• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, February 7, 2024

Most marketers are turning to generative AI for content development, according to The New Creative Paradigm: How AI is Transforming Video and Content Production, a study from Winterberry Group sponsored by APR [Advertising Production Resources].

Of the marketers polled, 62.7% are now using some form of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to support content development.  

And they are spending more on it — the forecast calls for $56 billion in the U.S., up from $48 billion in 2023.

Globally, they are expected to budget $121.2 billion this year, versus $108.3 billion last year.  

But there are potential risks: 

• Regulatory uncertainty
• Lack of clarity in costs and resource intensiveness of AI 
• Bias elimination 
• Limited trust in AI-generated content
• Variability in quality and consistency 

On the positive side, GAI is being being used for: 

- Concepting/ideation

- Creative development

- Content creation 

-Copywriting, translations, voice, music, talent

And GAI shares two tasks with machine learning: versioning/iterations for campaigns and reformatting/resizing for channels.  

Machine learning is also being utilized for creative intelligence, measurement and attribution, channel selection (to inform creative) and optimization (activation only).  

The applications are being utilized in several online channels where marketers can “engage with target audiences via content marketing and advertising,” the study says. These channels include email, websites, social media platforms, search engines, CTV, SMS/mobile push and video.  

Whatever the channel, consumers spent 7.57 hours per day with digital media in 2023, and 4.62 hours with traditional media.

Both are down from their totals in 2020, the year of the pandemic lockdown. But digital continues an upward trend, while traditional is going in a downward direction.

Video is also growing -- averaging 63% of the average total media spend, compared to 37% for linear TV.  

Of the marketers surveyed, 78.2% produce video and content primarily for digital media channels, and 15.9% do so for linear TV. As for getting the job done, 81% of marketers work with two or more production partners. And 12.7% utilize six or more. 

The top consideration when choosing a production partner? For 49.6%, it is speed.  

However, 43.7% have limited to no benchmarking data to help inform their vendor selection and production cost savings, although there is widespread demand for this.

“As consumers have dramatically changed how they consume media, brands and agencies have altered their media spend amongst linear and across digital channels to stay connected to them,” says Bruce Biegel, senior managing partner, Winterberry Group. “During the past 10 years, consumers have flipped the time spent per day on digital versus traditional media. Today they spend eight hours a day with digital.”

Winterberry Group surveyed 252 marketing professionals, 66.3% of whom were in the U.S. and 33.7%. The top categories were media, including broadcasters, streamers, and theater (41.7%) and retail (19.8%).