7 UGC hook tests on Seedance 2.5 at 480p, then one 1080p winner

To test seven UGC ad hooks cheaply, generate each as a 6-second 9:16 clip on Seedance 2.5 at 480p and re-render only the winner at 1080p. At current Sume billable prices that is 7 x 162 cents = $11.34 for the tests plus 853 cents = $8.53 for the winner, $19.87 in all. Rendering all seven at 1080p would cost $59.71.

The price grid for one hook

Seedance 2.5 is a pass-through model in the Sume Video Router. It accepts 4 to 30 seconds, resolutions 480p, 720p and 1080p, and 9:16 among its aspect ratios. Sume bills the catalog list price times 1.25 and rounds up to a cent per job, so the numbers below are per clip. Confirm live values with GET /v1/video-router/models.

Test plan and arithmetic

A hook only has to prove that the first six seconds hold attention, so resolution is the wrong place to spend. Run all seven at 480p, pick the winner by your own metric, and re-run that prompt at 1080p. The tests and the final render are separate jobs, so the winning prompt is regenerated rather than upscaled. Treat the 1080p clip as a new take that can differ from the 480p test.

Run the seven as one queue or as seven calls

Each test is one POST /v1/videos submit (or POST /v1/video-router/generate), then a poll of the returned polling_url. For seven hooks, a loop with a unique Idempotency-Key per hook is enough. If your hooks live in a saved Format, a bulk run queues up to 100 Format runs with a concurrency window of 1 to 16 and returns a queue you poll at GET /v1/format-run-queues/{id}.

A queue reaching completed only means every item is terminal. Read counts.failed before you pick a winner, so a failed hook is not mistaken for a losing one.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-router/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: hook-test-03" \
  -d '{
    "model": "seedance-2.5",
    "prompt": "Vertical UGC clip, creator holds the product to camera and says the hook line",
    "resolution": "480p",
    "duration": 6,
    "aspect_ratio": "9:16",
    "mode": "async"
  }'