Half of US ad buyers say they are currently using generative AI for digital video ad creation, with another 34 percent planning to use gen AI tools in the future, according to data from the IAB’s 2025 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy report, released today. And around 30 percent of digital ads bought by US advertisers and agencies will have been built using generative AI this year, with that number expected to rise to 39 percent next year.
The data, based on surveys of senior buy-side figures run by Advertiser Perceptions, shows the speed with which AI tools are becoming commonplace in the creative process. The figures cover a range of gen AI uses, whether that’s building an ad from scratch or enhancing and editing non-AI video assets.
Smaller spenders have been generally quicker to adopt AI tools, though the difference with larger brands isn’t massive. Thirty-three percent of digital video ads run by advertisers classified as smaller spenders will use AI this year, compared to 32 percent for mid-tier spenders and 28 percent for large spenders.
For companies using AI to adjust existing creative, producing different versions for different audiences is the most common use case, cited by 42 percent of respondents. Visual and style changes (38 percent), contextual relevance (36 percent), promotions and incentive testing (35 percent), and platform optimisation (34 percent) were other popular uses.
Deliver, or get cut
The report covers a number trends across digital video and CTV advertising in America, including the continued rapid growth of CTV investment in the US, with 68 percent of US buyers considering CTV a “must buy”. But this investment is paired with high expectations from agencies and advertisers around how they’re able to buy CTV and what it’s able to deliver.
Data from the IAB’s report, based on surveys of senior buy-side figures run by Advertiser Perceptions, highlighted the importance of proving outcomes for CTV (as well as digital video more broadly). Last year’s version of the report found that driving bottom-funnel business outcomes is the most important success metric for video buyers, and the IAB says this has become even more critical this year. Poor business outcome delivery was cited as the number one reason for buyers to reduce spend with a specific streaming partner.
While many on the sell-side would emphasise the upper-funnel metrics which CTV delivers, these are lower down on buyers’ priority lists. Forty-four percent of respondents said they aim to boost direct sales with CTV campaigns, while 43 percent look to drive store visits and 35 percent seek lead generation.
These figures are fairly close to buyers’ expectations for social video — which could be both a blessing and a curse for CTV sellers. Advertisers clearly believe that CTV can deliver performance, which is a positive. But the challenge is proving (or claiming credit for) outcomes as efficiently as the social platforms.
“Driving bottom-funnel business outcomes is now far and away the most important KPI for video buyers,” said Chris Bruderle, VP of industry insights and content strategy at the IAB. “Deliver, or you’ll get cut.”
Great expectations
Performance isn’t the only area where buyers have high standards. A lot of innovation in CTV, both in terms of programmatic access and delivery of live content, is raising advertisers’ expectations.
Based on their experience of the market, those surveyed projected that around 47 of all CTV inventory in the US will be biddable this year, up from 35 percent last year. But buyers expect that buying programmatically will deliver better ROI/ROAS (with 41 percent of respondents holding that expectation), will make it easier to achieve scale (35 percent), will offer easier activation across streaming networks (35 percent), will allow easier optimisation and flexibility (33 percent), and will have better pricing (32 percent).
While we’ve seen a number of self-serve platforms come to market, and 74 percent of buyers either already have or are planning to create in-house resources to manage self-serve CTV activation platforms, 83 percent still want to see some human involvement from the sell-side to help them manage programmatic deals.
As more live content, and live sports in particular, is making its way on to streaming platforms, advertisers expect a number of improvements over linear TV as well. The ability to reach incremental audiences is unsurprisingly a big one, with 43 percent of respondents saying it’s an expectation for live content on streaming platforms. But many also expect real-time contextual targeting (41 percent), real-time reporting (39 percent), shoppable ads (38 percent), second-screen interaction and tie-ins (38 percent), and interactive content and/or ads (36 percent).
“Buyers are excited about sports and other live content coming to streaming,” said Chris Bruderle, Vice President, Industry Insights & Content Strategy, IAB. “They expect to see new and better capabilities than they can get in linear.”
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