinar or a waiting list.
Listing the course versus teaching from it
What it shows
- Ad that lists the course
- The modules, the bonuses and the price
- Ad that teaches one idea
- One useful idea, explained in under a minute
What the viewer learns
- Ad that lists the course
- What is inside the course
- Ad that teaches one idea
- How you teach
Who it suits
- Ad that lists the course
- People who already know you
- Ad that teaches one idea
- People who have never heard of you
| Ad that lists the course | Ad that teaches one idea | |
|---|---|---|
| What it shows | The modules, the bonuses and the price | One useful idea, explained in under a minute |
| What the viewer learns | What is inside the course | How you teach |
| Who it suits | People who already know you | People who have never heard of you |
Five kinds of course ad
A launch usually needs a mix of these, from the first teaching ad to the last reminder.
Five kinds of online course ad
| Ad | What you say |
|---|---|
| Teaching ad | One idea from a lesson, taught in under a minute |
| Mistake ad | A common mistake and how to fix it |
| Student story | A former student says what changed for them, filmed on their own phone |
| Webinar invite | What people will learn at your free class, and when it is |
| Closing reminder | When enrolment closes and what the course includes |
Ad: Teaching ad
- What you say
- One idea from a lesson, taught in under a minute
Ad: Mistake ad
- What you say
- A common mistake and how to fix it
Ad: Student story
- What you say
- A former student says what changed for them, filmed on their own phone
Ad: Webinar invite
- What you say
- What people will learn at your free class, and when it is
Ad: Closing reminder
- What you say
- When enrolment closes and what the course includes
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
Tools for online course ads
OpusClip works from long recordings. Descript and Cutroom work from videos you film for the ad.
Tools for online course video ads
Prices as each company publishes them on the day shown. Plans change, so check before you buy.
| Tool | Best for | Editing approach | Platform | Pricing from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 OpusClip | Short clips from webinars and recorded lessons | AI picks moments from a long video and captions them | Web, mobile | Free plan (watermark); Starter $15/month |
| Recording and editing lessons and promo videos | Record, then edit the transcript and the video follows | Web, Mac, Windows | Free plan (watermark); Hobbyist $16/month, yearly | |
| Cutroom | Finished launch ads from a short video of you teaching | Upload a video of you talking; it adds captions, stock clips and an opening headline | Web | First video free; Lite $19.99/month |
- OpusClip
- Best for
- Short clips from webinars and recorded lessons
- Approach
- AI picks moments from a long video and captions them
- Platform
- Web, mobile
- Pricing from
- Free plan (watermark); Starter $15/month
Descript
- Best for
- Recording and editing lessons and promo videos
- Approach
- Record, then edit the transcript and the video follows
- Platform
- Web, Mac, Windows
- Pricing from
- Free plan (watermark); Hobbyist $16/month, yearly
Cutroom
- Best for
- Finished launch ads from a short video of you teaching
- Approach
- Upload a video of you talking; it adds captions, stock clips and an opening headline
- Platform
- Web
- Pricing from
- First video free; Lite $19.99/month
Prices and plans read from each vendor's own pricing page on 21 September 2026.
How to make launch ads in Cutroom
You re-teach one idea to your phone, up to 3 minutes. The edit comes back in about a minute.
- Stay on the one idea when you film, because Cutroom cannot delete a line where you drift into the course details.
- Upload slides, worksheets or course screens once, and highlight the words that name them to place them.
- Select a key term and give just those words their own caption style or colour.
- For more ads, film one short video per opening line and make one project for each.
From one idea to a finished launch ad
Re-teach one idea
On your phone, up to 3 minutes
Edit
100 credits: captions, stock clips and an opening headline
Adjust the text
Fix a word, place a slide, write the opening headline
Export
A vertical 9:16 MP4, 20 credits per minute
What Cutroom costs
Cutroom charges in credits: 100 to edit a video and 20 per minute to export it. A 30-second ad costs about 110 credits.
- Your first video is free, with no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It has a Cutroom watermark across the middle.
- The Lite plan removes the watermark. One 30-second ad costs under $2 on it.
- The money you spend showing the ads is separate. You set that budget in Meta Ads Manager or TikTok Ads Manager.
Cutroom plans and how many 30-second ads they cover
| Plan | Price | Credits | 30-second ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, no card | Your first video | 1, with a watermark |
| Lite | $19.99 a month | 1,250 | About 11 |
| Basic | $39.99 a month | 2,500 | About 22, plus avatars and music |
| Premium | $79.99 a month | 5,000 | About 45 |
| Top-up | $39.99 once | 2,500 | About 22 more |
Plan: Free
- Price
- $0, no card
- Credits
- Your first video
- 30-second ads
- 1, with a watermark
Plan: Lite
- Price
- $19.99 a month
- Credits
- 1,250
- 30-second ads
- About 11
Plan: Basic
- Price
- $39.99 a month
- Credits
- 2,500
- 30-second ads
- About 22, plus avatars and music
Plan: Premium
- Price
- $79.99 a month
- Credits
- 5,000
- 30-second ads
- About 45
Plan: Top-up
- Price
- $39.99 once
- Credits
- 2,500
- 30-second ads
- About 22 more
Which tool should you choose?
It depends on whether you already have long recordings.
Which tool should you choose
Choose OpusClip if you run webinars or record long lessons and want many short clips from them.
Choose Descript if you record lessons at your desk and want to edit them and your promos as text.
Choose Cutroom if you will re-teach one idea to your phone and want each video back as a finished ad. Your first video is free.
Questions people ask
- What makes a good video ad for an online course?
- One small, useful idea taught in under a minute, with captions. It shows people how you teach, which a list of modules cannot do.
- Can I turn a full lesson into ads?
- Yes, with OpusClip, which finds short clips in long videos. Cutroom accepts videos up to 3 minutes, so there you re-film the idea as a short video.
- How many ads should a course launch have?
- At least one of each of the five kinds (teaching, mistake, student story, webinar invite, closing reminder), with several teaching ads, because most ads do not work. In Motion's study of 550,000+ Meta ads, only 5 to 8% became winners. Cutroom's $39.99 Basic plan covers about 22 ads of 30 seconds.
- Can I make a widescreen version for my sales page?
- Not in Cutroom. Every export is a vertical 9:16 MP4. For widescreen videos on a sales page, use Descript or another timeline editor.
- Can I use an AI avatar instead of filming?
- Yes, for reminders and announcements, on Cutroom's Basic plan at 350 credits per minute. For the teaching ad, film yourself, because buyers want to see who will teach them.
Re-teach the idea your students thank you for most and get the finished ad back. Your first video is free.