Video
AI advertising agency: what one makes for you, and when tools are enough
Michele Caddeo ·
An AI advertising agency makes your ads with generative AI: product scenes, ad variants, voices in other languages and video scenes too expensive to film. Done well, they hold their own: in a Taboola study of over 500 million impressions, AI ads had a 0.76% click-through rate against 0.65% for human-made ones, comparable once results were controlled. Keep the product real, and disclose generated scenes that look real.
Do AI ads work?
Yes, when they’re made with care.
AI in advertising
AI ads perform, and most video buyers already use it
0.76%
click-through rate of AI-generated ads, against 0.65% for human-made ones
500 million
impressions analysed in the study
2 in 3
video ad buyers use generative AI for creative, up from half in 2025
Sources: Taboola, IAB. Under the tightest statistical controls the two performed comparably, and the AI ads won most when they didn’t look like AI. In practice: the product, the label and the brand, what the customer recognises and buys, stay real.
What can AI do in your advertising?
Six jobs. The first three are already inside Meta and Google Ads, and you can use them yourself. The others need separate tools, or someone who uses them every day.
Six jobs
What you can do yourself, and what takes craft
Text variants
Built inMeta and Google Ads propose versions of your headlines and descriptions. Keep only those that sound like you.
One image, every format
Built inThe platforms extend a photo to fill Stories and Reels. Fine, as long as the product stays identical.
Campaigns that adjust
Built inAdvantage+ and Performance Max shift audience and budget towards what works.
The product in a new setting
CraftFrom a real photo, even on white, a kitchen or a beach is generated around it.
Voice and languages
CraftA generated voice, or a real one carried into your markets’ languages, with written consent.
Video scenes
CraftThe ones too expensive to film: a mountain at dawn, a crowded square.
Agency or tools: what can you do yourself?
With the tools you can make a good post or a product photo in a new setting. A commercial asks for more.
Who makes the ad
The pieces, or the finished ad
Tools on your own
The pieces
From a few dollars a month.
- Sì: Images and text variants
- No: A script and storyboard
- No: Scenes that match your real product
- No: Voice and music with clear rights
An agency
The finished ad
Script to final edit.
- Sì: Images and text variants
- Sì: A script and storyboard
- Sì: Scenes that match your real product
- Sì: Voice and music with clear rights
The tools themselves are cheap. In November 2026 Runway’s Standard plan cost $15 a month, or $12 billed yearly, for 625 credits, about 52 seconds of video with its Gen-4.5 model (Runway). ElevenLabs gives a commercial licence for voices from its Starter plan, $6 a month (ElevenLabs).
The director of Kalshi’s AI ad for the 2025 NBA Finals needed 300 to 400 generations to get 15 usable clips, and warned that cheap doesn’t mean anyone can do it (NPR).
What do you have to disclose?
Three sets of rules, depending on where the ad runs.
Before you publish
Disclosure, platform by platform
European Union
From 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the AI Act asks whoever publishes generated content that looks real to disclose it clearly.
Facebook and Instagram
Meta adds an “AI info” label to ads made or significantly edited with its tools, and next to “Sponsored” when a realistic generated person appears.
YouTube
On your own channel, you must disclose realistic content that was generated or altered with AI.
Reviews and testimonials
In the US, the FTC rule bans fake reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones by people who don’t exist.
Sources: European Commission, Meta, YouTube Help, FTC, 14 August 2024.
Before an AI ad goes out, check that the product matches the one on the shelf, label text included; that realistic generated scenes are disclosed; that you have written consent from anyone lending a voice or face; and that every tool you used is on a plan with a commercial licence.
When is AI the wrong choice?
- When the product is bought on its details, like a machine or a component. Film every scene for real.
- When you sell trust in a person, like a clinic or a tradesperson who comes into people’s homes. Customers want real faces.
- When your audience has already reacted badly to AI. Read the comments on your posts and your competitors’ first.
What does an AI advertising agency cost?
It depends mostly on how many scenes need generating and how much real material of the product you already have. Airtime is separate, on a budget you set. Published prices for making a commercial are in the guide on how much it costs to make a commercial.
How I work: one person from the script to the music, with your product kept real. If you want to see a first ad before committing, start with the fixed-price prototype, €450, no VAT added, taken off the quote in full if we go ahead within 60 days. The formats are on the video page.
