Facepalm: Companies are increasingly becoming enamoured with AI-generated ads, even though many viewers find them off-putting. Advertisers are introducing even more repulsive AI slop to an increasingly uneasy audience. They have not bridged the uncanny valley yet, and some lean into the bizarre clips intentionally, as if the creations are the new avant-garde psychedelic.
Roku is planning a major push to adopt generative AI for advertising on its popular TV platform. The US streaming leader is working to expand access to next-gen AI advertising tools for smaller companies, which often lack the resources or expertise to manage campaigns.
The company unveiled its AI-generated ad plans at an investor conference this month. Roku CFO and COO Dan Jedda said it aims to expand from hundreds of advertisers to more than 100,000. Its popularity is rising, with over 100 million streaming households expected soon.
Streaming hours on the Roku Channel spiked 80 percent year-over-year. In July, the service accounted for 2.8 percent of all TV viewing hours in the US. Roku is expanding quickly on video hours, Jedda noted, but has sold only about half of the available ad slots.
Generative AI is Roku's idea to better engage small to medium-sized businesses. Right now, the SMB market is still spending most of its marketing budget on web search and social media ads. Television streaming could be the next big thing if it can provide small companies with new tools that don't require significant investment.
Jedda noted that a "well-produced" commercial could be running within minutes with Roku's planned generative AI services. I still need to find a generated ad that doesn't make me want to close the browser or step away from my PC, but Roku clearly has enough market strength to shape and promote this potential new business.
The streamer is already adding dedicated generative AI tools for smaller advertisers, and many other AI providers are targeting the SMB market as well. Jedda said there's room for multiple players, noting that "millions" of potential SMB advertisers will likely need support from more than one company for their AI-driven marketing.
For now, Roku plans to run its generative AI advertising with special marketing campaigns and dedicated sales teams. After all, who wants to hire humans when you have AI agents doing all the dirty work based on your carefully written prompts?
Roku plans massive rollout of AI-generated ads on its streaming platform
