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<\/div>\nMarketing teams are starting to communicate with customers in a different way. Digital video ad spend reflects that shift. IAB reports U.S. digital video ad spend grew 18% in 2024 to $64B and is projected to reach $72B in 2025<\/a><\/span>. Nielsen found streaming represented 44.8% of total TV viewing in May 2025, up 71% since May 2021.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n For years, text has been the default medium. Even when video was part of the mix, it was treated as a special format, reserved for launches or brand campaigns.<\/p>\n That hierarchy is changing. Companies are increasingly explaining products, onboarding users, and educating customers through video rather than written copy.<\/p>\n This shift isn’t about creativity. It’s about behavior and economics.<\/p>\n Younger audiences are conditioned to learn by watching. They expect explanations to be visual, seeking demonstrations and walkthroughs that play rather than scroll.<\/p>\n That preference carries into work and purchasing decisions. The same people who grew up with TikTok and YouTube expect product education and feature announcements to arrive as video.<\/p>\n Text remains efficient for compressing information, but it requires effort. Video aligns more naturally with how people absorb information quickly. Markets follow those patterns.<\/p>\n Video is becoming a primary interface between companies and customers, not an optional layer on top of written content.<\/p>\n Two trends are converging. The cost and speed of producing video are dropping dramatically. Tools that once required weeks can now generate output in hours or minutes.<\/p>\n Simultaneously, expectations are rising. Customers increasingly assume brands will show rather than tell. Static text feels slower and less personal by comparison.<\/p>\n These forces create pressure on marketing teams. Communicating through video is becoming a requirement, even when workflows haven’t fully caught up.<\/p>\n Despite the attention around generative video, most tools still aren’t ready for broad self-serve use by marketing teams.<\/p>\n Advanced models require hands-on iteration and creative experience to produce consistent results. Control is improving but remains uneven.<\/p>\n Some brands are already testing AI-generated video in campaigns with mixed results. Coca-Cola’s AI-generated holiday campaign<\/a><\/span> drew attention for continuity issues. Toys “R” Us’s Sora-generated brand film<\/a><\/span> sparked debate about quality and authenticity. McDonald’s Netherlands pulled an AI-generated holiday ad<\/a><\/span> after backlash.<\/p>\n For creators, the friction is manageable. For marketers responsible for predictable output, it often isn’t.<\/p>\n Demand for video is moving faster than usability.<\/p>\n Video as a service is emerging as the practical model. Many teams aren’t trying to replace full production. They’re using AI<\/a> to increase throughput in specific steps: concepting and pre-visualization, rapid cutdowns and variations, localization<\/a>, and simple explainers where consistency matters more than cinematic polish.<\/p>\n SEO, programmatic advertising<\/a>, and performance creative followed this pattern. Services absorbed complexity before tools matured enough for widespread adoption.<\/p>\n Generative video is heading the same direction. The practical approach isn’t selling raw tools to marketers\u2014it’s delivering finished video consistently.<\/p>\n A service layer combining multiple tools with human judgment allows companies to operate video-first without forcing teams to become creators or technologists.<\/p>\n This is where authority builds: around reliability, not features.<\/p>\n When video becomes easier to produce, marketing behavior shifts. Scarcity encourages caution. Abundance encourages testing.<\/p>\n As output increases, teams place more bets and rely on performance data to decide what continues. Creative work becomes less about protecting individual assets and more about managing iteration.<\/p>\n As video creation becomes more accessible, it becomes less differentiating.<\/p>\n Advantage moves to distribution, measurement, and learning speed. Teams that can test faster, interpret results, and adjust messaging quickly gain an edge.<\/p>\n The most valuable capability isn’t producing video\u2014it’s understanding what works and acting on that insight.<\/p>\n Most marketing formats follow a familiar arc. They begin as optional, become useful, then become expected.<\/p>\n Video is moving along that path. As it becomes the default way companies communicate, the question won’t be whether to use it. It will be how intentionally it’s used, and who controls the systems that produce, test, and improve it over time.<\/p>\n [Editor’s note: This is a contributed article from\u00a0CraftStory<\/a><\/em>. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nFrom Reading to Watching<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Falling Costs, Rising Expectations<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why Tools Aren’t Enough Yet<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What Works Right Now<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Throughput Changes Behavior<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Where Advantage Accumulates<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The New Default<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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